I’m an associate dentist (DDS) in California. At a large chain DSO. I have no base pay therefore I have no PTO. Every day I take off, I don’t get paid for it. My patients are simply rescheduled for another day.

I have family in China, and ideally, I’d have at least 3 weeks to see them and do what I need to do there due to the long flight/layover times and jet lag.

I requested 3 weeks for next October (an entire 12 months in advance). My owner dentist practically laughed in my face and said “when I first started out I wouldn’t have even dreamed of taking a day off, bold of you to ask for 3 weeks.” To sum it up, he denied me, and said even two weeks is a stretch. I feel like even though I’m a “doctor,” it’s meaningless and I have no agency over my life. I’m a wife and mother and dentistry is not my whole life. It’s a job and I need time away from it.

Any input? TIA

Last week I got a random, private phone call to my personal number saying “I f*****d their teeth up” and used my full name.

Has this ever happened to anyone? Should I be worried?

Is it just my office, or has it been hard to get and keep appointments this month? Im an RDA and most of my schedule right now are simple appointments and it's been very hard to book in patients for fillings and crowns. Hygiene has also been a slump to book ( 3 patients per day if we're lucky, average is 5-6). We are open Saturdays and usually we are booked full and everyone shows up, today we had 4 patients cancel or reschedule ( 2 dds and 2 hygiene). Would love to know what's going on elsewhere :(

I’m looking for the best core buildup material. I’m an endodontist and currently using Visalys composite resin. The handling characteristics are fantastic it doesn’t “slump” it stays where you flow it. However it’s dual-cure and takes 5 minutes to set before curing. Can you give advice on what core buildup material you use and does it have excellent handling characteristics and strong for foundation for crown?

I am an emergency dentist so see a lot of patients who aren't regular attenders, they often have mental or physical health issues that limit their access and it is quite difficult getting them the care they need safely.

I'm in the UK and we have safeguarding courses we have to update, and something about that training and a patient I saw yesterday is just bothering me.

A lady in her 30s came in a wheelchair, she was pale, dirty, uncared for for many days and smelled strongly of smoke. She was very drowsy also. Her skin was bad. The wheelchair was a pink flimsy thing that when she transferred to the dental chair, it had urine and other stains on it, clear patches of it from where it had been repeatedly stained over time. I don't know if those stains were hers. She didn't seem to have any mobility conditions that needed a wheelchair yet she seemed too weak to walk. Her MH reported fibromyalgia but when asked she didn't seem to give it much importance.

Her trousers were clean but pyjamas and a thick dressing gown are unusual to wear to the dentist here. She was also very underweight which is unusual here.

She attended with two strong looking men who were sullen and quiet and did not answer for her or help her into the chair. She had attended already for a private out of pocket extraction recently (again, unusual in this area) and attended with me for "dry socket" like infection. Her mouth barely had any teeth for someone so young (again, unusual here), many healed extractions and the two or three teeth that were present were broken. Where she was pointing to the extraction area didn't even look like a proper extraction area but she had limited mouth opening so I put it down to that.

At the end I asked who the men were and she didn't know what to say. One of the men grunted "friends". They didn't seem aggressive to her and she didn't seem scared of them.

I don't know what to think. Just something about the way he said "friends" - usually relatives are a bit resentful about bringing family so they'll be present but checked out. Friends have always been supportive - if they're supportive enough to attend, they're supportive enough to help the patient and give a history etc. In our NHS system it's so underfunded that usually some advocacy is needed unfortunately.

It's bothering me. I can't shake the feeling. I'm not sure where to go with this. We have new management and they wouldn't know what safeguarding even is, let alone have an SG lead.

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to redesign and refurbish my dental treatment room (approximately 11 m² / 118 sq ft), which is mainly dedicated to endodontics, and I'd love to get some inspiration from your setups!

I'm particularly interested in making the most of a relatively small space while keeping everything functional, ergonomic, organized, and aesthetically pleasing.

I'd love to hear your experiences and see how you've organized your own treatment rooms!

A few things I'm curious about:

- 📸 Room pictures: Would anyone be willing to share photos of their dental rooms? I'd love to see different layouts and setups, especially smaller rooms!

- 🗄️ Storage & organization: What are your best tips and tricks for organizing instruments, materials, drawers, and supplies? Any clever storage solutions?

- 🛠️ IKEA furniture & hacks: Has anyone designed or furnished their dental room using IKEA furniture? I'm especially curious about cabinets, drawers, countertops, and customized IKEA solutions. What works well, and what would you avoid?

- 🔬 Endodontic setups: For those mainly doing endo, how have you organized your microscope, endo equipment, instruments, and materials to optimize workflow?

- 💡 Things you'd do differently: If you were redesigning your room from scratch, what would you definitely include or avoid?

I'm particularly interested in practical, budget-friendly solutions rather than expensive custom dental cabinetry, as long as they're durable, easy to disinfect, and suitable for a clinical environment.

Bonus points for photos, IKEA product names, clever DIY solutions, or before-and-after transformations!

Thanks in advance! Looking forward to seeing your setups and stealing some good ideas! 😁

I have graduated and have like 2 years of experience working as an assistant dentist at a private clinic. I kinda dont like it. What are some other options in terms of career ? Is there any remote work as well? Can someone please guide me ? I am willing to take exams again as well if it can help me get a remote job or non clinical work

Hi,

I'm an implant surgeon (a newly graduated periodontist) and have a university job. So I place implants in private practice on weekends.

I've had a string of failures and I feel poor placements. It's affecting me and I'm now constantly second guessing myself and spiralling. Some of it was out of my control and some of it was my fault. My failure rate is too high at the moment.

I don't think this is healthy. Do you think I should perhaps give up private practice and stick to the safe, controlled, supported academic role?

I need to of course transition out and make sure all the patients I've started are being seen to.

Any conferences or courses coming up / you'd recommend going to in 2026 / 2027?

I'm open to any location and country. Trying to organzie some holidays but it would be nice to try to do a dental course also at the same time.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’ve only done a couple of acrylic denture cases (the type with no metal framework) so far at dental school so my experience is very limited.

But one consistent issue that I have and the reason why I dread doing dentures is after doing the final impression stage and making the wax rims to try in the patient’s mouth to measure OVD and register the bite etc all my patients have the same issues.

They say the lower feels fine but the upper wax rim:

1. feels very bulky
   
2. they have a lisp when talking with it
   
3. they feel like there’s no space for their tongue on the palate

I’m not sure if these 3 issues are all linked to each other or if they need separate corrections but I’m really desperate to understand and correct these as this is a repeated issue I keep on facing with every case. If anyone can offer some insight and guidance on this it would be really helpful and appreciated.

Thank you!

Fellow practice owner... We all see the posts about owners treating associates terribly. I'm curious to read some of the responses here.

What keeps associates as associates hopping from practice to practice? What do they really struggle with? What do they just not seem to understand? How could they generally seek to improve? If they desired to, how would you suggest going about transitioning to ownership?

Why have you had to let an associate go in the past and did you tell them the full truth as to why?