ORTHODONTIST SALARIES
Orthos = Straight and Odontos = Teeth , gives you Orthodontist, a physician who straightens teeth, just like the bone surgeons ended up being called 'Orthopedicians' for their primary old practice of straightening fractured & bent bones in children !
Here are some mid-career, median, annual incomes that orthodontists can earn in America.
- Houston, TX = 132,500/-
- Los Angeles, CA = 144,000/ -
- Miami, FL = 128,000/ -
- New York, NY = 148,000/ -
- Seattle, WA = 140,000/ -
Note that these are average salaries - individual salaries may vary widely due to number of hours worked, insurance accepted or not, the location, the type of clientele and the setting (academic, group practice, ownership, partnership), etc. There are orthodontists earning much more than these figures above $200,000 a year , while there will be others earning a little below these figures too.
And what's more, the author of Cool Careers for Dummies even lists being an Orthodontist as the top career choice for the year 2007
Q. How to become an Orthodontist in the USA ?
A . Two - Year Residency in Orthodentistry after completing Dental graduate school. Dental School may be 3 to 4 Years long
International / Foreign Dental graduates have to repeat Dental school in the US (70,000$ to 90,000$ a year in expenses) and then get into the residency program, unlike the International medical graduate, who can apply for Residency programs in MD specialties like Internal medicine, neurology, etc. directly without having to repeat Medical school.
Q. Are you paid stipend during Orthodontist dental residency Program ?
Yes - about 40,000 to 50,000 $ a year depending on the city of the program
Labels: Dental Salaries, Dentist, Orthodontist
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posted by Digitaldoc, MD at 5:38 PM
Comments on "ORTHODONTIST SALARIES"
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Anonymous said ... (10/03/2008) :
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Anonymous said ... (10/23/2008) :
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Anonymous said ... (12/04/2008) :
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Digitaldoc, MD said ... (1/25/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (2/13/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (5/13/2009) :
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Weg said ... (6/16/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (8/15/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (8/26/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (10/19/2009) :
Post Your Comment !The posted average salary seems quite a bit lower than actual salaries for orthodontists. If there are orthodontists who make more than a half million per year, which are not rare, then there must be ones who make very little to formulate that average.
Orthodontists have the best job in medical world due to low stress, high cash based pay, very few hours, and sort of related to the first factor, relatively easy procedures.
For those who read this, avoid being a physician because it pays big to have a tech pull and tug on some wires for you so you charge some big money for novelty procedures.
What can I say? It doesn't pay to be hardworking. I'm sorry, but dentistry is an easy job compared to medicine and somehow better paying than primary care.
Anything in which you are free to set your own price will always pay more. You rip on orthodontists as providing "novelty care" but what about plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists?
IMHO, primary care suffers from a low lack of reimbursment simply because its not really worth all that much money. I spend more time with a nurse at the physicians office, then he comes in look at the notes she took and writes me a prescription. Current public perception is that they would rather pay a nurse 10 bucks, than a physician 90! I'm sorry but with all the training and education a physician receives primary care is kind of a waste of their skills.
While I might agree that some forms of surgery are definitely more complex than dentistry, I think performing a root canal is a bit more complex than having a nurse tell you someone is in pain, and after 7 years of training you are capable of saying "give them ibuprofen!"
If you're not familiar with the orthodontics field, don't comment. And if you know it is really that easy, why don't you become one yourself? Go ahead, go to dental school for four years and become one of the top students in your class. Yeah, it's easy.
Oh no!! Most of the information provided above is actually wrong!
I am currently a second year ortho resident, and let me correct some of the misleading information.
1. Most of the dental schools in the U.S. is now a four year program, just like any medical schools. There may be one or two that still run a 3-year dental school program. One exmaple is U. of Pacific. In order to make the 4-year program into 3, U. of Pacific has no summer break, and their tuition is really really expensive.
2. Majority of the ortho residency program is now 3 years NOT 2years.
3. Most of the Ortho resident program do not pay their residents. Actually, Residents pay tuition for the duratoin of their residency. Why? Recently, governemnt cut the funding for the Ortho resident program for most of the dental schools.
Thanks for your comments - Shall be making the corrections on schooling and on the income figures, they ARE certainly higher than what I have posted
Being a dentist is clearly more difficult than being a family physician... Sorry. It's clear why dentist salaries have risen. There is a lot of stress involved in performing highly technical and irreversible procedures and surgeries on people's mouths all day long. Compare this to your average family physician who is mainly issuing prescriptions and talking all day long. Dentists deserve every bit of what they get. They indeed do have the more difficult job.
I have read many places that orthodontist make an average of around 280k a year. Residents or current orthodontist, any care to confirm this?
I disagree with the post on 2.13.09 I am currently in dental school and I must say even though it's primary care it is still very difficult. The work itself is more stressful as there are alot of unsatisfied and unhappy patients becuase who wants to hear bad news? Plus doctors work more hours have to take night calls and there are less emergency situations.
I am an orthodontist, and my brother is a physician. I would strongly disagree with the original post.
The average ortho salary may be $280k for an up and running practice. What most people fail to realize is the investment that is made before making that salary. Most ortho residents come out of school with a debt load of 300k...I know several that had 500k of debt after completing their residency.
At that point the new orthodontist either becomes an associate for salary, sets up shop, or buys a practice. 2 of those 3 options have ADDITIONAL $500,000 to $1,000,000 of debt load associated with them, something people in medicine may not be aware of. There's no facility to plug into, no matching 401k plans, no benefits other than what you create. That, along with figuring out how to own and operate a business makes for a difficult starting process. The salary may end up being higher than a physician's, but there's a lot more debt to pay off along the way. The physician gets paid for residency, and plugs into a job afterwards with no further investment, and often gets substantial benefits with his/her position (health care, retirement contributions, etc)
It probably all evens out in the long run, and the average orthodontist gets to make his/her own decisions without being under the thumb of an HMO's, drugs companies, or other corporate entity. There's no call, and I get to determine when and how I work. There's a definite benefit to that.
It's just scary as hell getting started, especially in this economy.
I'm a resident and my cuz is an orthodontist so let's get that out of the way.
1. Arguing that dentists have it harder because they run a business is ridiculous because many medicine docs run groups. Dealing with financial matters is not something specific to dentistry.
2. Someone stated that the nurse tells a doctor some patient information and he makes an overpaid judgment. Can we not apply the same to dentists overseeing hygenists? Judgment is more valuable than just doing a procedure. High school kids can take histories if trained or for that matter use a mechanical brush.
3. Cosmetic derm, plastic surgery, and ortho are all novelty. That's why it gets paid better than essential things like primary care or even GI, anesthesia/gen surgery. The reason primary care ain't worth much is because people aren't forced (cash, no Medicare) to pay for it is worth. Recent events have shown that Americans don't have priorities. People are still going to Vegas!!! What!!!
4. Don't feel bad that someone calls your services novelty. It is what it is. Why care when moron are willing to pay you thousands for braces instead of 100-200 for checkup? Thank the morons because your service is not perceived as a right.
To conclude, would I have gone to dentistry school versus medical school? Probably looking back, but I guess everything is 20/20 in hindsight. Remember orthos, you got it better than you think.
I am an orthodontist and my wife is a family medicine doctor. I don't think it is fair to compare the two professions because the work we do are so different. Neither is more valuable than the other, but each offers it's own benefits. I don't think a profession should be chosen based on the income recieved. If you do that you will be unhappy with your choice five years in...guaranteed! Do what you enjoy. If it is medicine, that's great. If you like orthodontics, more power to you!
As far as the salaries, there is not much of a comparison. I made 700K last year and my wife made just under 200K. I work four days a week and she works five. I don't know what a pager looks like, and she knows it all too well! The flip side, yesterday she diagnosed a cancer and probably saved her patient's life. Yesterday I moved a Canine into Class I.
Bottom line...there are many ways to be rewarded. Financially is not the only way!
I'm hopefully going to dental school and if I get in for 2010 I'll be very happy. I have been working at a dentist office for quite a while and i see that a regular dentist makes quite the amount of money and the orthodontists we're affiliated with make about double (400k). Both places work full time but they'll pay of their debts in a short time while still making a very good living.
I am a MD and I only wished I went into DDS/orthodontics. I am very jealous of the dental profession's nice hours, great pay, and low liability. I only work about 32 hours per week too, but I have a lot of liability (i.e. malpractice fear).
I am a general dentist that do some minor ortho on the side.
If you have to compare medical and Dental income, I think it is unfair to compare primary care physican to Orthodontist. Remember that Ortho in one of the top dental specialties. You have to compare general dentist to primary care physicians. And orthdontists to a high end medical speciality like Cardio.
Dentists perform only procedure on patients not consultaions like most physicians. The most money hungry dentist I know works 48 H/week the average 32 H/ week. The
laziest physican I know works 50 H/Week,the average 60 H/ week.
I have a very wide social connection and I know a lot of dentists and physians. Whithout discussing numbers here I can tell you that the average hourly income of dentist is higher than that of
physians if the a fair compasion is conducted.
What I mean by that: do not compare a general dentist to a nueral surgeon!!.
compare a nueral surgeon to an oral and maxilofacial surgeon... and so on so forth.
ORTHODONTIST here, I work 3 days a week. My practice collects around a million a year. However, after all the bills are paid (including the 7000 a month bank note for the buisness purchase) there isnt a lot left for me. Of course, this will change in time. I made more money working as an associate, but it was burning me out, as I was seeing 80 to 110 patients per day and working 5.5 days per week, and was the one the did the after hours emergency stuff.
Running is buisness: its complicated....bottom line is that if you work for a group, you still have a lot of the managerial and logistical aspects of your buisness performed by some sort of mgt company. The physicians dont hire, fire, go bidding for benefits for employees, make sure that they are in compliance with the state radiation board, manage payroll, and I could go on and on. If i could just do orthodontics, it would be awesome.
Amt of income is largely up to the orthodontist and how many patients he or she wants to see, or how many days he or she wants to work. With bigger numbers comes bigger risks, and less personal time. People tend to find their balance
I'll have to agree w/ the last post made on 8/26--it really depends on what you want out of your practice and how often you are willing to work. I'm an orthodontist fresh out of school (worked for 7 months now) and will make around $165k this year as an associate. Next year it'll push over $200k w/ my increase in salary, and after that I have the option to partner into a group practice and should make around $500k or more. We are REALLY busy when we work (I see about 110 patients/day), but only operate 3.5-4 days/week.
I looked into starting from scratch when I was finishing up w/ school, and agree w/ what someone has said earlier---you'll not see near as much of the income the first number of years due to business loans, etc. (I was estimating that my take-home income the first year would have been only about $75k or so), but of course in the end you'll pay off those loans and drastically increase your income.
SO, it varies widely, but I'd say the average Ortho. is taking home in the $200k-$300k range a year, which is really nice after typically working only 32 hours/week or less, and not having any after-hours headaches dealing w/ the practice for the most part