Hi everyone
I’m a dentist from a neighboring EU country with a few years of clinical experience, and finished Endo MSc., focusing on endodontics and microsurgery.
I’m considering moving to Austria, as I speak fluent German but want to stay not to far from my family. I would love to hear from dentists currently practicing there.
I’m particularly interested in how much demand there is for endodontic specialists in Austria. Do general dentists regularly refer complex endo cases, and is it realistic to eventually open a private practice focusing exclusively on endodontics?
I’d really appreciate any insights into the Austrian dental market or experiences from dentists working there.
Thanks in advance!

New grad who is trying to get better at extractions. I thought 18 and 19 were going to pop out like butter but my elevator kept slipping on mesial of 18 because of the large defect present. Is this a case you would section before starting? I thought the bone loss was going to make it a lot easier but those roots were locked in. I eventually got it out but i want to be better and more efficient.

Just wondering if any of you guys have done commercial RE done for the office building.

Just wondering whom you use and like. I’m hoping to get 100% financing.

Thanks in advance

Hey guys, I was hoping to get some advice on selecting an associate role.

Just some context, I'm a 2023 grad that's been a solo associate at a corporate office for essentially the entire time. I enjoy surgery quite a bit, I'm very comfortable with surgical exts, flapping, grafting etc. i started placing implants 1-2 years after taking a bunch of CEs though I've stuck with single posteriors for now, and I do straightforward anterior/premolar endo. Having been solo the entire time, of course I take a bunch of CEs but its been a lot of figuring stuff out on my own. I think its absolutely helped me grow as a clinician, build skill/confidence and I feel very comfortable by myself, but its also stopped me from pushing myself too hard, which is why I've avoided things like immediate/anterior implant, molar endo etc.

I recently left my previous office, largely because I was hoping to work in an office with mentorship, working alongside colleague/s that are doing more implants/molar endo so I could learn from them/bounce tx plans etc.

Maybe I'm being picky but I'm not gonna lie, its been tough finding an office like that. Maybe its the area I am looking (Chicagoland, suburbs) but almost every single office I've interviewed at either doesn't want the associate doing implants/endo or I'd be solo at an owners second/third practice. I've been promised "remote mentorship" from owners, but I was also promised that at my DSO and never got it lol so IDK if I trust that.

I recently spoke to an office that seemed very promising, the owner still works clinically full time, does pretty much every thing I want to do/learn ( 3rds, implants, molar endo) and is very up front about wanting to mentor. I've spoken with the associates privately and they also speak very highly of the office and confirmed the owner is very open to mentorship. The office culture seems great and I got along well with the partners when I spoke to them. A couple of red flags however. I was given a history of the associates production and it's not great. Two of them average about 30k a month. Thats production, not their take home, which would end up about 10k a month based off of that, which is low, it would end up about a 50% pay cut for me (I averaged maybe 65-70k adjusted production at my previous office). A couple of other things, the associates are the ones that not only tx plan but also talk prices/financials to pts, not a tx coordinator or front desk which I'm not used to. The associate also puts in all the basic info into the chart like existing work, pt info etc, not the assistant. Not a big deal of course, just not something I'm used to. There are a lot of Drs, theres 3 partners and 3 associates, and they have 2-3 total hygienists, they get 80-100 new pts a month, ppo office.

Two of the associates are new grads who have been there less than a year and so there may be a lot of tx left on the table on the table but even after a year their 30k per month production makes me worried, being the sole provider in my family we don't have a second income and these student loan payments are hitting heavy lol. Their collections rate is also a little concerning, i think its around 80-90% for the two newer associates, but that also has to do with the fact they present both tx and the financial aspect to pts, and they may be inexperienced with that.

The office does have a longer running associate of a few years that is doing a bit of everything, b&b, exts w/grafts, endo, implants that is averaging around 50k a month production which is not bad at all.

I've also gotten an offer at another office that recently sold to a new/small dso and the owner is also a founding member/partner of the dso. There a current part time associate that's there 3 days a week who has an almost identical skillset to me, exts, simple implants, simple endo. The owner did a lot more clinically, surgically and endo wise but doesn't practice anymore, but again has offered remote mentorship, going over tx plans, and said he's willing to come in if needed in the beginning. He was also complaining about the current associate a bit, that he wasn't production focused and didn't want to do more tx/production-wise. They want someone willing/motivated to do dlmore specialty work and be more production focused. The owner said he has offered to teach the associate more on implants/endo but the guy wasn't interested. I then had a chance to speak with the associate, who was very nice/chill, i had a great talk with him. The associate showed me his numbers, he's averaging 65-75k adjusted production and he makes 35% collections, on 3 days a week, theres 2-3 hygienists there as well. It was just be me full-time and the part time associate there. I asked the associate about mentorship from the owner, and the associate said I probably wouldn't get any, which is different than what the owner said lol.

I'm very torn at this point, I've turned down a lot of offers because I'd be solo/have no mentorship or there is no hygienist and I'd be doing a lot of my own hygiene and at this point I'm wondering if I'm just being too picky and I shouldn't focus on mentorship and just continue with CEs. I guess not having had it, it's hard for me to judge how valuable is.

Would any experienced docs here be able to provide advice? Is it worth it to take a pay hit to be able work in person/alongside an experienced mentor doc or focus on a higher producing office and just take more CEs? Does anyone have experience with "remote mentorship" from an owner/colleague that doesn't work clinically anymore but has offered to go over tx plans remotely etc? Should I keep looking around, is it reasonable to expect to find an office with this criteria?

Thanks!

Doing a bunch of CE for clear aligners

Any mistakes, about case selection, you wanna share so they’re not repeated are appreciated!

https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(25)00801-2/fulltext00801-2/fulltext)

Sorry if this has been posted here before but I didn't see it when I searched.

So a bit of context - I finished dental school in 2016 in Romania and it's always been a bit of an uphill battle. Managed to open my own practice, but I didn't really had a mentor and was kinda always managing on my own. I've always done whatever I could to improve my skills and always made sure I went to at least one hands-on course every year; got the chance to practice in UK which was a great learning and working experience, but COVID cut that experience short and returned to Romania; because of my type I diabetes and low immune system I had to stay in isolation for the whole COVID period until the vaccine came out. When that was finally over, I went back to my practice and, while still managing to keep it afloat after all the struggles, it was a steady pace and I was managing it fine. I was happy for a while.

This year while I was taking a specialized course on implantology I was noticing some odd things and mainly that whatever I was trying to read I just couldn't, in the way that I'd read the same line or the same paragraphs over and over and I would be stuck on the same thing to up to twenty minutes. I've always struggled with my studies throughout all my life - some things were extremely easy and would pick them up directly from classes, while others I would struggle to memorize lessons. But this time I just couldn't memorize not even a couple of lines.

At work I was noticing that I was setting higher and higher standards and thought it was because of the courses I kept taking and learning from and that my work had to look as if it'd be ready for a presentation photo. During crown preps, if my preps didn't look text book, I'd start correcting "just a bit here, and maybe just bit more there" until I would over correct. A lot of my preps or fillings looked objectively good most of the time - never good enough to me.

I was having more and more moments where it was hard to fall asleep on good days. On bad days I wouldn't sleep the whole night and the next I had appointments waiting. I had no choice but to cancel them because I wasn't able to function.

During very precise treatments like root canals or sutures after extractions, my hand would shake like crazy even though I didn't feel anxious and my blood sugar would also be stable (I have an insulin pump with CGM and the readings would be normal). I would be very clumsy knocking stuff over or dropping things out of hand. My workspace would start out very clean and organized and by the time I finished a treatment everything would be cluttered in disarray.

Running into a lot of reels or clips of people experiencing some of the same things I kinda suspected what it was and went for tests. So I discovered I had undiagnosed ADHD, which now is diagnosed and under medication. Thinking back, the signs were there since I was a child, but in a post communist 90s period, part of the Balkans, there was no such thing as a disorder like that and the treatment care was applied as always for all the kids back then - a good beating.

Does that mean that dentists with ADHD can't practice dentistry? No, not at all. I was finding testimonials and experiences from other dentists with ADHD and while it made some things difficult for them, each experience and management is different. Depending on the severity of it, some dentists practice with no problems, with or without medication, while keeping some organizing methods, while others do what I did - retire. I feel that my patients weren't safe under my care anymore and for me it got so bad at one point, while I was waiting for my test results, I had moments when I was wondering if my ceiling lamp would support my weight. It was probably for the best for everyone.

I am a bit better lately, the meds help me sleep (I've honestly never slept better in my life), but...I'll be honest - between all the shit parts, all the struggles, all the good patients, all the bad ones... I am going to miss it.

Hi all, I’m a new grad and this case has really frustrated me. Patient had a #14 DO caries that went deeper and bigger than expected. I tried DME. 1st attempt came out with a sealed margin filling but left an overhang so I called the patient back for a post-op. Thought I get that but…now I get a different kind of overhang. Honestly get a bit scared trying to talk to the patient for a 2nd post-op but to be frank, I can’t really leave an overhang like that…
What would you suggest to be able to remove the overhang effectively? Tooth was able to floss passively tho so I want to find a way to get rid of that ledge without taking out the whole filling

This year I had to visit endodontist about 2 times because my fillings started chipped this and there. Fine enough, my old fillings last well (more than 6-7 years, its amazing)

But this 26 my then dentist did a root canal around 2007-2010. Then I did panoramic at 2018 for orthodontic purpose, 27 look great I could see the sealer filled it nicely to apical.

This year around July I tried my new X-Ray on 26 (picture 2). I was suprised how the sealer look way more less.opaque than I remembered back then also it doesnt look like one of the mb canal got filled either.Though its asymptomatic.Then 26 started to have some pain while biting and I could feel the gum around apical are tender to touch. I'm not convinced enough to addressed this back then but I know this one sooner or later need to be done

Today gum near cervical 27 had a formed some abcess boil. Poked the boil with#15 gutta and took another Xray (pic 1)

And there we go. I cant meet my local endodontist until Monday.

I am amazed on how 27 endo could last, but still kinda dreading to finally addressed this issue. I dislike go to dentist despite being a dentist lol its kind of embarassing.

Relatively new to the Army, but plan to apply to the program. Did not do an AEGD, pretty bread and butter. Looking for first hand experience and possible mentorship. Would like to discuss workload, home-life balance, location, post-graduate relocation and general experience.

Any one else sick of the offices you work at and the patients expecting antibiotics be sent out for tooth pain.

When patients come in with symptoms of irreversible pulpits what is your protocols. I try not to prescribe antibiotics in these situations unless they have active abscess or systemic symptoms.

This usually doesn’t hold over well for the patients and owner doctors of the offices I work at. Everyone expects antibiotics as a quick bandaid.

I’m trying to not contribute to the growing antibiotic resistance.

Let me know your thoughts.

Hello, I am currently a 2026 new grad. I have only started practicing for couple months :) It sounds silly but I do enjoy doing extractions a lot. I am doing surgical ext right now but I am just a lot slower and not too confident with my technique.

I would like to start investing in CE courses for extractions. I know a lot of people recommended Dr. Tommy Murph but he is currently out of my budget for CE :(

I came across the Amplify Dental CE AMP2 courses. It is about atraumatic extraction and grafting technique. I don’t see a lot of comments about their CE on Reddit, so I made this post to see if anyone who has taken their courses can please share their experience. Or if there is any other CE recommendations for ext as well.

Thank you all so much!

Hey everyone,

​I’m seriously considering pursuing Orthodontics for my postgraduate studies. While I know it’s generally seen as one of the most competitive and financially rewarding paths, I want to look at it from a different angle.

​For those currently in ortho residency, practice, or academia:

​Is orthodontics genuinely fulfilling if you want to dive deep into research, innovation?

Source: CDA

California AB 1629 was signed into law on September 27, 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. It requires dental plans to honor patient assignment-of-benefits (AOB) requests, allowing out-of-network dentists to receive eligible insurance payments directly rather than relying on patients to receive and forward checks. The law also strengthens patient disclosures and oversight of dental provider networks, but it does not guarantee higher reimbursements or eliminate the financial disadvantages of being out of network.

The fine print — how this plays out in practice:
Direct payment isn’t the same as better reimbursement. Plans must honor qualifying AOB requests, but out-of-network dentists remain subject to the plan’s applicable benefit limits, reimbursement rules, and patient cost-sharing.
Patients must understand what they’re signing up for. Out-of-network status, estimated treatment costs, and the possibility of lower out-of-pocket costs with an in-network dentist must be disclosed as required by the law.

You can’t simply collect the entire fee upfront and wait for insurance. The law establishes requirements around patient consent, direct payment, and the amount a noncontracting provider can collect before the plan pays. Practices will need to follow the statutory process and documentation requirements.

The law doesn’t fix Delta’s fee schedules or make every patient financially equivalent. It addresses payment routing and network oversight, not a blanket increase in reimbursement or a guarantee that patients will pay the same amount they would at an in-network office.

Question for California dentists: Now that AB 1629 is law, are you considering dropping Delta Dental PPO and going out of network? Will direct insurance payments make leaving the network more attractive, or are Delta’s patient volume and negotiated fees still worth staying in network for? I’d especially like to hear from owners who have already made the switch or are planning to in 2027.

I used to love endo. But due to where I practice a molar endo still pays comparably little.

All that work to save a tooth that still needs a crown.

The endo itself for me was even fun until I've started being booked with some curves or anatomy that's hard to make sense of.

So I pivoted to surgery and prosth. Couldn't be happier honestly.

There's nothing more predictable than an extraction and an implant.

However for Endo you need god's hands to even begin if you want to make a career out of this.

No straightforward way to learn either in present day as patient expectations grew way more.

I'd go as far as to say many of the currently practicing old endos probably did worse fuck ups than anyone else. But they could still gain experience from fuck ups.

But now? 1mm short of apex? You get blamed.

Access too wide? You get blamed.

Separated files? You get blamed.

SPEED? You need to complete all Endo in 30 mins now or you are a bad Endo according to many.

I see it everywhere. People are so strict about Endo it's insane.

A somewhat different example is rubber dam. 20 years ago you could practice without one and gain experience. Now try saying you practice without. Strictness inflation.

Which means that for a new dentist first endos require amazing results. You have no room for fuck ups.

In comparison implants are way more predictable.

I used to hate the kind of dentist that extracted everything just to place implant. I thought it aggressive.

But now I know they were right. You probably won't be able to have access to Endo that has god's hands to treat some insane anatomies unless you're based in US.

It's basically becoming a specialty where the room to entry is higher than ever. And there's more and more pressure to be perfect.

So why bother. I'd rather put an implant there than stress that I'll be sued because I missed MB2 or were short on a high curvature.

If a patient wants to find endo that'll treat that then they can go ahead. But for me it's going to be implant.

To everyone that read this rant I'd be less harsh on those that start in Endo without a mentor (read: nepotism).

And it's a double standard too. Because nobody sues if lower denture has no suction or if implant didn't integrate.

But for Endo? Either you're perfect or you get flamed.

Hi everyone!

I'm a first time mom to a 2.5 month old baby, and I'm already stressing about going back to work when she's around 6–7 months old.

I'm trying to decide between daycare and a nanny. I'm worried about how often babies get sick at daycare, especially since it's not easy for us dentists to cancel patients last minute. But I'm also nervous about trusting someone I don't know to care for my baby at home. We don't have family nearby to help.

I'd love to hear what other dentist moms did. What worked best for you? How did you handle sick days? And would you make the same choice again?

Any advice would be really appreciated! ❤️

I am quite interested in 2 different type of training of implant dentistry, there are are places like residency or CE or individual courses that teach dentists from simple single implants to multiple before starting complex like full arch cases, there are also places like corporate practices where they mainly focus on full arch cases and offer much cheaper price to patients , hence dentists only get taught to do full arch in their corporate even without much experience of basic implant dentistry, some places just offer FP3 full arch to all patients.

how would those type of implant training be different in terms of development of skills ?

i am not familiar with places like Affordable Dentures & Implants in USA, anybody can share any insights ?

Hi guys. I’m at my lowest low. I graduated 2023 and only been working 3 years at this point but having severe back issues. I’ve been living off of pain meds and going for physical therapy but spine surgeon said I need to take 3-6 months off and just focus on resting/PT if I want to avoid surgery. I’m not getting surgery at the moment and would really like to avoid it but not sure what options I have.
I already took unpaid medical leave (FMLA) this time last year. I haven’t completed a year yet to take it again. What are my options? Can I go and unpaid leave and collect short term disability from the state? My company does offer disability insurance but I’m afraid they will fire me as soon as they find out so I haven’t talked to them.
Looking for any leads from people who had to take significant time off due to medical conditions.

EDIT: I’m not asking what to do for my back, I’m asking how to keep my job and get a medical leave/apply for disability etc? Like what do women do in pregnancy?

Hey everyone, looking for some perspective from both owners and fellow associates.
I’m currently an associate at a practice with two associates; the owner is only in the office once a week. My contract is at-will with no set end date, and it includes a daily guarantee versus production.
Here’s the breakdown:
Tenure: I’ve been here for 15 months.
Guarantee Usage: I only actually needed to draw on the daily guarantee during my first 2–3 months. Since then, my production has consistently exceeded it, so it hasn't been a factor in over a year.
The Issue: Out of the blue, the owner texted me asking if I’d be okay with canceling/removing the daily guarantee from my agreement.
I’m trying to gauge what to think about this:
1. What’s the owner's logic here? If I’m consistently outproducing it anyway, why go out of his way to remove it? Is it a cash flow issue, prep for a practice sale, or just trying to cut loose an onboarding safety net?
2. Is this a hill worth dying on? Since I haven't relied on the guarantee in 12+ months, does giving it up actually hurt me, or is removing that safety net (e.g., for unexpected slow seasons, schedule drops, or ops issues) a risk I shouldn't take?
3. How would you recommend responding?
Has anyone (associate or owner) experienced something similar? Would love to hear what might be going on behind the scenes or how best to approach the response.

Just found out that one of the dentists in our relatively small-ish city took his own life yesterday, right out in front of his office. I didn’t know him well personally, but knew him of him as a colleague and he had spoken kindly of us to mutual patients. He had one the nicest offices (in terms of architectural style and updated equipment) in our town, and his social media always appeared upbeat and showing his latest adventures with his family. Never would have guessed something like this would happen to him. Just goes to show you never really know what someone is going thru. This job is fucking hard and so stressful in so many ways. Let’s just remember to cut ourselves some slack and also take care of and support each other however we can.

Hey all-

I'm opening a clinic, expected to be completed next year. I'm tryin to line up a reputable marketing company. Would love to hear what marketing company you used? What were regrets and things you learned as you interviewed with different marketing companies?

Also cost too please.

I read some do their own marketing. No idea how...

No soliciting please. Only want to hear from fellow dental professionals, no need to flood my DMs, I don't accept any. Thanks.

72 yo male patient
(-) smoking
(-) systemic disease
(-) pain
(-) fever
(-) abscess

Bone quality during placement: D4
Torque: 50ncm
System: Osstem Korea

Should I remove this ASAP? I hope a seasone implant dentist can guide me. This is only the 10th implant I have placed.
One implant already failed on the other side. All implants were submerged. Thank you

Im a general dentist and new to implant dentistry so just wanted advice from the veterans what they would do in this case.

For this patient, the UL2 has chronic apical periodontitis with root caries.

I’m planning for the patient an XLA and implant once perio stable.

BPE codes of 4 however bone levels seem decent.

I’m just not sure whether a socket graft will fail or not if the patient has active perio?

My main question: CAN i do socket grafting if the patient has unstable periodontitis?
What have been your experience doing this.