Re: Do Dentists make more money than Doctors in USA?

daveywavey1000@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
For comparison, in the U.S. a general practice physician may practice
after a one-year internship. However, last I'd heard about 85% of
physicians in the U.S. choose to specialize. This is the reverse of
dentistry here, where 85% choose to remain generalists. Most medical
and surgical specialists however have lengthy postgrad training
regimens--probably a minimum of 3 years post-internship. There are
necessarily sub-specialties--pediatric dermatologists, pathologists with
a specialty in lung cancer, etc.--so the training can get as arcane as
one wishes. I don't know if there are specific certifying boards in all
of the subspecialties though.
The length of training may tend to winnow out enough candidates that
the few making it through have a greater ability to keep fees high. Of
course, your national health and our managed care severely disrupt what
would be the natural course of affairs if there were a purely open
marketplace.
Certainly, compensation in employment has never had a straight-line
relationship to length and difficulty in training. In the past 3 years,
my wife's income has been roughly twice mine. She is a real estate
agent in what was a superheated market (now precipitously cooling down).
Her total training for her license was 13 weeks of a 2 hour/week
course. She told me I should do more crowns now.

Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001



a) Most doctors here (in Australia) would laugh at the concept of 3
years post internship for specialty training being described as "long".
Surgical training typically takes 8 years post-internship here in
Australia. Of course, you need to add on a few extra years to suck up
to the relevant people in hospital so that you are offered a position
in one of the preferred specialties in the first place.

I would want to be sure we're not comparing apples and lychee nuts. Typical MDs in the U.S. have graduated with a science degree and in the top 10% of their graduating class. Medical school is typically 4 years, internship 1 year, residency 3-6, maybe more. I'm hardly an expert. But even assuming 3 years, this is 8 years post secondary education, so most of these surgeons are pushing 30 before they open their practice. Many specialties are doubtless longer. But you might more profitably check this in medical forums.



b) 85% of doctors are specialists in USA??? OMG!!! In Australia, much
lower.

c)If a real estate agent in boom times makes twice as much as a typical
dentist,

Nah, I'm just a kept man. But the party is about over.


either american estate agents get much more money than Aussie
ones (unlikely) or American dentists clearly don't make as much as
Aussie ones (more likely).

New York is a superheated market. Even in Brooklyn where I live prices have about tripled in the past 10 years. But when an average apartment in a secondary neighborhood in Brooklyn is north of $500,000, you know things can't go on forever.

Steve


I am not a dentist, but I do know some, and also know some people who
are accountants and do some accounts of dentists. A dentist running
their own practice will typically make about 300K profit (before tax).
Admittedly that's aussie dollars, so is only $225K American dollars -
but the cost of living is arguably cheaper in Australia (though
probably not in Sydney).

.

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