2017 New Grad Edition - 40

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elected to walk away, because I was barely able to eke out a living from it. (Wife worked also.)
I've been working for a privately owned group office for the past 11 years and haven't looked
back since. Would have done it from the get-go if it had been available to me at the time. The
15 years I owned prevented me from contributing to my retirement and I've had to make up for
lost time during the past decade. Guess it was analogous to a bad divorce. At 55, I'm probably
looking at putting in another 12 years (when SS kicks in) then I'll hopefully be able to call it
quits and enter a very meager retirement with my wife. Oh, well-could be a lot worse. ■

3/24/2016

John Basile DDS
Member Since: 11/10/01
Post: 18 of 358

I practiced in a small two-chair office for 20 years. Stupid. I was busy from Day One, was
too cramped but made it work. Overhead was 38-40 percent, so I brought home $300K+ for a
long time, on four days a week.
Bought building and moved to five-op practice six years ago and all I can say is, "WTF was
I thinking?" I should have been out of the two-chair place a few years in. Now I have room to
breathe and a great hygiene staff, and I make way more than I ever did in small place. Overhead
near 50 percent, but collections up 30-38 percent or so. Did implant training at 56; now I am
even busier and more profitable. So, I say get that implant training-ortho, too, maybe sleep
medicine, and get out of fill-and-drill ASAP. The real money is in implants and ortho as I see it.
(OK, maybe endo, if you can stand it.) And down to three and a half days. ■
3/24/2016

Dr Mac Lee
Member Since: 04/14/00
Post: 28 of 358

raclro
Member Since: 08/17/05
Post: 31 of 358

Interesting and very important thread. May I ask what made you think of designing and
posting it? What do you personally want to get out of it? ■
3/24/2016

I was curious about what might come out of these questions. As you can see, the responses
are somewhat different from many of the usual posts on DT. I thought there might be some
wisdom out there that doesn't always come through in other posts.
Nearly all the dentists I've known in my 31 years absolutely do not fit the "DT" mode. Most
I know came into this profession expecting to earn about three times what an elementary school
teacher earns and to be one of the "rich" guys in town and be satisfied with that.
Few dentists I know earn much more than $200K, and doing so is not a goal. Many of us
consider a big, busy office the definition of hell. Of course, there is a whole new reality these days
with debt for education and setting up a practice.
I am 60 and plan to work my easy pace for 10 more years or so. I do have my own regrets,
however, and wanted to see how others felt. I, too, went on autopilot for a decade, liking what
I was doing but letting the business slide. My early mentors taught me, right or wrong, that
running a dental practice as a business was bordering on the unethical.
These were guys who thought our world of professionalism ended when advertising
became legal. I don't share all those opinions, but in hindsight I see it probably hurt my
practice to have followed that line of thinking for the most part. I hoped for and see there are
some very well-thought-out replies. I also hoped it would be valuable for younger dentists to
see this perspective. ■
3/24/2016

keepin it simple
Member Since: 10/13/11
Post: 47 of 358

I see a lot of people who stayed small and had no problem maintaining the course for 30
years or more. I wonder if the people going balls to the wall can really stay the course for that
long. Maybe the tortoise really can beat the hare in the end. ■

3/24/2016

NEW GRAD 2017 // dentaltown.com

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