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Ostracized

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  1. Do you have significant assets that would be passed on when you die? If not, then it’s not worth it at all. If you die or get disabled, you/your estate will declare bankruptcy and it won’t matter. My scummy bank rep told me that my parents would be stuck with the LOC bill if I die without insurance. They didn’t cosign, it was just a lie.
  2. Make sure you do your research and find out exactly what you will learn during your time there. Will you learn implants, advance oral surgery, IV sedation, paedodontics, endo, etc? If so, it’s probably a great investment in your future. But I’ve heard that some programs are just bread and butter dentistry on mostly medically compromised patients. Depending on the scope of the program, you may learn more from a well-mentored associateship.
  3. Yes. New job, new province. I didn’t work for 3 months. I will say that you definitely need to be very flexible on location if you want to be doing well as a dentist. Altima corp in Toronto has dropped their compensation to 30%. Only a few years ago, 40% was the norm in Toronto.
  4. You’re right. But there’s zero good evidence for a lot of statements going around about covid. And I wrote that 3 months ago. I’m frankly very amazed though that dentistry is mostly going on ‘almost’ as normal right now across the country.
  5. Well, since then I have actually moved across the country and started a new job!
  6. I'm a dentist. 8 years out. I've been off work since March 13. It is my belief that I won't be working as a dentist again in the year 2020. Dental offices are just about the worst place for the transmission of Covid. Even after the shut down is eased up, it will be a long time before we can practice in semi-normality. You can't compare us to other businesses like nail salons or furniture stores or even restaurants. We spread salivary aerosols as part of the job. People will need dental care. That's a fact. How will we balance the need for dental care, the need for the safety of staff and patients, and the need to make a living and pay the bills? I certainly don't know the answer to that. But if we cannot meet those three needs in an equilibrium, then there will be no dental care and no dental profession at all. Fortunately for me, I have always been a saver by nature. I will be 'ok' for a year or even maybe 2 years with no income or greatly reduced income. But it will certainly push my theoretical retirement back by a long long time.
  7. There is no such thing as a co-pay for ODSP or similar programs. They are considered to pay 100% of the fee, even if they only pay 30%. It is fraudulent to try to collect anything additional from such a patient. I believe that's always been the case. Also, it's been more than a few years since fees were around 80%. I think more like 20 years.
  8. Who would do something about it? The dental associations are powerless and afraid of coming off as protectionist. The regulators explicitly don’t serve the interests of dentists. Politicians see dentists as fat cats and love to see new immigrants working in professions.
  9. This shows how much dental schools over-complicate the topic of RPD design. I also found it very confusing as a student but it really isn’t rocket science. The design is more about clinical judgement and treatment planning than it is about ‘engineering’. You need enough retention to keep it in place (1-2 clasps per side) and potentially an anti-rocking mechanism (eg indirect retainer). All the other choices about clasp design, framework design, material options, etc will be based on your preference and experience and the patient’s individual situation.
  10. My schedule in Toronto is 1-9 on M,Tu,W and 9-4 on Sat/Sun. It’s crummy lifestyle schedule. But weekends are the busiest times.
  11. It's not difficult to give dental coverage to every citizen. Just make the fee schedule extremely low. That's how the Ontario government operates with its publicly funded dental programs. Making it sustainable and equitable is the challenge.
  12. Maybe! I’d really have to do my research and crunch the numbers.
  13. A few months ago my wife and I were out for dinner at a restaurant and there was a dentist there who worked in the same plaza as the restaurant. In between eating her dinner she went from table to table soliciting for new patients. 'Oh you're children are so cute, do they have a dentist yet?' I thought it was embarrassing and rather depressing but sadly not surprising. She's the new owner of an old, likely dying practice that's hidden on the second floor of a strip-plaza with barely any signage. In Toronto. I was reminded of this today when I saw an advertisement for her office stapled to my neighbourhood park's community bulletin board. She's really pounding the pavement for patients. I guess my point is, a lot of people think that practice ownership is better than associating. I think probably in most cases it is, but definitely not 100% of the time. Dental offices are extremely expensive to run and your costs are fixed. Its perfectly conceivable that you could have a day or week or month or year when your revenue doesn't even cover your expenses. This is of course dependent on a lot of factors, but you won't see me doing a start-up or reviving a dying practice in Toronto.
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