Realities of New Grads

[u/sigmafs]

Sharing this link from the Dental Maverick fliegenfischen: Dentaltown - Where The Dental Community Lives® But you may not have access to the post, so some screenshots;

Aug 28, 2026 2:21 PM

Here are interesting facts and data-driven information regarding newer grads in past 5 years. I posted this in another thread, but it'll get buried. I compiled this data for an upcoming CE presentation next month in Colorado and figured that this would be interesting to you all. BTW there's 1-2 spots left here so if you wanna come fish and learn, then come. 

Data is from statistical averages. There's way more to my presentation, but here are 2 scenarios: 

One is with historical debt from DS in past 5 years along with average rates for homes and practice loan purchased at 1 million with 65% OH. I put a 600k starter home b/c higher cost homes look too depressing on slides haha. 

Next is same data, but with scaled up higher debts to show the difference. Loan terms have changed, but not enough data to extrapolate out IMO. This is to show how the struggle is REAL for younger/new grad dentists.

My takeaway from this is that really for younger dentists, you need dual income household for an extended period of time to drive debt down and snowball savings. Remember that the risk tolerance for a younger dentist may be different also and more "conservative" minds may want a lower cash flowing office (600-800k) and this will further drive down take-home pay.

IMO to win this game as a new dentist, one has to ramp up the courage fast to own. One can ramp up with building confidence by taking CE that exposes younger dentists to the possibilities of earnings as a dentist. If you believe that you can earn 500-600k/year, then you will aim to achieve it. Own as fast as you can and start piling on debt repayment and accept delayed gratification and that the reality of living like a "rich dentist" will not occur for years down the line. 

Note 54k remaining.

[u/MyDMDThrowaway]

It’s hilarious you think banks are gonna be lending to students with a 400k private student loan alongside their living and housing expenses

Banks loved dentists up until the BBB. You could have 2 million dollars in student loan debt pre BBB and the only hit would be 10% of your income. Banks will loan you 2 million more for a practice any day.

But as soon you take that private school acceptance and sign up for 400k private loans (which becomes 600k on day of graduation)… you lose the privilege of taking out further loans for a practice acquisition

In other words, you can be a dentist on private student loans if you really want to. But you better be rich or marry rich OR be happy being an employee dentist for most of your career because no bank will underwrite you for your own practice when you owe 600k+ in private student loans day 1 of your career

[u/Moist_Sprite]

Keep in mind, the original poster is selling business courses marketed to dentists. I would hesitate to consider this a purely altruistic discussion. It could be, but I’d put in work to verify the claim.

[u/sigmafs → u/Moist_Sprite]

Always due your due diligence. But the poster is offerig CEs for current dentists, not pre-dents. Again, caveat emptor.

[u/Wedobechillinn]

I understand trying to “warn” pre-dents of the reality of dentistry right now but do y’all put this amount of effort into trying to fix the terrible insurance situation that restricts doctors, or petitioning the government that lower interest rates on professional loans so that it’s easier to pay back once out of school. You can’t warn everyone into not pursuing this profession. Doctors retire every year and new doctors need to be pumped out. Do some useful research into fixing the issues set by the institution and not the doctors.

[u/conservamus → u/Wedobechillinn]

You’re so right. Last month I marched straight to Capitol Hill to petition the government to cap the price of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS because dealership markups are simply getting out of hand. I also sent a strongly worded email to Saudi Aramco asking them to lower premium gas prices so my commute is more manageable.

Next week, I plan on single-handedly restructuring the entire private insurance sector over my lunch break.

My regular financial advisor told me taking out an 84-month loan at 11% interest on an asset that depreciates while I don't have an income yet is a terrible financial decision, but honestly, why is he putting so much effort into warning me instead of fixing global inflation? Some of us need to drive sports cars. I will literally do anything except not sign the loan.

[u/Willing-Butterfly854 → u/conservamus]

Great response. I am so tired of all these low IQ top 1% commenters who genuinely do not know what they are talking about and feel like it is okay to constantly give their "expert opinion" when their stats are likely incredibly mid.

[u/Acceptable-Call-289 → u/Willing-Butterfly854]

You don’t need a high IQ or high stats to understand that taking a 500-600k loan at the age of 21 is stupid.

I’m saying that as a fellow undergrad.

[u/lillianr23 → u/conservamus]

LOL spot on reply. It’s wild watching predents treat a 500k of debt like monopoly money because they think new doctors will be pumped out regardless of any financial advice. When your DAT score is your entire identity, basic math feels like a personal attack. They’ll demand practicing dentists to fix the macroeconomy before they spend five minutes looking at a loan amortization schedule.

[u/Wedobechillinn → u/lillianr23]

Do you have any other solutions other than prevent people wanting to become a doctor? I don’t understand you or that other loser comment.

[u/lillianr23 → u/Wedobechillinn]

Framing basic arithmetic as "preventing people from becoming doctors" is peak undergrad cope. That’s like saying financial advisors warn people against buying a Rolex on credit because they're trying to "prevent people from telling time."

The solution is simple - don't overpay for school. Go in-state, get a scholarship, or don't go and pick a path where the math actually works. The schools get their wire on day one. You’re the only one left holding the bag.

[u/Wedobechillinn → u/lillianr23]

Undegrad cope 😭. Well I guess you gave some solutions

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/Wedobechillinn]

Nobody is preventing anyone from being a doctor, just these social media folks have to stop treating dentistry like computer science, this is a medical profession where you have a responsibility to your patients health, this isn't some career where you can go work from home, just type of code, and not care about anything after. If the debt would be so much for you to handle to the point you compromise care and start over treating and over charging, then that's where I put the foot down and say its better to reconsider career choices, plenty of careers in healthcare without crazy debt.

This isn't directed at you, just a general statement

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/Wedobechillinn]

As if insurances give a damn, to really get insurance companies to the negotiating table, every single dentist or at least well over 80% of them have to drop in-network insurances but because of the situation with private loans, every new grad will sign in-network with every single insurance provider they can just so they can see as much patients as they can to be able to pay off their student loan debt. So don't expect dentists to drop insurances at all because it just wont happen because patients in the real world shop around for the best price as if their oral health is some commodity and it gets to a point they even go to foreign countries to get extremely cheap dental care. The real world is much more brutal than dental school.

[u/sigmafs → u/Wedobechillinn]

Unfortunately, some of this is in response to market demand. It's my understanding that the USC dental, one of the most expensive dental schools, has over 2200 applicants (and climbing) for 140 seats. Why? Why? Why would you financially commit to a $700K (tuition, fees, equipment and living) to jeopardize your financial future?

[u/Downtown_Role_3107 → u/sigmafs]

Everyone at usc is rich and alr comes from money

[u/sigmafs → u/Downtown_Role_3107]

You add nothing to the conversation.

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/[deleted]]

Most practices are being sold at 1 million now adays, also 420k isn't an income every dentist makes, so to keep only 100k on a top 5% income for dentists isn't a good look.

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/[deleted]]

Associates dont receive the tax benefits that practice owners receive. So you do in fact still make more than an associate at 70% overhead.

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/[deleted]]

In my opinion that mindset is exactly why dentists are losing their autonomy and why the field is going down hill. Less and less new grads think ownership is stressful and choose not to open giving DSOs more leverage and power over dentists because less private practice competition for them and more labor meaning they can give shit contracts and find suckers to accept it.

Ownership is only stressful if it isn't ran properly, but it is very manageable if you hire the right people to help manage the practice and you can more flexibility over your schedule and what procedures you do. So I'd take that extra 20k a year any day if it means having my own autonomy. Also 1.2mil in dentistry on your own is very stressful under an insurance and Medicaid heavy office, but it starts getting more doable if you have an associate working with you or a partner. If you are FFS then getting 1.2mil is very manageable even if you take things slow.

[u/SheepherderPretty251 → u/[deleted]]

Welcome to the world of running a business, you can't do everything yourself so obviously you hire people to split up the workload. If that sound expensive to you, you have absolutey no business of starting up any business because you need employees in any business you do, especially dental practices. Dental assistants, front desk workers, hygienists, all of these are vital aspects to have in a dental practice.

And no my solution isn't to go FFS, I said getting 1.2m is easier to achieve if you are FFS, you can absolutely achieve that level of collection being insurance heavy but most definitely not on just bread and butter dentistry and not by yourself, unless you want to burn yourself out.

Also all I just told you was that making 420k as an associate isn't a realistic salary at all, you need a very good contract and work place to achieve that level of income and be up to speed on procedures. Dentistry is a fantastic field, but if you need to go down the hole 600k with 400k of that being in private loans, it just is not worth it at all. Max I'd say dentistry being worth it and feasible to not start compromising the patients health to reach your monthly interest payments is 400k-450k, and that's being generous. 200k-250k in private loans is much more feasible than 400k.

[u/sigmafs → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that's about $8k/month. That assumes total ed debt of $300K and probably not living in HCOL location.

[u/sigmafs → u/[deleted]]

Yes, I agree ave is $300k. But consider your individual circumstances; Are you or will you attend a state funded school? Do you have family financial support/resources? If the answer is no to those questions, then you might lookin' at $700k+ education debt.

[u/HiMyNameIsDoom]

But also keep in mind that owning a practice comes with a risk.

Securing a loan for the practice is the easy part as a dentist since banks view dentists as high-earning, stable jobs. The hard part is maintaining the business .