Making Career Choices: Starting a Practice vs. Becoming an Associate Dentist

As new dentists embark on their careers, a pivotal decision looms: establish their practice or join an existing one as an associate dentist. Let’s explore the pros and cons of each path and consider how different practice types impact this crucial career choice.

Option 1: Starting a Practice

Pros

Autonomy and Creativity: With this approach, you can build a practice aligned with your vision, shaping the patient experience and treatment approaches. You get to design the office exactly how you want it and establish your unique culture. You get to be the boss who makes the call on all major strategic decisions. 

Potential for Higher Earnings: Owning a practice offers the potential for increased earnings over time as the practice grows. As the owner, you make the most significant sacrifices on the front end, and then get to reap the rewards of your hard work when the practice grows and increases profitability.

Flexibility in Decision-Making: You can also make critical decisions independently, from practice policies to treatment methodologies. You don’t have a boss breathing down your neck. You get to set the rules and expectations and make key decisions that set your team up for success.

Cons

Financial Risks: Starting a dental practice requires a high initial capital investment that may be too much for dentists just out of dental school. Financial obligations can pose risks, especially in the early stages when you may not have resources to fall back on if you hit roadblocks.

Administrative Responsibilities: Alongside patient care, managing administrative tasks can be time-consuming for new practice owners. If they don’t have reliable administrative support from the start, managing key business processes might not go smoothly. Additionally, not getting the right hardware equipment and software subscriptions from the start can be a huge roadblock in getting your business up and running. Sindi is the ideal referral tool to integrate into your software suite.

Building Patient Base: Establishing a patient base takes time and marketing efforts. Your dental practice won’t last long if you don’t build out a network of patients. You need to invest in bringing in patients for initial visits and provide quality treatment that ensures that they will come back to you for their future dental needs.

Option 2: Becoming an Associate at an Existing Practice

Pros

Reduced Financial Risks: Associateships typically involve fewer financial responsibilities, reducing initial risk. After graduating from dental school, you may have loans to pay off. A nice stable salary for going to work each morning provides financial security.

Learning Opportunities: You can gain valuable experience, mentorship, and exposure to different practice styles with this approach. Working with other dentists and learning from their experience is critical for dentists – especially early in their careers. Joining a practice with more tenured dentists gives you access to dentists who can help you launch your career and improving your craft. Larger practices with multiple dentists are more collaborative and open the door to more educational opportunities among peers. 

Work-Life Balance: Dental associates often have more structured schedules, allowing for better work-life balance. In addition to the financial stability, work-life balance can be much better as an associate. You may have to do some administrative work at home in the evenings, but you won’t have to stay up all night dealing with headaches that practice ownership can cause.

Cons

Limited Autonomy: Decision-making authority lies with the practice owner, limiting autonomy for the dental associate. Working as an associate means that you report up the chain of command. You likely have less leeway to innovate and develop your own processes. The practice owner is the final decision-maker and you ultimately have to follow their rules.

Earning Potential: Associates usually have fixed salaries or production-based compensation without ownership benefits. While being an associate dentist provides a stable salary and growth opportunities, there is much less upside than owning a practice. After a great year, you may get an increased bonus, but the owner ultimately takes home the lionshare of the profit. Additionally, if the owner sells the practice, you don’t stand to earn anything, unless you have equity.

Career Progression: Advancement opportunities may depend on the practice owner's expansion or retirement plans. Depending on your situation, there may be a ceiling on how far you can rise. For example, the practice owner is five years older than you and plans to run the practice for the next 40 years. She’ll always be the boss – leaving no upward mobility from #2 in command.

How Dental Practice Types Can Impact Your Decision

There are several dental practice types and business models that may impact your decision to start your own or become an associate. Here’s a quick overview of each: 

Insurance-Driven Practices

Insurance-driven practices are paid through contracts with insurance companies, which also means plenty of new patients are brought to the practice through in-network provider searches. This model may offer a steady patient flow but might involve higher administrative work and lower fees.

Fee-Driven Practices

Dental offices that are fee-driven require payment for services upfront. These practices involve higher fees for services but may require strong marketing efforts to attract new patients in the absence of an insurance network. 

Blended Practices

Insurance-driven practices are often busy with multiple patients being treated at once, while the fee-for-service model is more focused on individual patient care and can create a calmer office environment. 

Blended practices offer a balance between insurance and fee-driven models, offering a mix of patient types. 

Whether your practice primarily generates revenue from insurance, patient fees or a blend of both, Sindi streamlines the referral process so you can focus on what matters most: providing top notch care for your patients and effectively running your business.

Deciding Your Dental Career Path

The decision between starting a dental practice or becoming an associate is a pivotal first crossroads after graduating from dental school. Young dentists need to weigh factors such as financial risks, upside, autonomy, learning opportunities, and practice types' influences on patient flow and revenue models. 

Reflecting on your personal career goals and financial situation, consider the types of work environments where you can be most successful. After thinking about all the variables, you can make an informed decision conducive to long-term career success.

Whether you choose the path of a practice owner or dental associate, you’ll need efficient systems in place to retain patients and ensure your office is HIPAA-compliant. 

Are you an early career dental professional who finds your referral process slow and cumbersome? Sign up for Sindi to accelerate your referral process today.