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Three Stages of a Dental Career by Imtiaz Manji

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If you are a freshly graduated or soon-to-be dentist, your choice of career makes you among the luckiest people in the country. When U.S. News and World Report compiled its recent annual "100 Best Jobs" review, where they evaluated considerations such as growth potential, income and lifestyle, dentist ranked number-one on the list. Not only that, when it conducted an analysis to forecast the best jobs in 2020, dentistry was still right up there among the most rewarding and most in-demand professions. Your future is rich in so many ways.

But here is a vitally important thing to know: Exactly how rich and rewarding your career is depends on some crucial choices you make right now. Dentistry is a profession that practically guarantees an adequate return to anyone who puts in the minimum effort. But if the words "minimum" and "adequate" don't excite you, don't worry. This is a profession that has spectacular possibilities for those who have the passion and drive to explore the full range of their abilities.

The Three Stages of a Successful Dental Career

Over the years, I have analyzed thousands of dental practices and coached countless dentists, many of whom have gone on to achieve the highest levels of success in the profession. In that time, I have come to realize that there are three stages that mark the progression of almost every dental career.

The first is what I call the "Investment Stage," where you put a lot of time and resources into launching your career. That includes not just your schooling but the immediate years thereafter where you are either buying a practice, building a new practice or becoming an associate or partner. This is also a time when a new dentist is typically going through other milestones in life like getting married, buying a home or starting a family. This all takes an enormous expenditure of money and energy. But it is also an exciting stage in life, where you are earning a good income for the first time and seeing rapid growth in your personal lifestyle and in the practice.

Of course, that pace of growth doesn't continue forever, and eventually you reach the "Plateau Stage" where the momentum levels off. This is the stage where the "never enough time, never enough money" obsession can take hold, as the needs and wants of your lifestyle increase, along with your obligations. At this point you might start to feel the uncomfortable pull of all the "hooks" in you. You start thinking about growing more to meet the demands, but growth is not as easy anymore and chances are you are already busy. So it ends up being just a matter of "feeding the beast" as best you can to keep up.

Here is an important thing to note: many dentists never move beyond the Plateau Stage. Some get comfortable at this level, thinking "this is as good as it gets," and they just settle in for the long haul. Some will make a half-hearted effort to break out of the cycle, with a few courses here or there, or by trying new things in the practice. Many eventually become tired and disheartened by the hamster-wheel routine and start thinking about early retirement.

But here is an even more important thing to note: many dentists do get off the plateau and move to the next stage. In fact, you probably know some of them already. No doubt you have had mentors or instructors who have become role models to you because of the way they have achieved the ultimate success in dentistry (however you choose to define that). These are people who went through the first two stages in their careers, and then found a way to break through to the crucial next step: the "Possibilities Stage."

This is the turning point stage where the really committed dentist realizes that there can be more to his or her career than performing mostly tooth-based dentistry day in, day out. It's where the dentist comes to see that dentistry today has incredible possibilities - for patients and for dentists - and makes the choice to engage at a higher level. These dentists see that success in life is largely determined by success in the practice, and success in the practice comes down to excellence in two areas above all: treatment planning and case acceptance.

As my partner, Dr. Frank Spear often says, you can only treat what you see, so it makes sense to get the kind of advanced training that will help you see more. That is really the definition of possibilities - seeing more. And once you have seen it, planned it and presented it, it comes down to case acceptance, because you can only collect what the patient accepts. And in today's competitive consumer culture, achieving ideal case acceptance is a result of excellence in value creation. Face it; nobody puts aside money in the budget for dentistry. People only afford it if they value it, and it is part of any savvy dentist's role today to create that value.

It is at this point - the point where they need guidance to break through to the Possibilities Stage - that a lot of dentists come to Spear. They are looking for a philosophy, a road map to life that will keep them feeling alive and growing and engaged in the profession. And we provide it.

Just by recognizing and understanding the significance of these three stages, you will be miles ahead of other dentists who take a more "deal with it as it comes" approach. Armed with this foresight, you will be able to ask yourself three crucial questions:
  • How long will it take to reach the Plateau Stage?
  • At what level will I plateau?
  • How long will I stay there before making my breakthrough to the Possibilities Stage?
Determining the answers to these questions will ultimately define the shape of your career. And getting the insight to provide those answers is a process that should begin right now.

The Future Starts Now

The sad fact is that the average dentist invests about $900 a year in continuing education - less than what most of them spend on their cell phone plans. They take the minimum mandated amount of education, whatever is available locally and conveniently, and they go about it in an unfocused, piecemeal way. That is what the average dentist does. And that is why they are average.

If there is one thing that dentists who reach the Possibilities Stage have in common, it is that they have an investment mindset. They are not just prepared to contribute the resources to fulfill the needs of that first Investment Stage but they're also committed to invest in themselves to get the most - and deliver the most - in every stage of their career. It's about recognizing that being a high-level dentist is about being an entrepreneur, and that means devoting entrepreneurial energy right from the start.

I recognize that this can be a difficult thing for a new dentist to accept. When you have just spent several years and thousands of dollars becoming a dentist, the last thing you want to hear about is spending more time in a classroom. But education at the post-grad level is different. The education you get in dental school is what is required to get you started in a career. It's about providing the foundation for a career in dentistry. What you do to build on that foundation is up to you.

The new consumer landscape has created a new breed of dental patient. Your competition is not other dentists; your competition is all the other discretionary choices patients have when it comes to spending their money: the cars, the big screen TVs, the iPads and the vacations - all the things they are willing to go into debt for. If you are going to compete in that arena, you have to be ready to deliver an experience that meets today's consumer expectations. You have to be ready to deliver dentistry at the possibilities level. And that requires a level of education that goes well beyond what you learn in dental school.

Discretionary dental education is a lot like discretionary dental care. Just like the patient who says he can't afford the comprehensive treatment you are presenting, it's easy to say that you're not ready to commit to an education plan right now… maybe next year. But what is going to be different next year? Just like that patient, if you truly appreciate the value of what it can mean to you, you will find a way to afford it. And just like that patient, if you don't commit to it today, you're probably never going to get around to it.

These are the three stages you can expect to encounter in your life as a dentist and the three questions that define your career. One simple recommendation to make the best of it: start now. If you are serious about making the most of this extraordinary opportunity to excel in the best job in America, you have to do it right, and you have to do it right from the start.

Author's Bio
For the last 30 years, dentistry has benefitted from Imtiaz Manji's powerful speaking and writing, his tireless leadership in an ever-changing field and his practical, actionable strategies for a successful life in dentistry. He has an understanding of what makes a business work and his ability to grow companies, and to teach others to grow their businesses in the context of a meaningful vision and strategic plan has led to partnerships with some of dentistry's finest clinicians and thought leaders.

In his current role as CEO of Spear, Mr. Manji reaches thousands of dentists each year with his speaking engagements, online learning, published articles and popular blog, all the while providing the strategic vision and corporate leadership. In addition, he lends his skills and passion to the Open Wide Foundation, whose mission is to bring quality dental care to impoverished communities around the world.

Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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