The typical dentist work week includes a lot of hours, with doctors working both as dental care practitioners and in dental practice management.

According to the American Dental Association, most dentists work a four day work week. While half of the dentists in this survey said they work four days a week at their dental practice, one in three works five or more days a week.

Jim Du Molin and Julie Frey discuss the typical dentist work week in this video.

“I now find it necessary to work on Fridays at another clinic,” said a Texas dentist. “My own practice has slowly declined in production since 2008.”

A North Carolina oral surgeon said, “I try to be more flexible with my office hours to accommodate patients’ work schedules.”

“I’ve been working more hours, partly because of economy, and partly due to decreases in contractual reimbursements from Delta Dental,” complained a Washington dentist. “We have had no fee increases from Delta in past three years, and they reduced our dental insurance reimbursements 15%. If you consider that overhead is probably around 70%, this 15% decrease represents about a 35% decrease in my net income from my practice.”

What is your standard dentist work week? Has the economy changed how much you work?