I’m fresh out of dental school and was genuinely excited to start working this week.

It went much more poorly than I expected, and even though I understand that I’m new, I’m struggling with how overwhelmed and inexperienced I felt. I was by no means an elite student, but I consistently demonstrated competency in school and assumed I had at least a baseline ability to stay reasonably on schedule and project confidence with patients.

I guess the best way to describe it is that I know how to do dentistry, but I don’t yet know how to be a dentist.

Would anyone be willing to share stories about rough starts that eventually got better?

I was looking into clinics and practices that would be okay to have international dentist shadow them in and around Montgomery. It would be incredibly helpful if you guys could point me in the right direction of how to secure one. TIA

Seems like a mess. Who has had similar experiences to these?

I get paid on adjusted production. Any radiographs that are taken from a new patient exam and cleaning (which I do), or a limited exam - aren’t billed under me and thus aren’t added into my production report for the day.

I noticed it seemed like a common theme amongst offices. I assume there’s a business aspect for why but I truly don’t understand it. Anyone care to explain?

Done around 2012. Pt has no memory of who and where this was placed. Crown feels loose, but does not come off. No access hole. I assume the abutment is coming loose from the fixture. Any help?

I want to explore new concepts but I’m unable to buy it because they don’t ship to India. If anyone is willing to send these books, I would be happy to buy them.

Ever since Clinician went down, I've been paying IcoreRX 50$ a month to handle prescriptions (no controlled substances).

Does anyone have a prescription software they use that is free or cheaper?

Thank you!

I’m in the process of negotiating an offer for a dentist position through the city government health clinic. I’d be considered a civil city government employee so while there’s a generic “contract” outlining benefits, pay, etc there isn’t any specific dental contract. Is this normal? I have a list of questions I want to clarify that is normally outlined in a dentist contract but is there anything else I missed? Is it a red flag that none of these things are set in a contract or is this just how government employment goes? All my previous dental jobs were with a private office or company so there was always a very lengthy contract associated.

Some questions I want to ask HR: who pays malpractice? Who pays lab bills? Is there a restrictive covenant and what is the notice period? Limitations on solicitation? Are there CE and license fee reimbursement? Any limitations on moonlighting elsewhere?

New grad here need some advice- I just popped into this office and I have tx planned by the previous provider. I went into this hoping this wisdom tooth wouldn’t be an issue but as I prepped I nearly revealed the whole thing. Pt is 33, in anyones experience, what are the chances that this will become an issue once the bridge is seated. Will it continue to erupt and eventually dislodge the bridge? 13x15 bridge

This is not an EXT I’d be comfortable doing so I would have to refer her to OS and she does not want to go to OS

I am coming out of retirement to help out someone who needs an associate for a little while . I havent practiced in 5 years so am a bit rusty. Im not THAT old so its not a cognitive decline issue

I honestly forget my protocol on cementing!

Here's what I remember

Zirconia:fit check-ivoclean (although this person uses sandblast and steam) , mono bond plus, bond on tooth air thin dont cure, cement, tack cure, clean up, full cure. DO NOT USE ETCH on zirconia

Emax : fit check, etch intaglio 5% hydrofluoric acid, rinse, mono bond plus (or can use monbond etch and prime to do at same time)

On tooth-etch enamel, bond on tooth air thin, do not cure

Cement, tack cure, clean up, full cure

DO NOT SANDBLAST

Do I need to use Ivoclean if I am etching intaglio of crown?

Can someone remind me if this is correct?

Edit-please dont say 'you should already know this' -yes I should. But its been five years so please have some grace

Last night’s nightmare was that I had Stage IV Grade C periodontitis despite having excellent oral hygiene and no plaque or calculus. My associate had to extract #5, #6, #7, and #8 because they were deemed hopeless, and we were consulting with a prosthodontist on the treatment plan. GBR was involved.

Naturally, I woke up feeling like I had been clenching and immediately went to the bathroom to check my teeth.

It’s interesting how the reality of my patients eventually becomes my own nightmare.

Hi everyone,

Need help identifying the implants in the lower first molars.

Not deep, just seems to happen too often.

Currently running google ads for my practice. we are fully out of network with insurance and it costs me about $180-$250 to get one patient on average between consult/emergency/hygiene

I was watching a podcast and it made me think that I shouldn’t be so stubborn about what “works”.

do any of you guys here use an agency/ run ads yourself and successfully/predictably use meta for patient acquisition for bread and butter / hygiene?

(not all on four)

thanks in advance.

What’s your go to socket preservative after extraction?

Looking for opinions from people who’ve started de novo endo practices.

Option A
53 GPs within 10 min
114 GPs within 15 min
1 endodontist within 10 min
2 endodontists within 15 min
Population: 53,000 (10 min), 114,000 (15 min)
Median household income: ~$130k

Option B
86 GPs within 10 min
155 GPs within 15 min
1 endodontist within 10 min
2 endodontists within 15 min
Population: ~300k (10 min), ~510k (15 min)
Median household income: ~$65–67k

Similar startup costs. Open to PPOs but not looking to build a Medicaid-heavy practice. Which market would you choose if your goal was to build the biggest, most profitable practice long term, and why?

Bout a year into ownership after being W-2 all of my career and found a place that would be perfect for us but the big banks seem to all want 2 years business history as a minimum.

Any recommendations on lenders that offer “Non-Qualified Mortgages”?

I posted this yesterday, but I think it's something everyone should know

A word of advice for repayment: DON'T allow them to access your taxes for auto certification of your IBR plan. This is ESPECIALLY TRUE if you're an owner. They otherwise have no access to your tax information. You can recertify with pay stubs. Most owners are paying themselves a small salary and then taking large distributions from the business. If you recertify with pay stubs, your monthly payments will be MUCH lower than if you're auto recertify through giving them access to your taxes. My pay stubs say I make $70k and therefore my payments are only like $500 a month. If I auto recertified through taxes my monthly payments would be like $2-$3k a month.

Now, whether or not you want to do this is up to you. In my mind I'm doing everything I can to say "fuck you" to student loans. There's not really any risk as they have no access to your tax information. They allow you to recertify via pay stubs, and that's exactly what I'm doing. It WILL make your tax bomb significantly bigger once forgiveness hits, but I'll take the money now and worry about that later. You can probably park those savings in an index fund and make enough to cover the bomb and then some.

Looking for some good online CE continuum to take while on maternity leave. Have been looking into spear online but was wondering if there were any similar courses I should look into.

I keep getting conflicting reviews about the biolase laser. Should I pull the trigger or wait and buy the dentsply sirolase?

I sometimes scroll through tik tok and instagram and I see docs that have just graduated rolling around in M3's, Porsches, and showing a "day in their life" in their penthouse/practice.

I know social media can be deceiving, but what on earth is going on here. Are there new grads really doing that well with their practices? Any of yall riding around in a Porsche 911? I don't think I can reasonably afford one til like mid 40s.

Has anyone had any experience with Archy? It seems similar to Curve but better because it has a lot of the patient communication features that weave offers. I'm currently using dentrix (server based) and weave combo.

General dentist here. I recently did a paid working interview/trial day at a private practice. The owner initially wanted me to sign an employment contract before working, but I told him I wasn't comfortable committing until I had the chance to work there and see if it was a good fit. He agreed, and we agreed on an hourly rate for the trial day.

Worked the day, did not like the office. Before I left that day, he even reminded me to submit my hours, which I did.

After the working interview, I decided not to accept the position later that week.

It's now been over three weeks, and I still haven't been paid for the day I've worked. I've emailed the owner three separate times with no response. I also texted the office manager, who told me she wasn't sure why I hadn't been paid, that the owner had been out of town, and that he'd be back this week. He's now back, and I still haven't heard anything. She also stated she's not in charge of payroll so does not know what to do.

The amount is under 1k, so it's not a crazy amount, but to me it's more about the principle. We had an agreement, I worked the day, submitted my hours as requested, and expected to be paid like anyone else.

At this point I'm torn. Part of me wants to send one final demand email and, if necessary, pursue small claims. The other part of me wonders if I should just let it go because I don't know if I want to keep spending my time and energy chasing someone who, at this point, doesn't seem interested in paying me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do?

To me this bite mark looks pretty fake. I can list probably 5-6 reasons why. I’m curious if my colleagues feel similarly, and if so, maybe you’d like to throw out a reason or two why this doesn’t look right. (Or maybe I’m wrong and you can tell me why).

Before in 2023
After is in 2026
Pt is going for ortho and surgery to address the 7’s and the 8’s for sure
But I feel good about helping him keep those otherwise undesirable looking teeth