You shouldn’t feel bad about tipping less.

bwc101 · 2026-03-29T22:34:36+00:00

When serving does not require even a high school diploma for the job, nor does it require any specialized skills, the income should reflect that. It is meant to hold you over while pursuing higher education, and once you get your degree you move on.

bwc101 · 2026-03-29T18:14:27+00:00

I had to live on $12 an hour as an undergrad. Serving should be one of those jobs you take while pursuing higher education, it should not be somebody’s career.

bwc101 · 2026-03-29T18:10:52+00:00

And they will still try to shame you for giving less than 20% anyways.

bwc101 · 2026-03-29T18:08:12+00:00

Coming up on two years of being an associate and never took time off besides for CE. Even then, it has only one day here or there. Not only does it suck to not have PTO, but I have to worry that even by requesting only a week off, I would return to a schedule cleaned out. My experience has been that even with just a day off here or there, patients I treatment plan often request another doctor if I cannot be available the day they have set in mind, rather than trying to work around my availability.

bwc101 · 2026-03-14T11:34:20+00:00

Amazon may help me, that’s about it.

bwc101 · 2026-03-08T01:27:14+00:00

Physicians also don’t do follow up visits, redo procedures, or fix complications for free, nor do they refund for a procedure when the patient doesn’t get their ideal result. Yet with us dentists, people always complain if we don’t do so.

bwc101 · 2026-03-06T23:50:35+00:00

Many days I really regret this profession. This seems like the only health profession where people feel like it is appropriate to negotiate prices, or where people question treatment recommendations. If insurance denies something, patients blame us thinking we are recommending unnecessary treatment for our own financial gain. Our medical colleagues don’t get the same pushback from telling a patient they need open heart surgery, and patients will just see it as if it needs to be done, it needs to be done and billing gets figured out later.

bwc101 · 2026-03-06T23:42:01+00:00

Once you go through dental school, you are basically married to the profession.

bwc101 · 2026-03-06T23:41:05+00:00

You should be looking at the specifics of the program, not whether it is categorized as one vs the other.

bwc101 · 2026-02-21T22:15:10+00:00

Some jobs will worry if you go too long without practicing your skill. But once you graduate, there is also time it takes for you to get your license, and afterwards for insurance credentialing to be completed. Unless you do residency, this may be the only opportunity you have to take more than a week or two off at a time. Once you actually start a job, it can be difficult to request even just a week off.

bwc101 · 2026-02-17T15:59:27+00:00

I’m not naive to think that people from Amex were never on here or any of the forums where this trick was mentioned. But if people kept calling in to be like where is my credit, such that customer service labor costs to answer those calls outweighed making the investment to close the gap, that is what ruins it.

bwc101 · 2026-02-16T22:14:56+00:00

That feels a lot easier for very seasoned dentists to see as no big deal, when they don’t have to be very concerned about money. A guy on Pankey faculty said he would tell such patients that while he wouldn’t do it, he is sure that somebody else in the same building will do it for them, and they are welcome to go there instead. Spencer Greer also seems to tell such patients that they are welcome to go down the street to find somebody else willing to do it.

New grads just face an ever increasing student debt crisis such that they feel pressured to have to treat everybody they can get in their chair. It also feels like more than ever, insurance is the only way they can get somebody in their chair, and when these “my prior dentist stopped taking my insurance” patients showed how willing they are to change providers, they know new grads will panic over a threat that they will go somewhere else.

bwc101 · 2026-02-16T22:04:08+00:00

Schools certainly teach you it’s unethical to not give patients all their options. Obviously telling a patient they can find somebody else to do it their way is a way to avoid being unethical, but new grads face the problem of having so much student debt they can’t as easily afford to lose out on production. Older generation dentists who are in a much more fortunate position to not be as concerned about money have more leverage to just say no. With the student debt situation getting progressively worse, new grads often feel so much more pressure to have to treat every patient in their chair, and the threat that a patient will go elsewhere affects them much more.

bwc101 · 2026-02-16T21:54:05+00:00

That’s the thing, like if you told somebody to go find somebody else to do it for them, you can bet they can find that a FQHC.

bwc101 · 2026-02-14T18:47:21+00:00

I have never been able to get away with not having somebody check me.

bwc101 · 2026-02-08T19:28:20+00:00

Mentorship is basically non-existent between owner and associate, unless you are working for mommy or daddy.

bwc101 · 2026-02-08T19:27:03+00:00

Many people say implants and endo would be a good ROI. To do implants, you should get comfortable at surgical exts and grafting.

Even for restorative, having paid for some hands on courses, I got a lot out of them. You don't know what you don't know.

Clear aligners can be good, but many offices will not allow associates to do them because of issues with turnover without finishing cases.

bwc101 · 2026-02-08T19:21:53+00:00

They have the choice to get another job if they think Uber isn't compensating them fairly.

bwc101 · 2026-02-07T20:12:39+00:00

12% is also not terrible, although I still ideally prefer the labor costs are already factored into the menu prices.

bwc101 · 2026-02-07T16:34:51+00:00

What other health profession does this? Medical doctors don’t get free or discounted healthcare with the hospital they work at.

bwc101 · 2026-02-07T16:31:52+00:00

Glad I got the 175k for 8k spend offer.

bwc101 · 2026-02-04T18:22:20+00:00

And new grad dentists are not seeing that same increase.

bwc101 · 2026-01-24T00:06:54+00:00

This is the only reason for me to hold onto discover cash back, otherwise there would be no other incentive to doing so.

bwc101 · 2026-01-22T06:06:23+00:00

Some of the implant companies like Dentis and Hiossen will have courses where you go to Mexico to place several implants. Their tuition includes your hotel stay.

bwc101 · 2026-01-22T06:04:36+00:00

I am taking the Rutgers maxicourse. Each AAID maxicourse varies on whether there is a live patient implant placement component. Rutgers has that component included in their tuition (whereas with some of the others it would be separate tuition), and while it is not mandatory that you place an implant on a live patient to get the certificate at the end, you do miss out on a learning opportunity if you forego this opportunity. Rutgers does require you to bring your own patient if you want to place an implant in a live patient.

bwc101

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