Who is this website for?

This website is for young dentists, dental students, and college students considering a career as a general dentist or specialist.

My name is Chance Bodini and I am a general dentist practicing in Southern California. I am also the founder of Proximal Contact, LLC where I work on various projects including EmbrasureSpace.com (the for-profit sister of this website).

Like the majority of dental students, I graduated from the University of Maryland with a handful of student loans. Since becoming a dentist, my observation, as described in a blog post I published on my personal blog (OneLooseTooth.com) titled Should You Become a Dentist?, is that dentistry is a profession is in a transition.

Over the last ten years, the increased cost of dental school combined with both an increase in the number of dental school graduates and a decrease in reimbursement rates from dental insurance companies has led to an overall decrease in the average income of the general dentist and specialist.

In 2016, the average dentist graduated with more than a quarter million dollars in unsubsidized graduate student loans and it is not uncommon for many students to graduate with more than $350,000 in graduate student debt alone. These student loans can approach $600,000 if the student decides to pursue specialty training or caries debt from their undergraduate institution.

These observations and my own experience inspired me to publish a blog post titled Is Dental School Worth $400,000?, in December 2016 (about 18 months after graduating from dental school). To date, this post is the most popular article on my personal blog and the feedback I received after its publication highlighted a need for a dedicated resource to help young dentists and dental students manage their student loans, purchase a dental practice, and save for a modest retirement. The website is intended to fill this void.

If you are a dental student or a young dentists and would like to share your thoughts, experiences, successes, failures, or strategies with this community, please use the contact us page to send me an email.