GP only doing ortho, residency worth it?

[CaliDDS1986]

I’m a GP who has been out about 13 years. I’ve had a very non-traditional GP career path I assume. I have never really liked general dentistry when I got out of school, and even really considered switching careers. Anyone going through this in the forum I really do commiserate with you as I have gone through it as well. Anyways, about 10 years ago I started to take some orthodontic CE and started doing some cases. I have loved it so much ever since and just kept trying to increase my skills and knowledge for the past 10 years. As of now I only do ortho (brackets only) as an associate making about 300k on 3 days a week. Is it worth it to go back to orthodontics residency at this point? Usually programs are like 3 years and have tuition (the ones that would take a GP anyway). The opportunity cost is about 1.2 million when you factor in lost income, retirement, etc. I am 37 married no kids, no debt, probably about $750k in retirement. Should I just stay the course as a GP doing ortho? I even debated making a CE ortho course for GPs to help others learn ortho instead of going back to residency. Any thoughts?

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[Pablo Sanchez]

Wow! Good for you! You’re doing well for yourself and doing what you love. You should be proud of that.

I think a lot of it depends on your goals. If the gig you had were to end, how easy would it be to get another job doing ortho only as a GP? Have you ever had the desire of practice ownership? Going to ortho residency would allow you to open your own ortho practice. Do you want to work well into your 60s or beyond? Then specializing could be more worth it. Are you looking to retire in another 10-15 years, then probably not worth going back to school.

From a purely financial angle, you’re making good money. The opportunity cost would likely be more than $1.2 million. Say 3 years of lost salary ($900k) plus cost of tuition ($200k) plus the lost value of your investments. Say you make $900k over the next 3 years and invest 1/3 of that investing $300k. By the time you reach retirement age of 67 that $300k you invested will be worth just under $6 million (assuming a 10% return in the S&P500). So by giving up income now to pursue residency, the opportunity cost can be quite significant.

You’ll be in a good financial position either way, though, so do what you think will provide you more long term happiness.