If you think you will be rich as a dentist you're mistaken (I'm an associate Dentist)

Hello
Thought this post might be of some use to people.
I recently completed my foundation training and took up a post as an associate dentist, working an NHS contract working a 37.5 hours a week (full time).

The job is very stressful and it is difficult to provide a standard level of care to all patients given time constraints and the need to meet UDA targets.

The current UDA system is flawed, as the vast majority of dentists will say.

So for those of you that don't know how the UDA system works, you can read up about it but the main problem is this;

Patient A requires:
◉ A checkup (examination)
◉ Two X-rays
◉ One filling
This is equal to 3 UDAs for the dentist (you)

Patient B requires:
◉ A checkup (examination)
◉ Two X-rays
◉ Six fillings
◉ Three extractions
◉ Periodontal treatment (deep cleans)
This is ALSO equal to 3 UDAs for the dentist (you)

Now UDA rates vary a lot, but generally expect to get paid about £10 per UDA

So you get £30 for either patient A or B, even though you have carried out far more work on Patient B.

If you refer patients to your hygienist for a deep clean, then you will need to pay your hygienist out of your wage for that so you take home even less.

You WILL go as far as lose money on a lot of patients because of the amount of dental work and time they require

Now imagine you work in a high needs area, you WILL come across PLENTY of high needs patients - these are patients that require a lot of dental work which means plenty of appointments. You will not get paid well for your hard work and you will struggle to meet your UDA target which means more stress. This means you have to work faster and unfortunately this risks impinging on patient care.

A lot of patients are under the false perception that dentists are very rich, and so can be extremely demanding and this can lead to complaints despite providing a good standard of dental work.

Not forgetting that you have to pay lab costs if you provide any dentures, crowns, bridges, mouth guards, GDC registration fee (£680 a year), indemnity, CPD courses, etc

So lets say you take on a 37.5 (Mon-Fri) 5,000 UDA contract at £10 per UDA
That is £50,000 a year assuming you hit your target
Then deduct from that lab bills for crowns, bridges, dentures, mouthguards, say that is £5,000
Then deduct from that your NHS pension which is about £350 a month = £4,200 a year
Then deduct tax (say about £11,000)
Then after tax, deduct GDC registration fees (£680)
Indemnity which can vary a lot into the thousands - lets say £500
Student finance - this really depends, but lets say £200 a month (£2,400 a year)

£50,000
- £5,000
- £4,200
- £11,000
- £680
- £500
- £2,400

=£26,220

And then you have living expenses and bills (electricity, gas, council tax, water, internet, phone) to deduct from this

Overall yes you will make money and you can have a life and pay your bills, but don't expect a big house or an expensive car.

And all of this for an extremely stressful job where the threat of litigation is always hovering above your head

A lot of you might be thinking - just go private, or you will have heard of a dentist that is rich etc
Going private only requires you to build up a reputation base, go on expensive training courses, find a practice willing to take you on, and natural skill and talent above the average that means you can sell yourself better than the dentist across the road.

Out of all the students that graduate as dentists:

◉The vast majority will be your average general dental practitioner, jack of all trades but master of none, churning out UDAs
◉A handful will have a talent for restorative (cosmetic) dentistry
◉Some will be talented in removable prosthetics (dentures)
◉A smaller amount will be talented at exodontia (extractions)

So if you do dentistry for the money, my advice is - don't.

Despite knowing this already, these posts never fail to depress me just a little bit more (and money is not my driving factor). But thank you for your insight, it’s good to put things into perspective.

You're studying dentistry?

Despite knowing this already, these posts never fail to depress me just a little bit more (and money is not my driving factor). But thank you for your insight, it’s good to put things into perspective.

From what I can tell dentists tend to live very middle class lifestyle, ive heard dentists talk about making 6 figures before, and are far better off then most people who work in the private sector.

It is a sad situation NHS Dentistry is in.

I also used to be a Pharmacist and I left that for Dentistry - grass is always greener on the other side syndrome.

I think maybe healthcare in general is a sector that is overworked and underpaid.

And I assume the Tories have absolutely no intention of fixing the system (If anything they want to make it worse)

It is a sad situation NHS Dentistry is in.

I also used to be a Pharmacist and I left that for Dentistry - grass is always greener on the other side syndrome.

I think maybe healthcare in general is a sector that is overworked and underpaid.

A lot of you might be thinking - just go private, or you will have heard of a dentist that is rich etc
Going private only requires you to build up a reputation base, go on expensive training courses, find a practice willing to take you on, and natural skill and talent above the average that means you can sell yourself better than the dentist across the road.

Those would be the ones doing private work; certainly the income you could gain from that sector can be fantastic. But I believe the OP is sharing their NHS experience which is far from 6 figure salaries.

The NHS website says salaried dentists can earn up to £92k & consultant dentists can achieve a peak basic salary of £114k, now whilst that is the highest earning NHS dentists it doesn’t strike me that mid career dentists are underpaid & after a few years in practice once the house deposit is taken care of and the first pay jump id bet most dentists are in comfortable middle class lifestyles.