ADA Brief on Dentist Income

[Tooth&Titanium]

Those ADA numbers seem very low. The average dental associate first year out makes ~150k but after 3-4 years of experience and owning a practice I doubt they would be making less than 200-250k.

The ADA surveys put the average OMFS at ~450k but I don't know any OMFS making under 450k that is a partner or owner in a practice. 300-400k is something you can make your first year out of residency with base + bonus. After you make partner you should be at 500k-1M+ working 40 hr/week.

I'm guessing the survey had lots of academic docs or associate docs, or they underreported their income.

These are reports from dental CPA firms which offer more realistic numbers for owner compensation:

https://www.cainwatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CWA_HDYDPC_2019_2020_Digital.pdf

https://www.rosendentalcpa.com/2017/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/See-How-You-Compare-Booklet-2019.pdf

http://woodycpas.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Dental-Survey-Dental-Stats_v1.pdf

Keep in mind though that practices that work with these firms tend to be larger practices so these numbers skew higher than the nationwide average.

[Hank]

Keep in mind that you're replying to a four year old post. Also, these are salary surveys. Practice owners and partners likely:

1. Take a fair bit of their income as distributions, not W-2 income;
2. Make employer contributions to defined contribution and defined benefit plans;
3. Pay themselves rent if they own the building;
4. Run other expenses through the business.

All of the above would be beneficial to the owning dentist(s), but wouldn't show up as employee salary.