How to read an associate dentist offer (before you sign it)

Most associate offers are two pages long and leave out the numbers that decide what you'll actually take home. This is how we read one with a dentist, line by line. It applies anywhere, and it's how we check every offer a Maine practice sends through us.

Start with how you're paid, not how much

There are three common structures. Each one shifts risk between you and the practice.

• A daily or annual guarantee. A fixed amount per day worked, or a salary. Simple, predictable, and usually lower than what a busy associate would earn on percentage. Good for your first year somewhere, when you don't control the schedule yet.
• A percentage of collections. Typically somewhere in the high twenties to mid thirties, paid on what the practice actually collects from your work. Your income rises with your schedule and falls with cancellations and write-offs you don't control.
• A guarantee against a percentage. The practice pays you the daily guarantee, or your percentage of collections, whichever is higher, usually reconciled monthly or quarterly. This is the structure we push for. It gives you a floor while you build a schedule and a ceiling that's actually yours.

Whichever you're offered, ask for the last twelve months of production and collections for the chair you'd be taking over. A practice that won't show you is telling you something.

Production, collections, and adjustments

"Percentage of production" and "percentage of collections" can differ by ten percent or more, and the word "adjusted" in front of either one can mean anything. Ask three questions:

1. Is the percentage on production (what was billed) or collections (what came in the door)?
2. What's subtracted first? Lab fees, implant parts, PPO write-offs, and "supplies" are the usual ones. A 32% of collections offer with lab fees deducted can net less than 28% with nothing deducted.
3. What was the practice's collection rate last year? Below 95% should prompt a conversation about who's doing the billing.

The schedule is part of the pay

Four days a week at eight patients a day is a different job from four days at fourteen. Ask how many columns you'll have, whether you'll have a dedicated assistant, how new patients are assigned between dentists, and whether hygiene checks count toward your production. If the owner keeps the implant and cosmetic cases and sends you the fillings, your percentage is worth less than it looks.

Benefits that change the math

• Malpractice insurance, paid by the practice or by you.
• CE allowance and paid days to attend.
• Health insurance, and whether the practice pays a share.
• Retirement match. A 401(k) with a match is worth real money over a decade.
• Paid time off, and whether it's paid at your guarantee or at zero on a straight-percentage deal.
• Licensing, DEA registration, and association dues.
• Relocation help or a signing bonus, and what happens to it if you leave early.

The clauses people skip

Non-compete. Radius and duration. Fifteen miles for two years is common in rural areas and would rule out most of a county in Maine. Ask whether it applies if the practice terminates you without cause. Some states limit these clauses for physicians and dentists, and the rules change, so read the current law for the state you're signing in rather than assuming.

Termination. How much notice each side gives, and whether you can be let go without cause. Sixty to ninety days is normal. Thirty is thin.

Tail coverage. If your malpractice policy is claims-made, who pays for tail coverage when you leave?

Patient records and marketing. You usually can't take patient lists. Make sure you can at least tell patients where you went.

The partnership path, if it's offered

"Path to partnership" in an offer letter is a hope, not a term. If ownership is part of why you're taking the job, get the mechanism in writing: when the conversation happens (say, at 24 months), how the practice is valued, what percentage is available, and how it's financed. An owner who means it will have answers. One who doesn't will say "we'll figure it out."

Five questions that tell you most of what you need

1. What did the last associate in this chair earn, and why did they leave?
2. Can I see twelve months of production and collections for that chair?
3. What's deducted before my percentage is calculated?
4. How are new patients split between dentists?
5. If I'm a partner in three years, what will I own and what will it cost?

Where Maine Dental Path fits

We don't negotiate for you, and we're not lawyers. What we do is put the offer next to the practice's real numbers before you see it, and tell you plainly where it's strong and where it's thin. Our fee is paid by the practice on your first day, never by you, and it's the same whatever you're paid, so there's no reason for us to push a weak offer.

Have an offer in hand already, from anywhere? Send it to hello@mainedentalpath.com and we'll give you a straight read, Maine or not.