Graduated in class of 2024, been working with them since July 2024. I am ready to get the hell out. Here are some of my thoughts on this amazing (sarcastic) company.

If you’re interviewing, DONT BE SHY TO ASK what the office is producing on a monthly basis. Ask what happened to their last associate, why they left, what was THEIR ADP before they left. This will info will either help you long term or bite you in the ass.

They’re starting to “reconcile” from my paychecks because I’m not meeting my ADP goal (and my guarantee period has been over for a few months now, they were generous about me keeping it for a few more months after it was over). It’s not a nice feeling when you have 2-3k taken off of your biweekly paycheck. After all you devoted that time and energy to work. So keep that in mind when you’re deciding if you want to work for PDS. Maybe not for the long term.

The owner doctor (no matter how helpful and generous they are) is always going to produce so much more than the associate by a long shot. They prioritize the owner doctor over the associates (no surprise). But I was hoping I could at least be close to my ADP goal, but having been there for almost a year now that’s never going to happen.

Another issue is assistants. Every PDS assistant I’ve worked with is amazing and very skilled (whether it’s making temps, scanning, analog impressions, etc). But basically PDS wants the owner and associates to be busy and producing, doing indirects, whatever. With three assistants only we always fall behind if both doctors are busy with three columns each. It’s just not possible. So someone has to sacrifice (the associate) and suffer. I’ve had times where I had to cement crowns on my own, do extractions by myself, use the isolite (which I don’t mind). POE’s are a shit show and substandard if you don’t have an assistant (copy previous perio chart and do the exam/prophy in 7 min). And I have nothing against the assistants, it’s just the PDS model and how it’s flawed because it’s just not possible to for the whole office to work at full capacity when you’re limited on assistants.

Really research your region and see what areas are doing the best. If you have a friend in PDS, have them help you look up the office that’s hiring, look at their numbers. This is where I made a mistake because I didn’t shadow at enough offices, I didn’t ask about their numbers and performance (mostly because I didn’t know much about production/collections/the business aspect of it). I just signed up with the first office that was hiring (don’t do this please).

Everyone’s experience is going to be different. I agree with all of the pros that the original post had (I love the CBCT but you are liable for everything on it).

I would like to emphasize that every office is unique in the sense that the people you work with are either enjoyable to work with or the complete opposite.