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If you are doing it mostly for the money...well, my dentist told my former husband that his bread and butter did not come from saving someone's teeth, but from the countless cleanings he did on a daily basis.
You want to clean teeth all day long? But then again, my dentist walked into wealth by taking over his father's practice. So he was set up from day one. I will say, he was a very good dentist and did not charge or try to talk you into expensive procedures. He didn't have to. He had the practice already set up and the patients to boot. Did not have to worry about debt load or where he was going to work.
Your dentist might be making his "bread and butter" from cleanings, but is definitely doing it wrong if he's actually doing the cleanings himself, that's the job for the hygienists! Maybe you meant he is making his "bread and butter" from the hygienists doing daily cleanings.
I don't know any dentists that clean teeth all day. They usually just come in to check your teeth for less than 5 minutes after the hygienist is done cleaning your teeth and taking the x-rays. My step-brother, who is a dentist, says he makes the most from root canals and crowns.
Unfortunately I did not get the military scholarship where they will pay off all your loans, which would make my decision to be a dentist a no brainer. So the question is simple is it worth it to be 400-500k in debt to be a dentist? I hear dentist starting salary is around 120k which can go up depending on what you do. The dentist that I shadow has his own office and makes 200k. Do you think being a dentist is still a viable financial decision in today's economy? A lot of older dentists who are well establish had low debt and made significant amount of money, but now new graduate dentists are graduating with double the amount of debt than people before. What do you think?
I used to recruit for this program in the Air Force, HPSP. Have you tried ALLLL branches? Try Army, Navy, Air Force.
If you worked a bunch of overtime, you could make just as much money being a Registered Nurse and you'd have a small fraction of the debt.
I think being a traveling nurse is a better gig. If you don't need to settle down yet, you get your salary + a housing subsidy. For example, a friend was in town as a traveling nurse. His housing stipend was like $2800-3000 in the Bay Area. Instead of getting his own apartment, he rented a room for $700. You get to keep the difference, so he pocketed and extra $2k for the 2 months he was here and did the same in NYC and LA. He goes to high cost areas since the stipends are higher and lives somewhere cheap.
His home state is a low cost of living place, where a great apartment is well under $1000. He rents a room for cheap and keeps the bulk of his stuff there, spending a few weeks at "home" every 3 months or so. The travels net him and extra $10-15k (give or take) a year by being cheap and sacrificing living space.
I think being a traveling nurse is a better gig. If you don't need to settle down yet, you get your salary + a housing subsidy. For example, a friend was in town as a traveling nurse. His housing stipend was like $2800-3000 in the Bay Area. Instead of getting his own apartment, he rented a room for $700. You get to keep the difference, so he pocketed and extra $2k for the 2 months he was here and did the same in NYC and LA. He goes to high cost areas since the stipends are higher and lives somewhere cheap.
His home state is a low cost of living place, where a great apartment is well under $1000. He rents a room for cheap and keeps the bulk of his stuff there, spending a few weeks at "home" every 3 months or so. The travels net him and extra $10-15k (give or take) a year by being cheap and sacrificing living space.
I would hate my life if I was a nurse, even though it makes financial sense.
Nobody should ever get student loans.I would get one of Dave Ramsey's books if I were you.Maybe you should be in engineering or IT.However, if you cant afford school for that up front you should not do that either.
This might be the worst advice ever.
My wife and I both took out student loans for medical school and now live ridiculously well.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I can't imagine spending all day with my hands in strangers mouths, in a job where people hate to see me. For those that do become dentists, however, it sure does seem a lucrative career. Mine, for example, has probably made enough from me and my insurer over the last 3 years to pay for a swimming pool and a couple of Mercedes. With a root canal at $700, crowns at $1,500, and $4,000 for an implant, and a full schedule Monday-Thursday, he's making plenty. Then on Fridays he's paid to teach at a local university.
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