My name is Eric Chen. I am a practicing board-certified orthodontist based in Los Angeles. I started this website back in residency with one aim in mind: to help aspiring dentists reach their goals. Since then, I’ve expanded my scope to write about the latest external and internal forces driving the quickest changes that dentistry has ever seen. Although I’ve always been interested in technology, finance, and politics, it was the crazy situations I found myself and my peers in that pushed me into learning more about the field. Dental school is such an astonishing opportunity cost, and every practicing dentist only knows what it takes to finally get that license to drill. While many people universally perceive dentists to be rich and successful, the reality is that a great number are not.
With an increasingly pervasive corporate reach, progressively unsurmountable barriers to entry, and an uncertain economic future, dentistry has quickly evolved over the past couple of years into something almost unrecognizable. At the same time, the levels of innovation and rate of change have made it all the more exciting. As such, it is critical especially for young dentists to stay in the know. With so many years of post-secondary education and training you’d think we’d know a thing or two about how private equity firms have quickly consolidated dental care administration, how the American Dental Association and various state dental organizations are battling it out in the courts with direct-to-consumer companies, or even how to start a dental practice, right? Not quite.
Fortunately, you can teach yourself everything you need to know to be financially independent, politically aware, and up-to-date about what is really happening in the field in less time than you spent prepping MOD gold onlays in the pre-clinic as a dental student. Knowledge is power, and financial freedom makes better and happier doctors. Good luck!
