Dental Practice Management Survey: What’s a Typical Dentist Work Week?

In this dentist survey, The Wealthy Dentist asked about the typical work week, time spent on patient care vs. dental practice management, and whether dentists enjoy how they’re spending their time.

We found that 67% of dentists in our survey work a 4-day work week.

The remaining dentists reported as follows:

• 17% work 3 days per week
• 13% work 5 days per week
• 4% work 6 days per week

None of the dentists work all 7 days; and none work only 1 or 2 days per week.

When it comes to allocating time between patient care vs. dental management, there’s a wide range. But the most common responses were 32 hours per week caring for patients, and 4 hours per week managing the practice.

Here’s an anlysis of the responses:

Hours per week spend on patient care:

• range = 11-45
• avg = 31.5
• median = 31
• mode = 32

Hours per week spent on practice management:

• range = 1-15
• avg = 6.5
• median = 5
• mode = 4

An Alabama dentist  made this interesting observation: “I would work more Fridays if patients would show up to their appointments. Patients have good intentions of making Friday appointments, but when it boils down to it, they are not very good about following through with them.”

This Arizona dentist is working a lot of hours now, hoping he won’t have to later:  “I never in a million years thought I would work this many hours. However, at the age of 46, I don’t want to be…STILL working at 66, or 70, or 75, or older.”

On the other hand, this older  dentist has found a way to enjoy work: “65 years old so LOTS of vacations! I take about 8 weeks a year.”

One Pennsylvania dentist gave this insight into what creates dentist career satisfaction.  When responding to whether he enjoys how he spends his time, he said, “Its great; perfect staff.”

What does your typical dentist work week look like? Do you enjoy how you’re spending your time?