<p>There has been a lot of threads about MD salaries on this board. For those interested in careers in dentistry, I submit the following:</p>
<p>According to the 2003 American Dental Association Survey of Dental Practice Income from the Private Practice of Dentistry, the average income of an independent general practitioner is $174,350 and the average income of an independent specialist is $291,250.</p>
<p>in 2008, the salary has increased. the general practitioner now makes $198,350, and the independent specialist makes $304,020. Hopeful i will become a dentist some day!</p>
<p>I imagine that trend will continue... the dental profession is not experiencing the downward salary pressures that the general medical profession is for a variety of reasons. The biggest factor is that 'dental insurance' tends to only cover part of the fees of most non-cosmetic procedures (excluding checkups, which are usually fully covered) thus allowing the dentist to collect additional payments from patients in a way that physician's simply can't with HMOs.</p>
<p>Also, much (sometimes most) of a dentist's income will be derived from cosmetic procedures (whitening, restorative work, ... ) which is usually not covered by insurance thus letting them set their own prices and keep more of the revenue. Dentists with higher salaries tend to focus more on running a practice focused on cosmetic work as opposed to one focused on traditional family dentistry. In other words, the more work they do that's not covered by insurance the more money they make. </p>
<p>Similarly, the few areas of medicine that are outside of the HMO/Medicare/Insurance system (eg elective plastic surgery) equally aren't experiencing strong negative salary pressures for the same reason. As for the general medical profession, to start getting everyone covered by health insurance we need to start cutting at least $100 billion a year out of the current system (or in other words that money needs to be used to treat new patients and not pay people) and current practices show (eg with reduced Medicare and HMO payments) that physician salaries are the first place where savings come from...</p>
<p>you seem to know a lot about the dental works. i was wondering if you could advise me about some seven year courses i should take. please pm me wiht any 7 year dental courses that seem reasonable</p>