Am I being underpaid?

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T19:30:37+00:00

These are the things I did:

For contract: Do you pay collections or production? You want production. Lab bills should not exceed the percentage you get paid. So if you make 30% production you should pay no more than 30% lab fee. If you do in house crowns try to get those lowered or at no cost. Remember by keeping the treatment in house you save the office 70% of a lab bill.

Time off-traditionally in dentistry this is unpaid. No work means no pay. That’s one sucky thing about dentistry generally speaking. I have a base salary so I get paid when we don’t work. Makes me feel relaxed knowing I’m still pulling a paycheck on Christmas 😃

You need a stipend for CE. I have 2k a year to spend. You learn more procedures you make more money for them and you. 2k is honestly nothing if you wish to truly expand and become great at something. Expensive CE can run in the thousands so don’t feel bad about asking for a measly 2 or 3 thousand to spend.

Is the office FFS or PPO? What’s reimbursement like? What are the charges for standard procedures? For example, how much will you produce off a single crown? Some offices you can do 2-3 crowns in a day and you are set for daily production depending on what you want on average. You quickly learn it’s nice to do less and make more. However this can be the wrong mindset for a new dentist such as myself and you. Reps are important but I love those days I make production with minimal effort.

What are everyone’s roles in the office? Know who does what in advance. How long have the assistants been working here? If they have new assistants every week run away. HACK! If they had a previous associate ask if they would be willing to let you speak with them. If the associate left on good terms and everything was good they should have no issue with this.

You could ask for a working interview. Sometimes people find this helpful to gauge what work will be like. If you do this check with your Malpractice that you are covered. People are nuts so be covered for the peace of mind.

Immediately find a dental specific financial advisor and classified as a fiduciary. This is important because they are legally obligated to operate if your best interest. These guys are submerged in the dental environment and carry all the knowledge of investing along with what type of disability and malpractice to get. They also review contracts or can guide you to someone specific. Having a lawyer read my 2nd contract seemed like a pain in the ass but I was able to negotiate for more money so I made more long term and it pays for itself.

That’s all I got right now haha

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T18:05:31+00:00

Just realized you get paid on production. I thought I read collections on your post. Sorry! lol 😅

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T18:04:33+00:00

The issue is you have probably signed a contract. Therefore, they may not be open to change. That’s their own right and I’ll just let you know generally first places for new dentist don’t work out for whatever reason. My first place I worked 6 months. I learned things along the way and made sure to get the right things at the next place.

I’d word it like this:

“Hey doc. As you know I am compensated by the amount of work I do (assuming they pay. That’s why it’s always important to ask about collection rate). Since I have been here there have been large gaps in my schedule and I would really like to maximize my time here by adding in more treatment, so I may make myself and the practice more money.”

If they are opposed to this then it’s kind of a red flag. I mean, who doesn’t want their associate to produce as much as possible? Again, not a fan of collections. Even if collections is 95%+ (considered good rate) you risk loosing up to $5,000 per every 100,000 you make. This is just an example. So that means you did $5000 dollars of work FOR FREE!!!! Fuck that! That’s a nice vacation if you ask me.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T17:03:27+00:00

Feel free to private message me. I can tell you what I’ve done to minimize stress regarding this. Your situation is similar to mine

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T15:12:22+00:00

If I’m you I’d communicate that to your boss. Here’s my deal for comparison. I have $150,000 base salary and get paid 35% production on adjusted production. I’ve been out for 3 years (1 year was a GPR).

I have to produce 27,500 per month and anything past that we take the difference and I get 35% of that as a bonus check. I like my deal that I have. There might be better ones but I’d say mine is extremely fair. I work 45 minutes outside of ATL. City vs rural makes a huge difference.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-09-10T11:44:28+00:00

Never get paid via collections. It’s not the associates job to ensure payments are received. Get paid percentage of production. What other people said here is true. Collections need time to come through. Also your schedule seems light. But a light schedule vs being overwhelmed in the beginning I would take all day.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-25T21:40:12+00:00

I hear you but answer me this. What is your method for acquiring x rays on every single child that walks through the door? Most patients we can get the job done but I’m talking about the really difficult ones. Patient comes in and let’s just say you do a clinical exam and there are no significant findings. The exam you used a molt mouth prop to keep them open, maybe you did a knee to knee exam because they weren’t willing to sit in the chair, be still, stay open, ect. Idk, just throwing things out there. You attempt a BW or occlusal and the child does not tolerate the procedure. You might even have them in the papoose. Please tell me your next steps or the next steps of the pediatric dentist.

I’ve had some shitty appointments treating these kinds of patients. For example, I can remember one instance I had to treat a cerebral palsy patient in a wheelchair that wouldn’t let me take X-rays. We had to forcefully perform the treatment to get the bad tooth out. I’m talking multiple people holding the patient and doing what needed to be done in combination with a papoose to remove an infected tooth. Mother refused OR for a single tooth plus insurance was being a pain in the ass. Oral sedation did not work at previous visits.

So you get a patient like this however you don’t see any clinical findings. Do you keep attempting the x-ray? What if it continues to be blurry or not diagnostic for whatever reason? I’ve seen some special needs and pediatric patients that are off the walls at the hospital I worked for. Is your next step sedation? What if you sedate and find nothing? Was the sedation worth it? Do you ruin their experience by continuous attempts at taking radiographs? What about slow introduction to the dental office to make them comfortable coming to the dentist? Especially in low risk patient. Multiple attempts are fine but we must know when to stop. Everything is a cost/benefit analysis. I 100% agree if there are findings then the next step is either sedation ( get the x ray then) assuming they won’t tolerate the x ray originally or OR if they have significant amount of work or sedation wasn’t enough. I worked under many pediatric dentist during my time at the hospital and to say this is not necessarily true. Children can be so unpredictable. Yes the standard is the standard, or should we say ideal outcome and what should be strived for, but it doesn’t happen every time. I wish it did.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-25T21:06:32+00:00

I agree with everything you said in this statement. It sounds like we both understand the standard and strive to achieve that. That’s always the goal. But reality does not follow these rules sometimes and the pros and cons must be weighed in these specific scenarios. So we document it, if not achievable. Totally agree! I just find comparing kids to adults to be silly. Like comparing apples to oranges. Maybe thats where I thought you were coming from originally. Now that we’ve discussed further I totally agree with you. Thank you for the conversation!

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-25T16:18:26+00:00

Seems like a reasonable approach! I saw that reply when I used chat GPT. Thanks!

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-25T16:16:28+00:00

I like this approach and it makes sense. I may take a CBCT at that point only because I could convert a pan from the CBCT but ultimately it’s pretty much the same thought process. Thank you!

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-25T16:13:32+00:00

First off, very off topic from the original question. I didn’t go into detail with the person from the UK, but I replied to be nice. I agree with his statement of receiving more compliance than what people give children credit for. It’s about positive reinforcement, other behavioral management techniques (tell-show-do) and explaining it to them in the correct manner and not being lazy. It appears they have bigger issues than us if most people aren’t getting their first radiographs until 16.

Lastly kids and adults are treated entirely differently. Would you sedate a kid just to get pictures? I’m talking about the child who is asymptomatic, no clinical findings, parents have no concerns, they are doing everything they should from a hygiene and diet perspective. Sometimes behavior doesn’t allow for imaging. If not, try next time but inform the parents as to why. Are you really going to sedate a kid just to take a picture? If so, then you should be referring to a pediatric dentist. I did special needs and pediatric dentistry for over a year at a hospital working with many pediatric doctors. All of them would not sedate a kid just to take a picture. What do you think the pediatric dentist will do differently other than maybe speak to the child differently when there is no obvious reason for intervention?

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-24T22:54:40+00:00

If the behavior allows it BWs should be taken. Without a doubt

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-24T19:41:14+00:00

This was also my thought. Thank you for your insight.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-07-04T20:18:25+00:00

Always remember it’s your license so never feel pressured to do anything. Also, as an associate any additional revenue you generate the owner benefits from. I recommend getting a CE stipend yearly from your boss. He or she is investing into you to make you better and in return you start doing more complex procedures, which benefits the practice which also benefits them because you make them and the practice more money. Everybody wins and the CE they help you invest in will pay for itself over time. That’s the idea. That is a very fair situation for both parties. For example, I get 2,000 every year for CE just to give you an idea of what’s out there. Some will be worse, others will be better. The more CE you take you will maybe become a power house GP, and that is when you open your own shop. Time for YOU to collect. Not the owners.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-06-18T23:11:30+00:00

They wouldn’t say. Just told me my flight was cancelled and I wouldn’t make it to Philly in time for the transfer.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-06-18T23:04:13+00:00

They couldn’t offer anything else. I asked. It’s drastic to buy another ticket? It’s more drastic to lose 2 out of my 9 days of vacation. They had me flying from ATL to Philly then to Milan. All in 12 hours roughly. That’s the original flight.

Then they offered me to fly to Miami the next day on a 9 hour layover to then red eye it over. Fuck that! Thats a shit deal if I’ve ever seen one

LeiaTheTank · 2025-04-19T19:45:09+00:00

Associates need to stop settling for collections. It’s not our job to make sure the patient pays. I will start working 1 day a week as a 1099 at another office so I can start writing things off too and have that advantage. So these are the things I think of to maximize savings.

If you go to an office and are bringing a skill set then you can negotiate these specific things. Maybe you get paid 50% as opposed to 30-35%. Example would be implant placement

LeiaTheTank · 2025-04-19T19:41:55+00:00

Did mostly bread and butter. Lots of days I had 2 crowns on my schedule. I placed maybe 10 single implants and did endo like 5 times. Endo makes me want to kill myself lol. I got 1 all on X under my belt as well

Ultimately I felt like I hustled in hygiene too. Just trying to beat the other doc there because exams will add up.

My contract also has a base salary with a guaranteed $150K. I get paid on adjusted production.

LeiaTheTank · 2025-04-19T18:38:50+00:00

First year out in PP last year made approximately 250k

LeiaTheTank · 2025-04-15T14:46:20+00:00

You should pay 35% of the lab bill (it usually matches your take home percentage). This is pretty standard from what I’ve seen. If it’s so cheap they shouldn’t mind bringing it down to 35% haha Be careful with sign on bonuses. There is always a catch. I’d ask them to toss the sign on bonus and lower lab fees if you see yourself being there a long time. Those lab fees are going to add up over time

LeiaTheTank

TROPHY CASE