What are we thinking?

I wanted to ask if anyone here has used a torque wrench that is not manual and whether does really work? I saw one in Patterson and it's 2k lol. I am always having a hard time with the wrench and I never know if I am tighting or losing it, or the torque value etc. I stayed away from implants/implant restorations because of it. Thank you! Highly appreciate advice.

I was 3 years into my career when office X had a job opening. It was close to home, no evenings/weekends, good reviews, and their social media looked solid (i know stupid thing to go off of). The idea was the owner was starting to plan his retirement and wanted to sell it and an individual. He wanted to cut back to 3 days, and only wanted to do aesthetic cases and crown/bridge work. So I did restorative, exo, endos, dentures...etc

The falling out happened when patients and hygienists started to prefer me over him. The comments from them were how I was more thorough and "better dental work". I've noticed his work is very bad ie deficient margins, almost all crowns have open margins, missed obvious caries, resin cement in between veneers, restorations failing because "literature shows rubber damn isnt needed" and wedges are not needed...etc. Then passive aggressive comments about how I was still doing things the way dental school has taught me and I would never get better. He kept saying I wasn't producing enough in the practice and that I needed to be faster.

Turns out I was producing more than him because I was getting all the restorations, denture cases, endo, extractions, I even did simpler Invisalign cases. And thats when he started bad mouthing me to patients and used that as an excuse to stop booking me patients and told me to find another office as part time since they werent busy enough to fill my schedule. I ended up being 4 days a week at the new office with some saturdays but I was actually never fired from office X, they just called me and said my schedule fell apart but I saw they were moving my patients to the owner.

Anyways that's my rant... It was such a stressful time in my career, I managed to stay for 2 years because I loved the other staff so much! But I'm in a better office with another great team. Do you guys have any horror stories to help commiserate with me?

Curious what people's opinions are. Zirconia by far more esthetically pleasing and don't chip like the PFM. Also less reduction needed which is much nicer. But PFM "feels" like it lasts longer and the finish line again "feels" like it's easier to seat. I almost always use zirconia over PFM except for a 4 unit bridge which is rare for me to do over an implant. Curious if PFM is really the functionally better option or if it's people are anti metal in their mouths?

I’ve always been a very entrepreneurial minded person. Which is why the idea of being a dentist always enticed me. A job where I could be a Dr, but also monetize and own my own business and do it the way I wanted to. I’ve done dentistry in an unconventional sense by providing on demand dentistry going to my patients homes and community centers and now I’m at the phase of my career where I have my own brick n mortar practices. I’ve always been overzealous and I decided to have two practices. One as an acquisition and the other as a denovo start up. I’m beyond blessed to be so fortunate to have this position but it’s leaving my utterly drained. From doing dentistry to doing admin work after it always seems like there’s always a meeting, there’s always something to fix and hiring has been a total nightmare. I’ve realized that positions like office manger is such broad description and really sometimes it’s just an expanded function receptionist. I’m in the early stages so it feels like everyday I’m drinking from a fire hydrant. I often question how long I can keep up this momentum. Not really from a physical standpoint but from a is this really what I want? I’ve been thinking a lot about what if I just chill associatedship for awhile. Save and stack up money and retire. But, I quickly remember how I felt being an associate and how powerless I felt to do the things I wanted to do. Oddly now I understand why some of the owners I worked with operated in the way they did. My goal is really to build a lifestyle practice. One where I can work ish make anything of 300k and enjoy my life. Do the dentistry I want to do and be in control of how it’s done and when I think like that the drive to continue building these practices sparks back up. For those of you who have started a practice aquired a practice what kept you sane during the time period?

Don’t think the office has glass ionomer-only composite. Damage from wisdom tooth that was extracted a few months ago. Not visible clinically-explorer sticks into it under the gum line on the distal.

Thanks!

I signed up for Weave in June 2025 for my dental practice. The salesperson told me it was a one-year contract, so I assumed my commitment would end in June 2026.

I’m currently using SoftDent as my practice management software and planning to switch from Weave to Mango so I can use Oryx for better integration and automation. Oryx cannot support weave.

When I contacted Weave about canceling, they told me I’m locked in until June 2027 because my contract automatically renewed for another year.

I wasn’t expecting to be committed for another full year, especially since we’re transitioning our software setup.
Has anyone else dealt with this?

Were you able to get out of the automatic renewal?
Did Weave offer any flexibility when switching providers?
Did escalating to management help?

Any advice on getting out of the contract without paying another full year?

Would appreciate hearing from other dental practice owners who’ve been through something similar.

New grad here idk. New patient (27M) I’ve never seen before (no prior X-rays either)
I’m getting better at accurate caries diagnosis but I still get somewhat stumped sometimes. For #3 - yeah there’s an E2 lesion but clinically looks kinda crazy. Small hole in the occlusal but it’s all hard so I plan to restore. Maybe the contour is hiding all the decay?
But then there’s 18 which I swear is also hard all in those grooves and there’s no decalcification but then there’s this huge lesion underneath it seems.

Idk sometimes I swear a tooth needs to be restored and there’s just no decay past a shallow point. I feel like I’m getting better/more conservative when needed but I swear not all teeth are so much like we learned in the textbooks

Seems counterintuitive since you have to play by their rules when the ownership is all about control and calling your own shots.

Hey guys, hoping to get some insights from associates in the US who have experienced this. I am not trying to open back up the W2 vs 1099 debate, there have already been plenty of arguments and posts about it and no one ever manages to agree on anything. Some people will say W2, some will say 1099, and of course some will bring up that associates shouldn't even be 1099, but I've noticed most people who respond have only ever been 1 specific type as an associate, either W2 or 1099

I'm hoping to get the specific experience of someone who has switched from one to another, W2 and 1099 as an associate, with the exact same pretax/gross income before and after, and what specifically their take own ended up being after filing taxes. For example, someone making 200k w2 switching to 200k 1099 with a similar lifestyle before and after. Were you able to write off enough/work with an accountant to make a difference in final take home, for better or worse? Did take home end up going up or down with the same gross/pretax amount? Did adding an S corp delegation make a difference?

I am considering a potential associate role with an expected income of about 200k and might have the option of either one so I was hoping to get the experience of someone who explicitly has had both pay structures. Their W2 offer doesn't really have any benefits besides being able to sign up for health insurance.

Anyone ever crown prep with caries and old restoration in place, then remove old restoration and caries and add composite to gaps and then refine after??

I normally remove all caries and restoration first, fill gaps and then then crown prep but it’s quite slow.
Curious what everyone else thinks

im buying an office and looking to switch from the current dr's cc processing company. Has anyone used Helcim? what do u guys use? thanks in advance

Yes, yes you do. See what happens when articulate. No, you weren’t born with teeth that look like that.

Graduating in May 2027, I have been interviewing at DSOs so far but I’m worried I’m hearing all the good. Any tips, tricks or suggestions ? Please

Patient is 50 year old male who clenches/grinds his teeth.

The first bitewings is from January 2026.
The second bitewing is from October 2026.

In January- I placed a really small filling occlusal on #30 because the patient complained of sensitivity. After I checked occlusion and he was not biting on the filling from I remember. And patient said it felt fine when he was biting.

Today he came back for his recall and has been complaining about food getting stuck in between his teeth.

He has lost almost 4mm of bone in 9 months and now I’m tweaking out.

Why did this happen, what are ways I can help fix the issue , and why did he lose so much bone in 9 months!

Hello,

I’m a D4 graduating in May from a school in the Midwest. Really hoping to land a job in Raleigh/Triangle area in NC. I’ve talked to some recruiters and reached out to supply reps, but the consensus is it seems too early for anything to gain traction.

What can I be doing to find a good fit after graduation? If anyone has any tips on how they found a job out of state, please let me know!

Thanks!

Read this off X today, although about MD, the sentiment is similar for the path and sacrifice for dentistry. The prose was quite beautifully written, the emotions almost pop out.
In the end, was it all worth it? Or as he says, ‘this has been such a waste’

How much would their lab fee cost? I have my own solo office.

The owner owns multiple other practices and never works at mine, so it’s truly just me. I always feel bad taking vacation but it adds up to about 16 days a year

Deciding between Pankey and clinical mastery curriculum to get better with understanding occlusion, esthetic cases, opening VDO. I'm not too interested in super complex FMR. Any thoughts?

I’ve been an associate 2 days a week at 2 different practices. One owner (Office A) realllllyyyyyyy wants me to quit the other office and work for her full time. She said if I don’t, she’ll hire another dentist for the days I’m not there.

I have only been working in private practice for 2 months so I feel this isn’t long enough to compare.
Both offices have in house milling. Both order anything I have asked for. I enjoy being able to switch up the week by going someplace new.

I get paid almost the same at both (negligible difference)

Office A: pano and cbct (I want to expand into endo and I enjoy taking out easy impacted thirds). Get paid 35% of collections. My biggest concern is staff drama and lower fees

Office B: no pano/cbct. Higher fees and more cash patients. Less disease because it’s in a higher income neighborhood. Less chaos and less drama with staff. Get paid 33% adjusted production. Biggest concern is that it’s harder to fill my schedule

Generally I have to do a bit more dentistry to get paid the same at office A because the fees are lower, but there is no shortage of patients to treat unlike at office B where I have slow days about half the time (but still making the same).

Would it make sense to leave office B to work at office A full time? The owner says I should consider that if she hires someone else then I’ll be sharing all the new patients with them (they all currently only come to me—the owner doesn’t see new patients). Our area doesn’t have a lot of dentists and it’ll probably take a little bit for her to find someone.

What is reasonable to spend on marketing?? Have a company that is wanting to charge 3000 total for running all website, google, and meta ads. This is excluding ad spend per month. Is that outrageous?

I’ve seen several negative posts about the job market there, but wondering about my specific situation. I don’t need or want to live in a major metro area. I want more family friendly area so is the job market just as bad in these areas and what can you expect working part time? I have a substantial amount saved so I don’t need a lot to live off of, just to help with daily living expenses ect.

Hi everyone,

I'd love your input on a fluorosis case.

Patient: Adult female, wants a brighter smile and wants the vertical lines on her central incisors to be less visible. She's firmly declining any invasive treatment, so no veneers or prep.

Findings: Fluorosis with vertical opaque striations on #8 and #9 . no hypersensitivity reported before starting.

What I've done: started Home whitening with custom trays, 16% carbamide peroxide, for 2 weeks.

My plan: Add a microabrasion session afterwards (Whiteness RM) to homogenize the enamel surface, then reassess.

I have considered ICON infiltration but it's not an option as i can't find tge product in my country.

Questions:

Does microabrasion after whitening make sense, or would you do it first?

Any tips on managing the stained lines?

If it's not enough, would you do composite bonding with minimal or no prep, or stop there?

I have been practicing for a few years now and am eager to advance my surgical skills. While I regularly refer patients to local oral surgery offices, our relationship is strictly limited to referral forms and reporting letters. Because I am naturally somewhat shy around other professionals, we have never met in person. I interact comfortably with my own staff and patients, but I struggle to communicate with specialists on a peer-to-peer level.

Compounding this is the fact that I did not graduate from the country where I am currently practicing. Even though I am fully licensed, practicing in a different country from where I went to dental school holds me back. I don’t have a local network of former classmates or instructors to lean on, so I truly feel like I am completely on my own.

I am unsure how to approach local specialists for learning opportunities. I worry about putting them in an uncomfortable position, making the relationship awkward, or coming across as an annoyance to them during their busy days. Although I try to teach myself as much as possible, fear often holds me back when it comes time to implement these skills clinically. Having a mentor or an open line of communication would give me a valuable sounding board to bounce ideas around, helping me overcome this hesitation and build my confidence.

For those who have been in my shoes, have you felt this same way? How did you overcome the fear of reaching out to specialists peer-to-peer? What would be the ideal, low-pressure way to approach a specialist for mentorship or clinical guidance when you have no prior connection, and how can I navigate this so I don't become an annoyance to them?