I think most of them are just a respectable front for drug dealers. This explains why the figures are similar for the “ghetto” and downton LA/Beverly Hills :).
I have noticed the same thing in Boston. One possibility: dental practices are sold when a dentist retires, often the new dentist/owner will keep the same name on the practice. If the office is in a low-rent area, the new doctor will stay-frequently, the clientele will travel to these areas, for dental care. Plus, if the rent is cheap, and the clients will come, why move?
This doesn’t fly. If by dental care you mean visits to the dentist, then you’re saying that they don’t go to the dentist much so they have to go to the dentist. Something conflicts there. Also, there’s a dirth of good medical care in the inner cities, so why don’t you see more health clinics, too? I don’t think that line of reasoning is real solid.
Wow, uh, dentists actually make less than I thought, and I was the one questioning whether they made “a lot” of money. FWIW, wow, uh, veterinarians also make substantially less than I thought.
Dentists’ median is still more than I make, but to me it’s still not “a lot” in the respect that they’re a whole other social class. On that note, I seem to make more than the median dentist, but again, “a lot” would imply a higher rung in the social hierarchy, which I very much doubt is the case.
I’m having trouble following this part of the quote; at any rate my father knew and did some office construction for a dentist, I worked on another dentist’s home garage many years ago and saw the kind of place (and cars) he had despite being 35 years old max, my old family dentist was what you’d call a “high-end” dentist who’d refuse to simply pull a bad tooth and insisted (quite snarkely) on performing the most expensive procedure possible, and when we switched to a “low-end” dentist (who still owned the whole strip mall and was putting his own kid through medical school) I found out they had actually gone to dental school together and he happily told us all about such things. Oh and a few years back another dentist out of the blue knocked on our door and offered us $400K for our house; see he was trying to buy the six other houses around us so he could tear them down and build his son a clininc. We declined. A year later he bought up the corner lot across from us for 2 million, and built a 2-story clinic on that. Dentistry might not allow one to fly a private jet around the Bahamas, but when you can give your kid a graduation present worth more than my 2 parents life-long combined incomes, I consider that a profession where you make a lot of money; YMMV.
I think that answer is still lower rent and other expenses. Someone making $140K and running a for-profit business will be very conscious of costs. Some fortunate dentists may be able to cater to high-end clientele and make alot of loot, but most work for Joe Schmoe with the company-sponsored dental plan run by a profit-seeking corporation that strives to minimize its costs every day.
BTW, IIRC, what little attention I paid during a pet insurance seminar, dental insurance is different from medical insurance, and they don’t deal with the same problems (or the same degree) that doctors due in regards to the amount they are getting paid. And the reason they were mentioning dental insurance is that, at least in the company offering the seminar, their pet insurance followed a model closer to that of dental insurance than the general health insurance.
The median showed for dentists means that there are still plenty of dentists who seem to do well. I wonder if the ones making less than the median are those in research/academia/government service.
I do remember now, many years ago, an undergraduate classmate told me about her dentist father… It seems the government had offered to help him set up his shop in one of the poorest counties of the state (Florida), as well as paying for some of his clients’ work. So I’m guessing if that is something similar happening in some poor places.
Dang it. I make less than a median dentist and more than a median vet. I had always assumed that medical professionals (even for animals) made more money that I.
If many of the vets that you’ve seen own their own shop and are around 40 or so, yea, they’re probably making more than you. If they look young and are not the owner, you’re probably making more than they are.
Why so many? Demand.
Come out here in the boonies and call a dentist for an appointment. If I were to call today, they will ask, would something in March work for you?!
The thing is, we’re talking about medians. Someone mentioned that dentists make “a lot” of money. Someone else kindly posted median incomes for both dentists and veterinarians. It’s my opinion that the median for both fields is not what I’d call “a lot” of money. Okay, it’s “a lot” compared to, say, a grocery bagger, but the median is still decidedly middle class.
When we see “rich” dentists, confirmation bias can lead us to think that all (or at least the vast majority) of dentists make “a lot” of money. We can’t dispute that there are rich dentists out there. But all the same there are rich body in white engineers, too. However seldom does anyone become rich by merely collecting a salary or depending soley on the returns from private employment. There’s something else at play: saving and investing and living within your means or budget while at a young age, so that you can be rich and purchase your kids a new dental clinic when it’s their turns.
Note: my wife was a dentist, and her father sent her to private university, as well as provided her her office building and complete equipment setup. I’d always felt that if she were to practice again, I could live large and work as her secretary or something. I now realize that that wouldn’t be a very thoughtful strategy!
I haven’t noticed this phenomenon with the inner cities of the US (then again, my experience is with really blighted inner cities such as Cleveland and the East Side of Buffalo), but I’ve seen it across the Mexican border in Juarez; “Dentista” offices absolutely everywhere. “Cheap medical tourism”, you might say, but I haven’t seen any doctor’s offices in Juarez; it’s just dentists. Also, the “Dentista” signs are in Spanish; if they were basing their business on an abundance of American customers, their signs would be bilingual or in English, as with other businesses in Juarez that have a predominantly American customer base.
Perhaps it’s for the Spanish-speaking American tourists? No, really. American border towns are just as Mexican as the Mexican border towns. Why pay a lot of US dollars on the US side when you’re a day laborer, when you can go to the Mexican side and pay in cheap pesos?
I think I’ve been to that very same street in Juarez. Similar streets in Tijuana, though, have dentists similar as to those shown in the photo, with the difference being that there really are a fair number of them that have additional advertising in English.
Personally, I don’t think I’d go to any of these guys. You can still get excellent discounts in Mexico, though, if you look for a dentist affiliated with a large, private hospital. It’s just a trust issue for me; the street guys may be okay, or not.
It’s in the top 10% of all households (not just single person salaries, but households) in the US. That “median” dentist alone earns more than 9 out of every 10 families country wide cite
So? It’s a relative figure and pointing out that they make more than 9 out of 10 families country wide hints at jealously. It doesn’t indicate “a lot” of money. Certainly in you’re in the bottom 5% of incomes, it’s relatively a lot of money to you, but then the amount of money that someone at 15% has also appears to be a lot of money to you.
I feel so accomplished because my life experience might actually answer someone’s question.
The real reason, I do believe is that so many people in that poverty group would have Medicaid.
I live in Spartanburg, SC and my home is not far from quite a few of those dentist-ghetto situations.
I realized these type things because as a child, now I am currently an uninsured adult, but my father could only get his children into the dentist by this mean.
BUT.
With Medicaid, the parents are given a list, a very strict list as to who they can take their children to.
In Spartanburg we were given a death list of men who were willing to do whatever it took to take in the most patients possible.
In the said ghetto
- A lot would presumably be on Medicaid and in need of a dentist
- They would accept any level of dentistry due to the restrictions Medicaid puts on the patient
- As I experienced, the dentist may try to tell you that you need a more cosmetic proceedure that Medicaid doesn’t cover so that you have to pay out of pocket - to him.
I saw more kids and poor adults sit in a run-down room waiting to have a man look in their mouth ten minutes and they could not complain because at least you were getting treated.
So, the dentist doesn’t have to give a whim about the ghetto, he just has to look in the ghetto’s mouth for a minute to do what the state requires and to turn his buck.
In my case, we were in the upper-middle class and could’ve afforded a little more than he was doing. So, he told me at 16 that I needed a new set of veneers because of the decalcification in my teeth as a fetus.
So, for a child like me, who did not have such severe teeth issues, I was almost convinced I’d lose my teeth and not be able to help myself.
I being an adult now am just fine.
He was just trying to turn a buck that the state couldn’t take from him.
And, the worst horror story of this: my sister at 10 was sent to a man on the state’s list that strapped her arms and legs down and put the regulatory shots in her mouth without a word.
She was so afraid of the dentists that she hardly goes now in high school.
She was taken advantage of. He put five crowns in her mouth at that age.
The state doesn’t cover that.
Suprise.
I think these are all reasons why the ghetto dentist reigns supreme and will. The profiteering is there for the taking.
It’s a shame, but it’s true.
I think that its because in tougher areas people turn a blind ear when they hear screaming.
How about meth usage? Smoking meth is highly corrosive to teeth enamel and mouth problems are common. IIRC, dental problems in prisons are very high in part for this reason.
from METH Awareness And Prevention Project of South Dakota (first google hit)…
Dental problems are common among drug users. Many do not take care of their teeth on a regular basis and most do not see a dentist often. Meth users face some specific issues with their teeth and mouth, partly due to the ingredients and method of use. Meth mouth includes the direct and side effects of the drug and lifestyle choices of the user.
Dentists and dental hygienists are urged to become familiar with the symptoms and what precautions to take when treating an abuser. While the symptoms alone do not prove Meth use, taken together with other signs, they may help health workers diagnose abuse.
Tattoo parlors, head shops and pawn shops are also in this group.
At least they are in my neighborhood.
psycat90, ghetto-dweller
