What is a good new grad dentist offer?

[lightningthing]

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What would be considered a decent or competitive first-year compensation package for a new-graduate dentist joining Heartland Dental, including base salary and signing bonus? I’ve heard that their pay structure operates on a draw, so I’m concerned that accepting a higher base salary might put me “in the hole,” especially since my production during the first few months will likely be lower.

Edit: you don’t pay back money from your own paycheck. You will always make your base no matter what, but if you are in the negative, you have to make that money back up in subsequent months in order to start bonusing extra cash. That’s how their “draw” works.

 

[TheLastDance]

You're cooked if you do a draw. Don't do a draw. You will owe money on your paychecks. Don't do it. Don't accept it.

 

[lightningthing]

You're cooked if you do a draw. Don't do a draw. You will owe money on your paychecks. Don't do it. Don't accept it.

Hey, I made an edit to the post. It’s not a draw per se. You don’t pay back money from your own paycheck. You will always make your base no matter what, but if you are in the negative, you have to make that money back up in subsequent months in order to start bonusing extra cash. That’s how their “draw” works.

 

[Pablo Sanchez]

If you want a competitive offer for a new grad, don’t take an offer with Heartland dental. Look for a private practice willing to pay at least 30% (preferably of adjusted production). They’re out there. I started at 32% and negotiated up to 35% a year later. I think my original daily guarantee was $600. I negotiated that up after my first year as well, but I make so much more over my daily guarantee that it is irrelevant.

 

[schmoob]

Heartland isn’t too bad. They are consistent. They offer lots of CE and you do have practice autonomy. I think they are pretty big on Invisalign Don’t expect to get rich as a new grad. Get your reps in, get better at dentistry, get paid.
Once you get better at dentistry you have a lot more options open. Your base won’t matter anymore.

I had a job where my daily base was $1000, but it didn’t matter because I always produced more than that. Just focus on your skills for now.

 

[Blueshirts]

They pay 25%, don’t waste your time you are being robbed. Thank me later when you have a couple of friends make this mistake and be glad you listened to a random guy on the internet.

 

[yappy]

I cannot get over this expectation that you have to pay back a base salary that is called a draw. The base is there because the company is taking your time. The base pay is to compensate you for the time you spend at work and for showing up in the morning. The responsibility of the company, because you're an employee, is to market and attract patients so that your schedule is full. With a "draw" you are penalized for their failure, despite fulfilling your responsibility of being in the clinic working. Imagine if any other employee were treated in the same way. What is the point of the DSO concept if an employee dentist is taking a financial risk by coming to work? It is ridiculous, and through this single arrangement, all the supposed "advantages" of working with a DSO are clearly false if you are a dentist.

 

[AONLINE]

Not all DSOs are created equal. I work for a DSO that pays me based on a tier of adjusted production: 30%-32%-34%-36% if I produce a certain amount. I think that is fair. No draw, obviously don't sign any job that requires a draw. Ask for a daily guarantee of around $800/day.

 

[doktorinprogres]

Wanted to chime in and say as a field we need to stop accepting 30% for general or for specialists. I'm hearing of 30% offers even for OMFS which is insulting. But even for new grad general dental let's stop taking 30%. When I first began considering dentistry as a career 10 years ago the "common knowledge" was that 32% was about what you could get as general. I feel like we are going backwards with this 25% 28% 30% bull****.

 

[2TH MVR]

Wanted to chime in and say as a field we need to stop accepting 30% for general or for specialists. I'm hearing of 30% offers even for OMFS which is insulting. But even for new grad general dental let's stop taking 30%. When I first began considering dentistry as a career 10 years ago the "common knowledge" was that 32% was about what you could get as general. I feel like we are going backwards with this 25% 28% 30% bull****.

Kind of reminds me of the downfall of pharmacy.

 

[Bentley242]

Wanted to chime in and say as a field we need to stop accepting 30% for general or for specialists. I'm hearing of 30% offers even for OMFS which is insulting. But even for new grad general dental let's stop taking 30%. When I first began considering dentistry as a career 10 years ago the "common knowledge" was that 32% was about what you could get as general. I feel like we are going backwards with this 25% 28% 30% bull****.

Overhead is a good amount higher than 10 years ago...

 

[JacquesVallee]

Kind of reminds me of the downfall of pharmacy.

Great analogy. I'm hoping the BBB will cause a collapse of the private school and things will stabilize again. It's atrocious starting incomes for new grads are 120k.

 

[Blueshirts]

Overhead is a good amount higher than 10 years ago...

More codes and more scams out there than 10 years ago too

 

[702]

More codes and more scams out there than 10 years ago too

What do you mean

 

[Blueshirts]

What do you mean

Billing out patients absolute crap like anesthetic, models, saline solution, ie, unbundling of procedures just to increase reimbursement- which ends up coming out of pocket for the patient, not out of the “yearly allowed amount” that insurance companies are so generous with

 

[Bentley242]

More codes and more scams out there than 10 years ago too

not how it works in ortho

 

[allDAT]

Do NOT work for a draw. It's a nightmare if you get in the red. You can easily find yourself in the red tens of thousands of dollars at th end of a contract period. You just can't take these deals because you don't know how strong or weak the practice is until you're in the thick of it. Everyone puts lipstick on a pig and it takes about 5 months for that to wear off and see what's going on.

A reasonable offer is 30% of collections with either no lab fee or 30% lab fee - in that case you must have the authority to pick the lab in my experience so you can pick the tech you want to work with - a great tech will help you and the big, cheap labs you'll just be stuck with some of the garbage they send you.

 

[allDAT]

Just FYI - usually when you're on a draw, if you're in the red when you want to leave you have to pay that money back - however much you're in the red.