How much do dentists make?

Answer 1

It depends upon a lot of factors. Are they practicing or teaching? Are they self employed or employed by others? Are they in a large city or small town? Is their practice paid off or not? How many employees do they have? How high are their fees? How fast do they work? How many days per week do they work? Are they just starting out or are they established? Do they own their own building? Are they a specialist or a general dentist? Do they do a lot of big ticket procedures like crowns rather than routine fillings? Do they donate much time to low income patients? How big is their reputation? How busy are they? How high is their overhead, etc., etc., etc., Most dentists in the US are self employed in solo or small group practices. As such, they are business owners and subject to laws of economics just like any other small business. Income-expenses=profit. Four years of college + dental school runs around $500,000 more or less, depending on the school. To build and equip a nice free standing dental office in a city runs around $1,000,000, more or less. Overhead runs 50-75%. It's tough to get started, but once the initial debt is paid off, most dentists net between $100,000 and $400,000. The average full time, city dentist who owns their practice and building takes home somewhere around $200,000 - $250,000 per year.