Dentist Salary?

[donnadee]

if she was working 1 or 2 days a week, then you cant expect to earn much more than that...also, it depends on how willing she may have been to travel to places where she would be able to get work...her case is certainly not the norm given that an average dentist earns at least $120-$130,000...open your own practice, and theres no way it'd be running on 25 grand an year.

[coolestdentist]

your income possibilities are endless. You can fail and you can prosper. Some people will make 25k and others will make a million, it all depends on who you are and what you're willing to do for extra pay. If you're not willing to live out of a city then you will have to be more diligent to make that same kind of income as a rural dentist...

[Ostracized]

A cautionary tale to aspiring dentists. My father is also a dentist, and he graduated in the late 1970s. By around 1980, as an associate, he was making over $100000 working in a large city. He bought his first and current home - quite a large home - at the age of 26. His home cost him about 150% his yearly income.

Flash forward to today. An urban, recent grad associate will be making very similar money ($100K-120K is reasonable). However, this is after 30 years of inflation. That same home that my dad bought would now cost 800% one's yearly income. In other words, roughly speaking, a generation ago new dentists were earning $200,000+, adjusting for inflation. Good luck getting that now, even if you are living in the boonies.

Dental income is stagnant and dentists are getting poorer every year. A generation ago it was the path to being truly rich. Today it is moderately above average. Tomorrow...?

[MCATwannabe]

Originally Posted by Ostracized

A cautionary tale to aspiring dentists. My father is also a dentist, and he graduated in the late 1970s. By around 1980, as an associate, he was making over $100000 working in a large city. He bought his first and current home - quite a large home - at the age of 26. His home cost him about 150% his yearly income.

Flash forward to today. An urban, recent grad associate will be making very similar money ($100K-120K is reasonable). However, this is after 30 years of inflation. That same home that my dad bought would now cost 800% one's yearly income. In other words, roughly speaking, a generation ago new dentists were earning $200,000+, adjusting for inflation. Good luck getting that now, even if you are living in the boonies.

Dental income is stagnant and dentists are getting poorer every year. A generation ago it was the path to being truly rich. Today it is moderately above average. Tomorrow...?

Dentistry is a business. There are always businessmen who do better than others. In fact, success in business is both based on Luck, talent, and resilience.

The problem of making money is not just limited to dentists. Look at Medical students, law students and pharmacy students.
For medical school, unless if you want to get into Family Medicine, you might have hard time finding jobs. i.e. look at Cardiac surgeons, Radiologists and pathologists.
For Law school, average salary of 76K says it all.
For Pharmacy school good luck with competing against Shoppers and Rexall.

Ok so that's just professional schools. Say you want to do research. Good luck finding jobs with that also.

Thanks but no thanks. I think I will stick with dentistry.

[UBCStudent128]

making 100~120k as an associate right out of school isn't exactly "moderately above average"... ESPECIALLY considering you're a new grad. 100~120k is a great income to start with and at the age of 26~30 as a new grad that's still incredible.

[donnadee]

Originally Posted by UBCStudent128

making 100~120k as an associate right out of school isn't exactly "moderately above average"... ESPECIALLY considering you're a new grad. 100~120k is a great income to start with and at the age of 26~30 as a new grad that's still incredible.

hmm 100-120k is certainly not a great income to start with for dentists (if youre luck enough to find one in an urban city that is!) , and I think Ostracized has made a pretty valid point on stagnant income. considering the costs and the extra years of education that we have to go through, there is definitely a gap in income and effort (both cost and time) in dentistry...a dental grad is coming out with around 200 grand in loans..so you can easily forget becoming debt free if you buy a house, get married e.t.c

[donnadee]

Originally Posted by UBCStudent128

making 100~120k as an associate right out of school isn't exactly "moderately above average"... ESPECIALLY considering you're a new grad. 100~120k is a great income to start with and at the age of 26~30 as a new grad that's still incredible.

also i realize you're looking at the dentist's income from the perspective of an undergraduate student so it is definitely a jump up from what you'd get after graduating from an undergard program...however, income should be more precisely be compared with other professional programs out there..dentistry cost alone exceeds all other programs so one should expect to be compensated likewise..however, that gap in the cost and compensation has been definitely increasing over the years

[Ostracized]

Originally Posted by donnadee

hmm 100-120k is certainly not a great income to start with for dentists (if youre luck enough to find one in an urban city that is!) , and I think Ostracized has made a pretty valid point on stagnant income. considering the costs and the extra years of education that we have to go through, there is definitely a gap in income and effort (both cost and time) in dentistry...a dental grad is coming out with around 200 grand in loans..so you can easily forget becoming debt free if you buy a house, get married e.t.c

Yeah - I forgot to add that my dad's dental tuition was fully payable with a summer job, he graduated with no debt. He also got in to dental school after only one year of university.

Imagine being 24, debt-free, and making $200K+.