Every once in a while, you may build something you’re proud of. Last month I published an email campaign designed to help dental students understand their student loans, and the first wave of subscribers are finishing the campaign today. So far the emails have been well received, and I have received some questions from students that I will answer on my other blog (EmbrasureSpace.org) in the coming weeks.

The campaign consists of 20 emails delivered over 21 days designed to introduce a student or young dentist to all of the income-driven repayment programs and can be found here: https://embrasurespace.org/20-one-loose-tooth

After reading these emails it should be clear that your first job matters. One of the challenges that students graduating from dental school have is that they may not earn enough to cover the interest that accumulates on their student loans during their first few years of practice. It takes time to go from an AGI of $0 per year as a student to the average AGI of a more mature clinician. During that time period, many young dentists who carry average or above-average student loan debts experience negative amortization and their student loan balance grows. As the costs of dental schools have risen, it’s imperative that young dentists get a handle on their student loans early to minimize the effects of negative amortization, and this means that they need a good or great first job.

One of the biggest shortfalls of our dental education is that nobody teaches young dentists what a good job looks like or where to find one. What happens (and it happened to me) is that you leave school and begin searching for employment. You think you know what to look for in an employer, but you’re not really sure. You also think you know what to negotiate for in your contract, but you’re not positive. You think the compensation sounds fair, but how do you know?

Dr. Paul Goodman has published a series of on-demand webinars on Embrasure Space and his first 3 webinars are all about how to find an associateship and survive in the real world. You can buy all 3 of the courses here: https://embrasurespace.com/product/combo-pack-how-to-find-a-good-associateship-and-survive-in-the-real-world-parts-1-3/