Dentistry or Finance?

I’ve been thinking of what path I wanna take and I wanna hear what u guys have to say. Dentists make great money and have great work life balance and ur surrounded by pretty chill dudes. I’ve never been a huge fan of science but I wouldn’t have a problem going into it. I’ve always liked math more but from what I heard the work life balance for finance sucks, work is usually boring, and the ppl u interact with suck. What should I do?

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Go visit dentaltown.  Read about all the concerns and direction dentistry is going (its taking all its cues from medicine)  

-decreased reimbursements, increased material costs, staffing shortages, debt burden from school, corporate /DSO, life long liability, strict oversight and regulations. 

Then if you’re still into dental, look at the cost of 4 years of dental school (400k+  Plus 4 years lost earnings.)  

Theres nothing chill or balanced about medicine or dentistry.  If you don’t own, you dont make money(Associate dentists make 100-400k and the lower end is all thats offered in the places you want to live and work), if you own and specialize, you can make some bank(low 7 fig annually ) but its not chill and not fast to get there.

you’re always thinking about money and time in medicine and dentistry.    Hourly production/patient targets  overhead is 50-65%(then you pay 40-50% tax on your 35-50%….…   Say  you produce 1k before lunch on a slow day, but your staffing costs are north of 300 an hour..

hygiene 2@80, 

hygiene asst 35 ,

Chairside  asst 2@35 ,

1 insurance/biller 30 ,

1 front desk 30 ,

Plus other contractor services (waste, cleaning, biohazard, equip maintenance,  .. You lost money but you’ll make it up later in the day.  Oh the big case in the afternoon you blocked off 3 hours for? They had something come up and canceled last minute.  Congratulations, you paid thousands of dollars to show up to work today.

Theres no easy money.  The easiest money is do what you have a natural inclination and talent for and that your personality allows you to eat the shit that comes with that particular career path. 

 

Iste ratione maiores placeat animi ipsum. Laudantium rem et distinctio magni veritatis dolores tenetur. Omnis sunt ut autem enim adipisci laborum.

Corrupti quia occaecati quidem molestiae. Eligendi corrupti voluptas dolorem et quia est ex eos. Rerum alias reprehenderit nulla sed. Eos qui minus dolor molestiae sunt beatae vel rerum.

Cum autem dolor et. Consequatur explicabo saepe repellendus consequatur natus aut asperiores. Occaecati ut ad provident error in.

Ipsa quis dolor placeat quo ullam distinctio. Et animi voluptates quaerat autem rerum deleniti voluptatem voluptates. In animi iusto nostrum perspiciatis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”