Dentist Salary Survey "2020 Results"

Almost 60% of respondents have been with their primary employer for 5 years or more. Of all the employees in the dental office, dentists are the most likely to establish roots.

As in demand as dentists are, the data shows employers have a difficult task ahead to relocate experienced dentists with three or more years of service with their primary employer. To keep a dentist happy, will require the employer to take a unique view of what is important to the dentist. As we'll find later, it's very different than other positions in the office.

The majority of dentists (61%) identify as working in private practice. This is the lowest private practice participation rate of all dental positions surveyed: dentist, dental hygienist, dental assistant and front office staff.

In regards to participation across the generations, dentists are well positioned for the future. Dentists are most transient early in their career. Once a dentist has established roots, it'll take a major life event (or significant opportunity) to leave.

Trend to Watch. Dental Practices for Sale. Experienced dentists entering their golden years are in a position of power. Full-time or part-time, they can work in the capacity they are comfortable with. Among dentists that own a private practice, the last decade has seen many opportunities to downsize hours, or retire early.

Throughout the country, the market is strong among recent graduates looking to purchase a dental practice. Likewise, dental practice owners thinking about retirement are also likely to be approached DSOs also interested in purchasing the dental practice.

DSOs hold a significant advantage attracting younger dentists. Because of close relationships DSOs maintain with dental schools, combined with a DSO's ability to offer a full-time schedule with benefits, many dentists entering the profession choose to start at a DSO.

Key Finding: A dentist under the age of 45 is 33% more likely to be employed at a DSO. The early career hiring advantage of DSOs declines with time. This is especially true as dentists enter their 40s and 50s

Once a heavily male-dominated profession, male dentists are becoming less common. For 2020, female dentists comprise 42% of respondents. This is expected to grow gradually throughout the next decade.

Digging Deeper: Among Millennial and youger Gen X dentist respondents in their late 20s to mid 40s, gender is nearly equally distributed 50% male and 50% female.

It's only when you get to respondents ages 55 to 64 that gender noticeably shifts towards a higher participation rate among males (70%). For dentists ages 65+, nearly 3 of 4 are males.

Many dentists in their late 20s and into their early 50s benefit from multiple income households. It is only when a dentist surpasses the age of 55+ do we observe a jump in dentists being the sole income earner.

A topic we plan to explore more for 2021 is how gender, marriage, and divorce influence the odds a dentist is the sole income provider or a primary income provider.

Within the office, dentists are the slowest to start a family. But when they do, they are the most likely to have more than 2 children under the age of 18 in the household. This is especially true for dentists 45 to 54 and 55 to 54. Dentists with children under 18 in the home at these ages are primarily male dentists

Similar to other dental office employees surveyed staff, the majority of dentists work 31 to 40 hours per week (66%). One in six dentists work more than 40 hours per week.

Note: Surveyed dentists working less than 30 hours per week, are primarily practicing part-time or working as a temp.

Dentists are overwhelmingly likely to work full-time (85%), of which 76% are working 1 job and another 9% are working multiple jobs.

Among respondents that identify as part-time (12%), a near even split of dentists working one part-time job (7%) versus multiple part-time jobs (5%) is observed

The need and opportunity for dentists willing to temp is expected to climb throughout the decade. Temping can come in the form of being planned for occasions such as vacations or maternity leave, in addition to unplanned for family emergencies and other unforseen events.

For dentists accustomed to being full-time and looking to scale back hours worked, temping can bring new levels of flexibility to a career.

How the Generations View Temping: Dentist respondents age 65+ are participating as temps at the highest level. With dentists selling their practice and looking at semi-retirement options, working as a temp can be an appealing option. Likewise, newer dentists most impacted with student loans are the least receptive.

Gender and Temping: While male and female dentists are evenly split on considering temping as an option for the future, female dentists are almost 2x likely to be working as a temp. Likewise, a portion of young female dentists with children at home are finding additional career flexibility as a temp.

Difference Among Corporate vs Private Practice Dentists: Respondents that identify their primary employer as a DSO are 3x more likely to be temping. In addition, DSO dentists are 2x more likley to consider temping as a future career option. This makes sense given DSO offices, on average, are larger with more patient chairs. In addition, DSOs are more likely to have other local physical office locations nearby for dentists to rotate among.

Dentists report the highest satisfaction in the office when it comes to base pay, and overall pay.

• 1 in 2 dentists report being satisfied or very satisfied with overall pay
• Just 1 in 4 dentists are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with overall pay

• Dentist respondents report high satisfaction among base pay, and overall pay.
• Commissions and bonuses are an area for employers to pay close attention to. Dentists are overall neutral within this area of compensation. This is an item to watch.
• Less than 1 in 4 dentists are satisfied or very satisfied with their previous annual raise. An area for review among employers in the dental community, the process used to determine annual raises. This is an immediate area employers should look to improve

• Dentist respondents report flexible scheduling as the benefit they are most satisfied with.
• That flexible scheduling may be coming at a cost elsewhere. A benefit for employers to pay attention to, how they coordinate paid sick leave.
• This begs the question if dentists are feeling the pressure to work while feeling sick.

One of the most interesting statistics, 38% of dentists are considering looking for a job in the next year. That is a significant percentage for any profession. In addition, 28% of dentist respondents had applied for a job in the past year.

Digging Deeper: 51% of dentists with 1 to 3 years' experience with their current employer report being open to changing jobs within the year. This is the highest segment among surveyed dentists.