Starting Your Journey: Selecting Your First Dental Job (Part One)

Paul Uliasz, President & Clinical Director

And now your journey to a dental career begins

Congratulations! You finally received your dental degree and dental license! This is a great achievement and you deserve to feel proud of yourself. Your worked hard to get through dental school. Now it is time to enter the real world. You face one of the most important decisions you will make as a dentist; where to start your dental career.

Your first dental job will begin to shape you. You were not in dental school long enough to form the habits you will need in order to succeed. You want to be sure you join a practice where you will develop good habits. This may not seem important, but it is. Habits are much harder to break than to form. The place you begin practicing dentistry is the foundation of your dental career. It is important to make sure you join a practice that will offer you the best possible start.

You will have many questions. How do you find the best dental practice to join? Should you look for a private office, a small group, or a large, national group? Should you start your own practice? Should you purchase a practice? How will you know which way to go? How can you be sure you don’t sign an agreement with the wrong dental practice or dental organization?

Don’t let financial pressures lead you down the wrong road

Your dental school professors taught you to recognize an acceptable percentage of production, what benefits should be requested, and to ask about how lab fees are distributed. What few dental students learn is that compensation should not be the most important factor when choosing your first dental job. We all come out of dental school in a hurry to get a job so we can start paying our student loans. You owe it to yourself to slow down and take the time to find the right place for you to start your career.

I have interviewed dozens of newly graduated dentists seeking their first dental job. They all come with a list of questions about compensation and benefits but not one has ever asked me about our practice philosophy. I believe that learning about the dental practice or dental group’s philosophy and culture should be the first thing you do when considering a job. The employment agreement should be more about a relationship and the practice culture than simply a transactional-based offer focusing only on numbers.

What should you be looking for when considering a dental job?

If you’ve committed to looking beyond the numbers to the culture and day-to-day working conditions, you need to know what to look for and which questions to ask. Simply put, I recommend you look for great culture, freedom to do any dentistry you feel comfortable and confident doing, opportunities to advance your skills, and many, happy existing patients as well as a healthy flow of new patients.

You will find that if you take the time to research a dental practice or dental group, you will have a better idea of what your daily work life is going to be like. After thorough consideration, you can accept the dental job offer with confidence. If you choose the right practice, your first job will give you the opportunity to build the habits you need for a successful, satisfying, and happy dental career.