Dentists salary in Australia?

[Dentdentusa]

Can someone provide me with some information about Dentists salary in Australia. Graduate to someone with 5 years experience.

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[shan564]

It's hard to find actual data, but they generally earn more than doctors do. I have a friend who is a full dentist (just out of dental school) - he never told me exactly how much he was earning, but based on various things he's said here and there, I've estimated that he'd make about $300-400k/year if he was working full-time.

 

[skatertudoroga]

Would you automatically get a PR if you finish dental school there? How would you then get a job? Are most dental practices willing to hire a recent dental grad and pay him a reasonable salary? what if after dental school you want to go back to medical school (perhaps because you see yourself not as a surgeon but as an internist), would you be able to do 2years of school instead of 4? I looked up that USydney Dental school accepts mcat. Do the other dental schools accept mcat? And what are the opportunities at various schools in terms of research and clinical experience? Thanks.

 

[redshifteffect]

Would you automatically get a PR if you finish dental school there? How would you then get a job? Are most dental practices willing to hire a recent dental grad and pay him a reasonable salary? what if after dental school you want to go back to medical school (perhaps because you see yourself not as a surgeon but as an internist), would you be able to do 2years of school instead of 4? I looked up that USydney Dental school accepts mcat. Do the other dental schools accept mcat? And what are the opportunities at various schools in terms of research and clinical experience? Thanks.

I know several Canadians that have done dent from Usyd, and one that is trying Maxfac so here is what I've gathered:

1. Yes, with dentistry you can actually apply directly after graduation, and do not require an "internship" like you do with Pharm and Med.

2. Very easy to get a job here in Oz. There is a dentist who is the wife of one of my colleagues and has had to move every year because of her husbands job and hasn't had trouble finding a new job every year in every city that they've moved to.

3. Usyd med I believe gives you credit if you did dental school there, but I'm very sketchy on the details.

 

[skatertudoroga]

I know several Canadians that have done dent from Usyd, and one that is trying Maxfac so here is what I've gathered:

1. Yes, with dentistry you can actually apply directly after graduation, and do not require an "internship" like you do with Pharm and Med.

2. Very easy to get a job here in Oz. There is a dentist who is the wife of one of my colleagues and has had to move every year because of her husbands job and hasn't had trouble finding a new job every year in every city that they've moved to.

3. Usyd med I believe gives you credit if you did dental school there, but I'm very sketchy on the details.

Thank you! I think I am leaning towards going to dental school now with the option of either doing md later or omfs or just staying a dentist. I have more specific questions for #3:
It says on USyd website that if you went to dental school there then you are exempt from all the science classes for the first 2 years but it does not say that you could actually enter as M3. Perhaps they would make you start as M1 and just have you attend patient history classes,etc? I think it would be a nice opportunity to start as M3 if for some reason you got bad hands or bad eyes as a dentist and you decided to become an internist... On another website I read that if you get into OMFS residency anywhere as a dentist, then you can do 1yr of dental surgical training, then 2yrs of med school, then 1yr of general surgical training, and then 3 years of advanced OMFS surgical training. It seems like if you get into OMFS then any med school will give you 2yrs of credit for any dental school?

And I have an additional question regarding dentistry: I found online that UMelbourne(which has its first class entering 2011) only uses GPA and MCAT(or any other test). So I would be very confident that I could get in. But USyd also uses interview. I found on 1 forum that for USyd Med it is 50% gamsat/mcat and 50% interview, but for dental school they only use gpa/mcat to select you for interview but the final decision is 100% interview. Is that true? In that case I would have very little chance of getting into USyd because I don't interview well (though I would try to prepare). I wonder also if there are any pros/cons to how USyd first 2yrs are taken with the med students while in Melbourne the programs are completely separate. I kind of like the idea of learning whole body pathophysiology because I am also interested in medicine.

 

[Dentdentusa]

Gosh 300-400k a year for a dentists salary in oz? that's alot for what I get here in the US. I've been working in the states for a little over 5 years and my salary is no where near the 300k mark.

 

[redshifteffect]

Have a look at some of the rates dentists charge (in Oz)! It's no wonder they make so much.

*Edit*
Don't forget to keep in mind the cost of living in the US vs. Australia. It could end up being that you'd need a higher salary to have the same lifestyle in Australia vs. the US. I know that COL is definitely cheaper in the US vs. Canada (for consumer items any way, not necessarily for things like Health care) so I assume that the same is true for Australia vs. the US.

 

[shan564]

3. Usyd med I believe gives you credit if you did dental school there, but I'm very sketchy on the details.

At USyd, all of the dental students have to pass the same basic science curriculum as the med students. So, if you do a full dental degree here, you can do the med degree in three years, with the first year being part-time. Since the first two years are normally ~20% clinical, you spend your first year making up what you missed there - that is, you have two clinical days a week, and that's it. If you have a dental degree, you can work as a dentist during the rest of the week. Then, in the last two years, you merge together with the third year of the med curriculum.

 

[Echinopora]

DentDent,

If you check the DJS job listings, it looks like most associateships in regional area's would expect to make 150-250 a year. Less in the cities. There are alot of dentist who only work out of one chair in Aus, so the Avg Gross is a fair bit lower that USA/Canada.

You can check out www.djs.com.au. Take a look at the practice for sale section, they list the gross for each of the practices for sale so if you figure about 60% overhead you can do the math.

What area of the US are you in, and are you planning on taking the ADC exam? I recieved my DDS in Canada (2007) and have the ADC certificate. Looking to head over next year. I think North America is better financially, but Aus has a pretty good lifestyle.

Rob

 

[redshifteffect]

DentDent,

I think North America is better financially,

Rob

According to this seems you're worse off in Ontario (where there is literally a dentist at every street corner):

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27847

 

[Echinopora]

Well, the Greater Toronto area is a little saturated, but reading through the thread the Dentists on there have stated that the salary for a 4-5 day a week dentist in Ontario are 150-300 for an associate and 300+ for an owner which is pretty in line with my classmates who moved there. The wages are better if you live outside of GTA. Vancouver is more saturated than Toronto, and it can be tough to break into the market there, but that is not different than trying to work in Sydney by the Beach. The practice I work in is pretty average and it Grosses 2.6M with 2.5 dentists (~80 dentist hours). I've been in touch with practice brokers in Aus, and very few practices gross that much with only 80 hours worked.

Taxes and cost of living is where the Financial advantage kicks in. Australia has a 32% business tax. Canada ranges from 16-18% depending on the province. We have more deductions here, and the personal income tax is less as well. When you buy property/cars etc, there is no stamp duty. GST is 5% vs. 10%, there is no medicare levy etc. I paid about 27% tax on my take home pay last year. We don't pay tax on the first 22K we put into retirement each year, and we can put away 5K each year into an account that will never be taxed (Tax Free Savings/Investment account). In the US your mortgage interest is tax deductable, the income taxes are less and many states do not have a sales tax. It's not what you make, it's what you take home

Cost of living is less. Gas, Cars, Food, Houses etc.

Personally, I would like to pay of my student loan before I go, and we get a tax deduction on the interest paid here.

So if you want to save money, I would still say North America is a sound choice. Plus the dollar is stronger here.

But, Canada is cold and I'd love to come to Australia for a few years.

 

[redshifteffect]

Well, the Greater Toronto area is a little saturated, but reading through the thread the Dentists on there have stated that the salary for a 4-5 day a week dentist in Ontario are 150-300 for an associate and 300+ for an ownerQUOTE]

Some of them stated that, but others stated 80-100k. As I'm not a dentist I'm not sure which one is accurate.

However in terms of your taxes, I find I've had a lot more personal deductions here compared to the taxes I was paying back home. I've also found that the tax rates you've quoted have been higher then what I'm paying, but perhaps it's because we're in two different fields, or you're quoting BC taxes while I'm comparing with Ontario.

Here is a comparison:
http://www.worldsalaries.org/dentist.shtml


As for taxes it's now 28% if you make less then 2 million, and according to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

It's 20% in Canada.

You can also deduct your loan from your taxes, and I've already done so through salary packaging even though my loan was from Canada. There are also a lot of other tax saving methods you can employ in Australia, some of which you can also do in Canada and others you can't. I'd suggest talking to an accountant to get more details.

Also re: income tax it's provincial + federal in Canada and only federal here. I personally pay less taxes on more money here then back there so I'd say personal taxes are a lot less.

 

[Theillestill]

Starting salary in private practice is approximately 80k for a first year graduate. We've been told that roughly 200k is not unexpected.

 

[Dentdentusa]

DentDent,

If you check the DJS job listings, it looks like most associateships in regional area's would expect to make 150-250 a year. Less in the cities. There are alot of dentist who only work out of one chair in Aus, so the Avg Gross is a fair bit lower that USA/Canada.

You can check out www.djs.com.au. Take a look at the practice for sale section, they list the gross for each of the practices for sale so if you figure about 60% overhead you can do the math.

What area of the US are you in, and are you planning on taking the ADC exam? I recieved my DDS in Canada (2007) and have the ADC certificate. Looking to head over next year. I think North America is better financially, but Aus has a pretty good lifestyle.

Rob

I'm based in the NW of the USA. Taking the OET in DC shortly. How did u find the OET? I guess if I can read write speak and listen I shouldnt struggle too much on that test right? I have family members in Australia and want to reside there and hopefully practice there. Trying to ask how much a dentist with my experience would get paid under the PSDWS. Trying to avoid part 2 of the ADC exams. I am so over non practical tests. When I graduated from Dental School my salary was around the low 100s.

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

I'm based in the NW of the USA. Taking the OET in DC shortly. How did u find the OET? I guess if I can read write speak and listen I shouldnt struggle too much on that test right? I have family members in Australia and want to reside there and hopefully practice there. Trying to ask how much a dentist with my experience would get paid under the PSDWS. Trying to avoid part 2 of the ADC exams. I am so over non practical tests. When I graduated from Dental School my salary was around the low 100s.

If you only want to work in public government clinics.. You're probably looking at 60-80k. If youre a specialist or you're working very rural then maybe around 90-120k. If you want more then you'll need to get licensed and registered so you can work in private practice.

 

[Dentdentusa]

Thanks for your post. U r right I received an email from the health services dept and they confirmed that under that scheme pay would be around 60-80 and positions are ALL rural based. Looks like I'll have to hit the books and start studying again. Little rusty maybe on the theory side. Since you are a dentist could you advise if
the 300-400 salary mark is realistic for
someone in private practice with a few yrs experience.

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

Thanks for your post. U r right I received an email from the health services dept and they confirmed that under that scheme pay would be around 60-80 and positions are ALL rural based. Looks like I'll have to hit the books and start studying again. Little rusty maybe on the theory side. Since you are a dentist could you advise if
the 300-400 salary mark is realistic for
someone in private practice with a few yrs experience.

Absolutly ....Maybe not in Sydney city (until you've established yourself for quite awhile)... But in the rural areas.. without a doubt.