I absolutely would! I’m 28, have no debt, help patients everyday, have flexibility with my schedule, and am making a better income than I’d be making from virtually any other career.
I'd rather be a dentist with $500k debt but has the ability to make at least $300k/yr than being a Harvard MBA graduate who only makes $100k/yr. The question is are you willing to do whatever it takes (ie living in a rural area and working more than 4 days/wk) to make at least $300k/year as a dentist?
. Can't take back the past now and hindsight is 20/20.Having a longer view than some of those responding, I would do it all over again. Learning a skill set, that can help others is not one that you can measure financially; however it is a concern as the cost of education has risen above the rate of inflation for many years. I can understand some of the responses already given, but I've met very few individuals in healthcare who have a good financial assessment of their situation. I practiced in a low fee area of middle America and formed both wonderful relationships within the community, as well as enjoying significant financial stability. As far as the cost of education and practice it is to be considered, but it is not a barrier, but a hurdle, like most challenges of a professional career.
Even as an ortho, you feel that way? Has the ortho landscape changed too much recently?
There are lots of malocclusions to fix. Running the orthodontic business is rough. Lots of 18 year olds want to be orthodontists. Not nearly as many kids want to be orthodontic staff to support them.
How much debt do you have? How do you plan on paying it off
CRNA is a great field. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get there though. A lot of people go into nursing school and never become a CRNA. Just like a lot of people go into dental school wanting to be oral surgeons and end up practicing general dentistry.
Do you mean getting a BA degree in business? If not, where do you suggest one take "some business classes" at? And what kind of business one should open? What business that you think you would open that would beat your current ortho business? And how can a person in his/her early 20s with no job, no credit history get a business loan from a bank to start a business?
It takes just as much time (7-10 years) to become a crna. If a dentist works just as hard (puts in the same number of work hours...and works on the weekends) as a crna, he can make way more than a crna.
I know and I feel bad for the young generation, especially the ones who don't have any financial help (not even partial help with housing and food) from their parents.
Taking on 500k debt and banking you’re gonna be the top 5-10% of an associate dentist is risky in my opinion. I am happy for you that it’s worked out well so far but I’d say most people won’t graduate and make the same as you as an associate. I like to go with the median salary…
Hahah true dat lol..😂
Medical schools are getting more and more expensive as well. For example, the total cost of attendance at UCLA med school is $420k and $500k for USC med school.
medschool.ucla.edu
www.studentloanplanner.com
Medicine is a good career.
The debt is definitely something you should be worried about. The other thing med school has going for it is there are more scholarships than dental school.
What was the amount you paid off and what was your secret in paying it off!
A crap load of turning incipients into fillings and fillings into crowns. Bone grafts too. 😀
I am not sure about "easier". But you are right that there are more cheap medical schools than there are dental schools. The problem is it’s extremely hard to get into these cheap med schools because everyone wants to get in. In general, med schools are much harder to get in than dental schools. My wife and I have helped a lot of young college kids to get into dental schools. And we also have nieces and nephews who are attending (and graduated from) med schools and dental schools. The stats for getting into med schools are significantly (not just slightly) higher. I’ve seen kids who get into dental schools with the GPAs in the low 3.0 range …this is not possible for med schools. For med schools, you do not only compete against other 4th year undergrad students but you also have to compete against other strong applicants, who have the real world experience…who did (and published) research….who have MS and PhD degrees etc. My nephew, who has just finished his first yr med school at USC, is 22 yo and he’s one of the youngest students in his class. A lot of his classmates are 25+ yo.
I don’t think my son would be interested in taking over my practice if he chose to follow my footsteps. It’s a low tech office with 20+ yo equipment. I charge low fees. I treat mostly low income patients. And I work on Saturdays and Sundays. Most young grad dentists don’t want to run the office the way that I am doing right now….they want to work with modern and high tech equipment.
I paid off $250k in loans in a little over a year. I commuted 3 hours per day every day of dental school to save on living expenses and lived with my parents. I was able to get a scholarship to dental school which helped. I lived with my parents after dental school to pay off that loan.
I only fill decay that reaches the dentin. Never an E1 lesion. I do recommend bone grafts with most extractions to preserve the ridge, decrease risk of dry socket, and keep the site optimal for implants in the future. I did seek out a busy office and did negotiate my contract pretty well. I put a lot of work in my D4 year into finding a good job. I did learn how to do some more advanced procedures like molar endo, clear aligners, and simple implant placement. I just took a CE course on sinus lifting, so I will be implementing that into the mix where warranted.
That is just absolutely ridiculous.. I hope she’s OS, Endo or Ortho
The successful people whom you've met all have very special skills that help make them rich.....skills that most others don't have. I've met a lot of successful people in my neighborhood and at my children's schools as well. The reason you and I can afford to live next to these people in a nice safe neighborhood is we are dentists. Pink, the famous singer, was the former next door neighbor of my wife's classmate (an orthodontist and his wife is a pedodontist). And another dental classmate (a GP and her husband is a hand surgeon) lives in the same gated community (in Las Vegas) with Celine Dion.
But a new grad dentist/doctor can get a loan to open a business or buy a house even when he/she has student loan debt. It's because the banks know dentists/doctors can repay the loans. The landlords love to get the dentists/doctors to lease their office spaces because they are reliable long term tenants. To start a business, one needs money....a working capital loan.
Yeah I’d say most people should not be pursuing dentistry unless they could make $3 million per year.. We all need that $2 million house and a Ferrari 💪
A great argument to stay out of SoCal. There are still a lot of places where 400k/year will allow one to live very comfortably and support a family, buy a house and pay off loans etc
My point was the famous people get to live in nice neighborhood because of the special skills that they have…..skills that most people don’t have. And you and I can afford to live in the same (or similarly nice) neighborhood as the famous people (and other successful people) because of the special skills (our DDS degree and dental license) that we have…..skills that most people don’t have.
Dental school is not easy but at least now the new grads no longer have to find patients for their licensing exam like us, older dentists, had to. Simpler licensing exam/process should help give the young dentists greater opportunities to move to locations/states where there are more good available jobs. My wife and I have a lot of older friends/classmates (including the GP who subleases his office space to me), who were former engineers…..and they went back to school for dentistry. Many of them were envious of us, youngsters, because we went straight to dental school after our undergrad….we didn’t waste a lot of years like them. It was tough for some of them because they had kids to support. Some had to fly back and forth between No Cal and So Cal several times a year to see their spouse and kids at home. Many of them happily retire now and they were glad that they switched to dentistry.
