I'm not sure how my former classmates pay their debt, or what repayment arrangements they have in place. But I recently talked to a former classmate who recently graduated from an ortho program earlier this year, and he and I haven't spoke for 3 years since we graduated from the same program.
In short, he now has $500-600k worth of debt, about $350k or so from dental school, and I think $150k or so from an ortho program, he accrued about $50k or so in interest over those years too. Not sure if he has any undergrad debt, credit card debts, etc. He was the one who brought up his debt numbers during the conversation and seemed that it was bothering him more than he thought before he got into dentistry.
He is now an associate for another orthodontist, who can't guarantee his base salary. He makes about $200k now, but that leaves him about $10-12k net after taxes. He is servicing his school related debt at a rate of $5k or so a month, which leaves him about $5-7k. I would imagine he lives modestly and saves about half of that, $2-3k a month.
One thing he is certain about is that ortho market is very brutal, and if he could do it all over again, financially speaking, he would not specialize, and would stick to general dentistry.
The debt is a big psychological burden on all current and future graduates. It is now more than ever, a big factor on what type of dentistry you wish to limit yourself to for a good return on your educational investment.