The end of 2020 is fast approaching. Besides the election, what does this mean? That it’s time to revisit one of my original posts. As you may recall, most dental residencies charge exorbitant tuition. If our medical colleagues knew, they would shake their heads in disbelief. Where does UCLA vs. USC come into this? Back in 2017, I tallied that the direct cost of attending USC Orthodontics for residency came out to $269,299 (yes tuition, no salary). To match at UCLA Orthodontics, on the other hand, netted you $158,824 (no tuition, yes salary). The raw net difference stood at $428,123. How do the Bruins fare three years later in 2020? Let’s find out.
If someone offered you a spot at residency program A at no cost, and a spot at residency program B with a $400K signing bonus, which would you choose? The answer is obvious. What’s the catch? Both residency programs are the same duration. Both programs are located in the same state. Both programs are located in the same city. You will become a full-fledged specialist coming out of either accredited program. There is no catch. For any medical resident, this is an absolute no-brainer. Then why are some dental residents still choosing residency program A?
When people find out I’m a resident in orthodontics, one of the first things they tell me besides their own experience with braces is how fantastic and cushy my future lifestyle will be. That’s open for debate. While people are generally aware of the amount of work and dedication it takes to become a dental specialist, little do they know about the financial costs. With the cost of attendance for dental school increasing every year coupled with the sky high costs for dental residency, let’s crunch some numbers to see what it takes (financially) to become a dental specialist. Spoiler alert: it costs a million dollars — or more — to become an orthodontist.
Previously we ran side-by-side comparisons of dental school and medical school cost of attendance. You may or may not be surprised to learn that dental graduates owe on average $80K more than their medical counterparts. Curiously, both spend 4 years in training not including residency. Let’s look into the reasons why dental school is so much more cost-prohibitive than medical school.
Back when I was deciding what to do with my life after undergrad, I clearly remember looking up the cost of attendance for various professional schools. Medical school, dental school, law school, veterinary school, you name it. For better or for worse, I’m moderately allergic to cats and dogs, so I quickly ruled out vet school. Something I learned, however, was that dental school costs significantly more than medical school. Let’s run the numbers and see how big the difference really is.
Whether to apply for 4 Year or 6 Year OMFS programs is perhaps the biggest question facing would-be oral surgeons. Previously we looked at the major differences between the two types of programs. Often times, applicants automatically place the dual-degree residency above the shorter residency without thinking through the real economic costs. From a financial perspective, 4 Year and 6 Year OMFS residencies could not be more different.
Everyone knows that medical residencies pay their residents a stipend. Sure, it’s not a glamorous amount given the eight plus years of post-secondary education. But don’t forget that an average medical resident salary of $56,500 is approximately that of the average American household income. The vast majority of dental residencies, however, charge exorbitant tuition. And from the way things are going, it looks like this won’t be changing anytime soon.
Something that I’ve thought about and been asked countless times by my working friends, friends in other professional schools, and other well-intentioned folks is why dental school is so darn expensive. The leading question, however, is how much it really costs.
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