I don't need my own dental practice?


After talking with one of my specialist colleagues who is retiring soon it has become apparent that there is a definite change in the thinking of many young dental specialists. Many are burdened with educational loans and prefer to work "risk free" in other dentists offices rather than invest in their own specialty practice. That way, they don't rent or have other overhead  to worry about and referrals are more or less guaranteed. My friend did not find it easy to find a young colleague who wanted to buy his practice and instead he is just walking away from his practice at the end of his lease.

Working in other dentists offices is obviously lucrative and attractive for young specialists, but it may have some drawbacks. As an owner of his own practice, a specialist has his risk spread out over his referral network  of referring dentists. As a specialist, employed by a practice, he may have guaranteed referrals but  he or she works at the pleasure of the employer dentist(s). Clearly success is  not guaranteed in either practice model, but working for other dentists does afford immediate results and doesn't require the commitment involved in developing a good network of referrers that ones own specialty practice requires.

Young general dentists also have a similar option of working  in dental practice as an associate or making a go of it on their own. Traditionally dentists have started out as associates and then after a period either bought into the practice or went out and bought a different practice so they could become  owners. Some chose to  work part time for others, while renting space, on other days, in order to start their own practice. Now, more than ever, student debt service can extend the number of years that dentists work as an associate, since paying money to buy in or start a practice can make it more difficult for them to continue to pay off  student loans. Some dentists may even work as associates their entire careers.

When I started practicing in the 1980's, this would have been dental heresy since dentists had the ultimate goal of either becoming a partner in a practice or going out on their own. There really weren't many corporate dental practices and the employment opportunities that were available were mostly for dentists with only minimal experience. Now are things different for millennial dentists? Possibly, because they are more reticent about investing in a "physical dental office" for themselves, and instead are more willing to extend the the time spent as "freelancers".

I witnessed this trend while recently looking for a tenant for my dental office. I have rented out one of my treatment rooms for most of my time in practice. It used to be easy to find a couple of other dentists to share my suite. Often, my tenants were dentists just starting out, who wanted their own practices. This time around, most of the dentists who expressed an interest were more established and just looking to move their practice to another space. The younger dentists answering my advertisement might have been "kicking the tires" but in the end wouldn't commit to a monthly rent due their continued need to pay down their debts from school. Working for a percentage probably is a less risky  option,  but in the long run owning a practice or participating in a partnership allows a dentist to be more in control of the direction his or her practice is going.

One of the best things about dental practice ownership is being able to determine how a practice will be run and more importantly, how treatment for patients will be accomplished. These decisions are often controlled to a large extent by the practice's ownership and since employees work with the "permission" of the employers. If there is a disagreement about the manner that work should be performed, often the owner wins or an employee is let go.

Although practice ownership has its own risks and  innumerable headaches,  it can bring a dentist the peace of mind that being in control of their own "work destiny" affords. Yes,  maximum take home pay is not guaranteed, but believe it or not, money is not the most important thing in life and he or she who has the most, is not necessarily the happiest.



from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2018/06/i-dont-need-my-own-dental-practice.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Help! My Child is Terrified of the Dentist

Image
If you’re the parent of a young child, you know their brains are similar to sponges that soak up everything around them—especially in their first five years, which neuroscientists say is when they’ll do the most learning and developing in their entire life. At this formative time, your child may amaze you with what they notice: your facial expressions, the different tones of your voice, and your habits. If your habits include regular dental visits and an excellent oral hygiene routine, they’ll notice and want to emulate you. If you happen to feel anxious about your dental visits, or you groan when you’ve got to floss and brush, they may synchronize and feel your dread. This could lead to dental fears that stick with them for years—potentially a lifetime! Kids Can Be Courageous If you’re feeling guilty right now, go ahead and put that away as it won’t serve you or your little one. Everyone has some room for improvement, and Coastal Pediatric Dentistry® is here to help show you an
Read more

Going for the Gold?

Image
On the left is the older allow, on the right the new one that my lab has chosen to use The cost of a penny weight of pure gold is currently $79.53. The cost of a penny weight of pure palladium is $130.6. It used to be that palladium was added instead of gold to the precious metals often used for pfms, but now laboratories are finding that palladium is no longer affordable. The lab that I am using has just changed the formulation of the metal it's using to one that has more gold than palladium. I really do not mind, but metals with more gold are softer and often easier for a dentist to accidentally polish off delicate margins. It is important when polishing "higher gold" formulations to exert less hand pressure when performing the final polishing of the crown's margins. Other wise there should be no problem with this change. Traditionally labs have chosen alloys with higher gold percentages for optimal esthetics, since alloys with higher concentrations of
Read more

Tongue Ties: What Parents Need to Know

Image
For a long time, people just didn’t seem to know much about tongue ties. In the early years of my practice, few of my patients had ever heard of a tongue tie. When I pointed out that they or their children might be tongue tied, I was often the very first practitioner who’d mentioned it to them. When I told them that a tongue tie might actually be the root cause of their oral myofunctional issues, or even their sleep apnea , I’m sure that some of them thought I was crazy. But in the last few years, things have changed so much! Initially, there was a small increase in the number of patients who were contacting me specifically about tongue ties. Dentists and orthodontists also began reaching out more frequently to discuss the application of myofunctional therapy exercises to tongue tie treatment. But in the last year or so, that little bit of interest has become a surge of awareness. Tongue ties and their effects on health and craniofacial development are finally becoming mainstream.
Read more