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- Pre-Dental
Hey everyone,
So I have been reading these forums for at least 4 years or so and have to say, I am very thankful for all of the advising and stress relieving threads I've read on here. This however is my first post, and I was hoping for some insight into what I can expect out of my dental situation from all of you knowledgeable people on here.
So let me start out by saying that both of my parents are dentists, although my mom hasn't worked in 10 years or so. My father owns his own practice, and as he is about 55 years old, works about 26 hrs a week (give or take). We live in a wealthy area about 30 mins outside of a major city. My father doesn't participate with insurance, works relatively slowly, and charges quite a lot, but it is the same as other dentists in our area.
My uncle is also a dentist, and he lives in a relatively poor, blue collar area, where people have terrible teeth. He makes a ton of money, but does so by participating with insurance, and working at a very high rate, while his fee is about a half to a third of what my dad charges.
Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to be a dentist. For 4 years of my childhood I spent at least 2 full days a week in the office playing around while my parents worked, and it is just something I have gotten accustomed to. In addition, my uncle has always told me that if I want to live a great life, I have to be a dentist. So dentistry is what I want to do.
My father isn't very flashy or arrogant, so he doesn't really like to talk finances with me, and my mother, well she is just kind of pessimistic about some things, and likes to prepare for the worst. However, when they were doing taxes or whatever at the end of this past year, I did ask my mom, and she said the office grossed about $700-800 grand each of the past 5 years or so. But immediately after that she said "yeah but don't get ur hopes up, dentistry isn't as profitable as it used to be and its only getting worse, and ur father never works." She says he doesn't work because people don't "need" the work, where as he says he doesn't want to do the work. So I kinda get conflicting answers here.
Where as my uncle is exactly the opposite, but it think that is because he lives in an area where there are so many people with bad teeth, he always has too many patients.
So here is where my questions come in. When I come out of dental school and start working for my father (Our agreement is that we will work 1 year together, and then he will sell/give it to me), what can I expect to make, and also what do I have to do to insure I have enough patients and enough work? If I have an already existing and profitable practice, will it be hard to acquire more patients? And then my last question, out of the 2 types of practices I mentioned above, which would u rather go into when beginning your career, and which has more potential?
I'm sorry for that being so long, and didn't mean to tell my life story, I am just kinda a planning freak and like to have things sorted out. So im just looking for unbiased opinions on the matter, as well as where you guys think the future of dentistry is going. Thanks for everyone's help.
So I have been reading these forums for at least 4 years or so and have to say, I am very thankful for all of the advising and stress relieving threads I've read on here. This however is my first post, and I was hoping for some insight into what I can expect out of my dental situation from all of you knowledgeable people on here.
So let me start out by saying that both of my parents are dentists, although my mom hasn't worked in 10 years or so. My father owns his own practice, and as he is about 55 years old, works about 26 hrs a week (give or take). We live in a wealthy area about 30 mins outside of a major city. My father doesn't participate with insurance, works relatively slowly, and charges quite a lot, but it is the same as other dentists in our area.
My uncle is also a dentist, and he lives in a relatively poor, blue collar area, where people have terrible teeth. He makes a ton of money, but does so by participating with insurance, and working at a very high rate, while his fee is about a half to a third of what my dad charges.
Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to be a dentist. For 4 years of my childhood I spent at least 2 full days a week in the office playing around while my parents worked, and it is just something I have gotten accustomed to. In addition, my uncle has always told me that if I want to live a great life, I have to be a dentist. So dentistry is what I want to do.
My father isn't very flashy or arrogant, so he doesn't really like to talk finances with me, and my mother, well she is just kind of pessimistic about some things, and likes to prepare for the worst. However, when they were doing taxes or whatever at the end of this past year, I did ask my mom, and she said the office grossed about $700-800 grand each of the past 5 years or so. But immediately after that she said "yeah but don't get ur hopes up, dentistry isn't as profitable as it used to be and its only getting worse, and ur father never works." She says he doesn't work because people don't "need" the work, where as he says he doesn't want to do the work. So I kinda get conflicting answers here.
Where as my uncle is exactly the opposite, but it think that is because he lives in an area where there are so many people with bad teeth, he always has too many patients.
So here is where my questions come in. When I come out of dental school and start working for my father (Our agreement is that we will work 1 year together, and then he will sell/give it to me), what can I expect to make, and also what do I have to do to insure I have enough patients and enough work? If I have an already existing and profitable practice, will it be hard to acquire more patients? And then my last question, out of the 2 types of practices I mentioned above, which would u rather go into when beginning your career, and which has more potential?
I'm sorry for that being so long, and didn't mean to tell my life story, I am just kinda a planning freak and like to have things sorted out. So im just looking for unbiased opinions on the matter, as well as where you guys think the future of dentistry is going. Thanks for everyone's help.
