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So you’re a D4 now, time to start preparing for life after dental school! Here’s my advice:
1) Specialty, GPR, or general dentistry
Most of you will have this decided already. Specializing? Great! Go for it. If not, time to get to work. If you feel fairly competent, do not sign up for a GPR. Those are designed to get you some experience but you’re leaving money/ autonomy/ career building time, on the table. You’re a working student. You’re not a master dentist yet and that’s not a reason to worry. You’ll be leaning more about dentistry for the rest of your career, so don’t panic. I learned to place implants as an associate dentist, and I did it while making a lot more than a resident, and working way way less. Also I figured out endo and CEREC all while being an associate.
2) Decide WHERE you want to practice and start making moves.
If you plan on living/practicing in a major metropolitan area, Southern California, NYC, you’re gonna have to pay the price to be there. It’s competitive! And starting salary will reflect that. Don’t worry, after 5 years you’ll be doing as well as anywhere else but you’ll be where you want to be. Start scouting for possible jobs 6months prior to graduating. You don’t want to wait till you’ve already graduated to start looking. If you’re looking to come to California, it takes about 4-6weeks to get your licenses to practice, so save some of that student loan money!
3) Getting Paid (California)
I can only really speak to Southern California rates.
So, there’s safety in salary and daily minimums but that safety will cost more than it’s worth. New dentists can expect $450-$550 a day which is very low. The more rural areas can get to $700 a day. From what I’ve seen it’s always better to get paid for what you do. Why should the owner dentist pay you if a patient cancels? They’re making money having you there, that’s why you’re there. Don’t forget it.
The better compensations are a % of what you do. Usually it’s 25-35% of either production or collection. Do whatever you can do get paid as a % of production. Keeping track of how much you produce is easy! The front desk can print you out your “day sheet” every day that shows what you’ve done. Do the math and you’ll know what to expect on your check.
If you’re on % of collection that’s tricky. What happens when you do work on one patient and the owner doc does work on that patient’s family member? When the check for some of that work comes in, the owner doc could keep it and pay you last. Or what happens when the patient you worked on gets something complimentary from the front desk. Like the xrays or build ups? What if you leave that office? You’ll need to keep calling for 3 months to figure out if you should have more money coming your way as insurance payments come in? Skip the headache. I’d rather get 25% production than 30% collection.
Ok this has been long enough I gotta go seat a crown. Hope this was helpful
1) Specialty, GPR, or general dentistry
Most of you will have this decided already. Specializing? Great! Go for it. If not, time to get to work. If you feel fairly competent, do not sign up for a GPR. Those are designed to get you some experience but you’re leaving money/ autonomy/ career building time, on the table. You’re a working student. You’re not a master dentist yet and that’s not a reason to worry. You’ll be leaning more about dentistry for the rest of your career, so don’t panic. I learned to place implants as an associate dentist, and I did it while making a lot more than a resident, and working way way less. Also I figured out endo and CEREC all while being an associate.
2) Decide WHERE you want to practice and start making moves.
If you plan on living/practicing in a major metropolitan area, Southern California, NYC, you’re gonna have to pay the price to be there. It’s competitive! And starting salary will reflect that. Don’t worry, after 5 years you’ll be doing as well as anywhere else but you’ll be where you want to be. Start scouting for possible jobs 6months prior to graduating. You don’t want to wait till you’ve already graduated to start looking. If you’re looking to come to California, it takes about 4-6weeks to get your licenses to practice, so save some of that student loan money!
3) Getting Paid (California)
I can only really speak to Southern California rates.
So, there’s safety in salary and daily minimums but that safety will cost more than it’s worth. New dentists can expect $450-$550 a day which is very low. The more rural areas can get to $700 a day. From what I’ve seen it’s always better to get paid for what you do. Why should the owner dentist pay you if a patient cancels? They’re making money having you there, that’s why you’re there. Don’t forget it.
The better compensations are a % of what you do. Usually it’s 25-35% of either production or collection. Do whatever you can do get paid as a % of production. Keeping track of how much you produce is easy! The front desk can print you out your “day sheet” every day that shows what you’ve done. Do the math and you’ll know what to expect on your check.
If you’re on % of collection that’s tricky. What happens when you do work on one patient and the owner doc does work on that patient’s family member? When the check for some of that work comes in, the owner doc could keep it and pay you last. Or what happens when the patient you worked on gets something complimentary from the front desk. Like the xrays or build ups? What if you leave that office? You’ll need to keep calling for 3 months to figure out if you should have more money coming your way as insurance payments come in? Skip the headache. I’d rather get 25% production than 30% collection.
Ok this has been long enough I gotta go seat a crown. Hope this was helpful
) .... then of course .... some additional training will be useful.
