Dentists Spend One-Fourth of Time on Dental Management

The average dentist spends about a quarter of the work week on dental practice management, according to this recent survey.

Dentists work about 32 hours per week on patient care and 12 hours per week on business and dental marketing. But, as with so many things, there’s tremendous variation among dentists.

There’s the Texas dentist who reports spending 44 hours each week on dental management, and another 34 hours a week treating patients. (That’s two full-time jobs!) “You must be a good leader to be a good manager,” he says. “If you are lacking as one then you will fail as the other. Most young dentist are neither good managers or leaders.”

On the other side, another dentist in the same state spends only 6% of his time on the business side. “After 32 years of practice, it is going pretty well,” he says. “I’m tired at the end of the day and week, so I’d rather sit on my duff than study practice management literature, even though I know it would help.”

Full results: Dental Practice Management Hours