What are the pros and cons of working at a DSO for a newly licensed dentist?

[Apexica]

Is it true that newly licensed dentists have a tougher time getting hired by practice practices because they prefer experience and that dentists with little experience have a better chance of getting hired at a DSO? If that's the case, is it that bad starting off at a DSO? What are the pros and cons?

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[Thehighwind87]

I mean this is pretty straightforward. The answer is yes its harder to get hired at an established private practice.

Nothing wrong with DSO. Everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[Apexica]

At DSO's, are there other dentists on site that we could consult with in case we wanted a second opinion about something?

 

[Thehighwind87]

Yes of course

 

[Boat on the Chesapeake]

It will be dependent on the company whether there is a mentor on-site or regionally that you can reach out to for advice.

It is individual/location dependent how smoothly a lot of things run (office manager, staff, etc).

It is easier to get hired at a DSO but the schedule will be busier, usually taking more insurance plans and squeezing in more patients. Some companies will help build up their new grads and others just throw you right into the fire, again varies company to company and even office to office within said company. Generally a GPR or AEGD gives you a better skill set before you start getting busy at a DSO but most people need to work first and that’s OK, but I’d recommend do more CE to compensate.

 

[Saddleshoes]

The simple truth is that MOST new dental graduates will be working for a DSO as their first job.

Rather than worry about it, embrace it!
---You will be paid more than your worth.
---You will get your "reps" in and pick up your speed.
---You will learn the business side of dentistry.
---You will learn it is a JOB. (Surprise, it's not fun when you have to show up and work!)
---You will learn the good and the bad of dentistry. (Learning the bad has great value!)

Look at that DSO job as a residency in the real world of dentistry. The DSO job is only the first step in your dental career. Use that step to learn as much as you can, make some money and then move on.

 

[Trigeminal08]

Pros:
-You get faster
-Free cerec training. Can't imagine doing another PVS impression. doing digital dentistry is awesome.
-Depending on the owner, you get to do whatever the heck you want.
-Daily guarantee $$. Hitting your minimum isn't that hard so you should be OK after 6 months if you decide to stay for longer
-You learn to treatment plan on the spot. This may take a little bit to get right but you will get the hang of it.
-You learn how to better communicate with patients.

Cons:
-High staff turnover. In the past 6 months i've been at a startup corporate office, a few DA's have left or been laid off. One office manager was transferred to a different office. We are ALWAYS short-staffed. This sucks because you develop synergy with the staff but then it all hits a reset button and you have to get everyone up to speed again. My biggest recommendation would be to learn how to work with a dryshield/isovac for all restorative treatment to be a little less reliant on assistants.
-My biggest frustrations these days are not clinically related, but rather the front desk doing a sucky job with scheduling which I have to address every single day.
-"Mentoring": I learned real fast that my owner dentist is very minimally invested into the new practice. This means that as soon as 5PM hits, they are OUT the door, even if you are struggling with patient care. This became very frustrating as they were preaching mentorship. I got over these things by not expecting anything from anyone. If I **** up a case, I will re-do it for free. Most patients will understand. This depends on your own comfort level. I had a very surgery heavy GPR under my belt when I started so there weren't many things that I truly needed help with.
-For being "just" an associate, I take on way too many responsibilities in the practice since the owner is only there once a week. I called out for a day due to sickness and I get bombarded with calls every 10 minutes. Being an integral part of the clinic isn't always a con since I'm basically the anchor that holds the practice together, which means my position is pretty secure .
-Staff complaining about everything to you, I hear on a daily basis that so-and-so is getting paid $1 dollar more and how unfair it is and how the world is going under. You will learn to block out all noise and let the office manager handle this. This may be just unique to my office lol.

 

[AONLINE]

-For being "just" an associate, I take on way too many responsibilities in the practice since the owner is only there once a week. I called out for a day due to sickness and I get bombarded with calls every 10 minutes. Being an integral part of the clinic isn't always a con since I'm basically the anchor that holds the practice together, which means my position is pretty secure .

Don't want to be mean here but they are just giving you a false sense of security, there is no such thing especially with Pacific Dental Services (ask me how I know). They will have no issue replacing you with another DDS/DMD if they want to 🤷‍♀️

 

[nobeldds]

The only pro about working for a large DSO is that you don’t need to feel bad quitting on short notice when you find a good job. There is just no reason to work at a DSO if you don’t have to, but it is true that it is harder to get a good job for a new grad so they sometimes end up at DSOs. It’s generally a lot better to work for smaller DSOs than the larger ones.

 

[parkinglottoilet]

"Paid more than you are worth"

Probably not, they are still making money off your contract. Everyone should know their worth, the DSO and private sector groups buying up practices obviously do.

 

[Apexica]

My biggest frustrations these days are not clinically related, but rather the front desk doing a sucky job with scheduling which I have to address every single day.

When you say your biggest frustrations have to do with scheduling, is it because they are scheduling too many patients for you in a day?

I understand that DSO's are going to be volume based but are they patient with new grads? I'm sure they must realize that new grads are not going to be as fast as an experienced dentist. So do they typically give you a certain period of time, like a grace period, before they let you go if they think you are too slow? Or do you have to be as fast as they want you to be on day 1?

 

[Thehighwind87]

It’s called sink or swim.