Questions to Ask in a Dentist Interview
Questions to ask in a dentist interview when you are the dentist being hired, for an associate position at a private practice or a group. They are grouped by subject: the practice and its owner, the schedule and where your patients come from, the clinical work, the team, pay, and what to settle before you sign. The standard questions to ask as an associate dentist are here, such as philosophy of care, mentorship, new patients and the non-compete, next to narrower ones about lab fees, hygiene exams, credentialing and the cases left open when you leave. The insurance and contract questions use North American terms, so where the system differs, ask for the local equivalent. The guide covers which questions belong in a first conversation, a working interview and the offer stage.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The practice
Why are you hiring an associate now?
Why ask it
A schedule the owner can no longer cover alone, a dentist winding down toward retirement and an associate who has just left make three different jobs. Where someone left, find out how long they stayed and where they went next, because a run of short stays says more than anything you will be told about the culture.
How would you describe the practice's philosophy of care?
Why ask it
Listen for what they do with a tooth that could be either watched or crowned. Conservative and aggressive practices both call themselves patient-centered, so ask for a recent case where the owner chose to wait, and decide if you could put your name to plans written that way.
What are you looking for in the dentist you hire?
Why ask it
Some owners want a peer who will take the complex cases, and some want a second pair of hands for the fillings and emergencies they no longer enjoy. Hearing which one early lets you say plainly if that is the job you want, before either side gives up a working day to find out.
What would a typical day look like for me here?
Why ask it
Have them walk it from the first patient to the last chart, including lunch and when notes get finished. An owner who can only describe their own day has not yet pictured where an associate fits into it.
Who are the patients here: mostly families, older adults, children, one particular community?
Why ask it
The patient base sets the dentistry. A room of retirees means crowns, partials and long medical histories, and a young suburb means sealants, fillings and a parent in the operatory. Compare it with the work you want more of.
Who owns the practice, and is that likely to change?
Why ask it
A solo owner, a partnership and a group with a head office each put a different person in charge of your schedule, your supplies and the fees. Ask plainly if a sale or a retirement is being discussed, because the person making you promises today may not be the one who keeps them.
Have you had associates before, and could I talk to one of them?
Why ask it
A former associate can tell you in ten minutes what an interview cannot: how fast the schedule filled, how the pay statements matched the contract, how disagreements went. A practice that parted with people on good terms usually hands over a phone number without fuss.
What do you enjoy most about practicing here?
Why ask it
Patients, the dentistry, the team or the freedom of being the boss: whichever the answer dwells on is where the owner's attention goes. Follow it with what they would fix if they had a free month, since that list tends to be what a new associate lives with.
How do new patients find the practice, and would you promote me by name?
Why ask it
Word of mouth, insurance directories and paid ads each bring a different patient with different expectations. Your name on the website, the door and the plan listings from the first month is a small thing that shows they are building your schedule and not lending you theirs.
Which plans are you in network with, and what share of the practice is fee for service?
Why ask it
The mix of insurance plans and patients paying the practice's own fees shapes which treatment gets accepted and how fast the day has to move. A rough split is more use than a list of plan names. Outside the US the same question is about public and private work, such as the NHS share of a UK practice.
Are you planning to add chairs, hours or another location while I am here?
Why ask it
Growth plans explain why they are hiring and what the job could turn into. Extra evenings or a second office tend to land on the newest dentist, so ask who they picture covering them.
Schedule
Which days and hours would I work, and are evenings or Saturdays part of it?
Why ask it
New associates are often handed the hours the owner has stopped wanting. That can suit you if you like a late start, but check if the pattern is written into the contract or can be changed with a few weeks' notice.
Would I work in one office, or be expected to travel between locations?
Why ask it
Splitting a week across offices means two teams, two sets of habits and patients who cannot always follow you. Where travel is part of the deal, pin down which days are fixed and who decides when they move.
What would my first week look like: time to learn the systems, or a full column from day one?
Why ask it
A day or two to learn the software, meet the assistants and see where everything is kept costs the practice little and spares your first patients a slow appointment. If the plan is a full book on Monday, ask who will be at your elbow when the charting system will not do what you want.
How many patients would I see in a day, and who decides how long each procedure is booked for?
Why ask it
The daily count means little without the appointment length. Twelve patients in twenty-minute slots is a different job from eight in hour-long ones. If the booking times are the owner's, ask if you could set longer ones while you learn the rooms and the assistants.
How many active patients does the practice have, and how many new ones came in last month?
Why ask it
Together these two figures show if there is enough work for another dentist. Check how they define active, since a chart last opened three years ago is not a patient, and treat a rounded guess as a sign that nobody is counting.
How would new patients be split between the dentists here?
Why ask it
For an associate paid on what they produce, new patients are where the income comes from. A rule the front desk can state, such as alternating or going by the day of the week, is easier to live with than "whoever has room," which can quietly mean the dentist the receptionist has known longest.
How full would my schedule be in the first three months, and whose job is it to fill it?
Why ask it
An associate hired into empty columns earns very little on a percentage. A convincing answer names the source, such as overflow from the owner, hygiene patients with treatment waiting or a retiring dentist's charts, and the person at the front desk who will do the booking.
How often do patients cancel late or fail to turn up, and what happens to that hour?
Why ask it
A hole in the schedule is unpaid time for a dentist on production. You are listening for a system: a short-notice list, confirmation calls, one person who owns the problem. If nobody owns it, the empty hours come out of your pay.
When someone calls in pain at ten in the morning, whose column do they go into?
Why ask it
Same-day emergencies are a fair way for a new dentist to meet patients and a poor way to spend every lunch break. The reply shows if they are shared out or simply sent to whoever is newest.
Who takes the after-hours phone, and how many calls came in last month?
Why ask it
On-call duty is seldom in the job posting and can decide how your evenings go. Last month's count is more use than the written policy. Then ask what a call involves: advice by phone, or driving in to open the office.
Clinical
Which procedures would I keep in house, and which do you send to a specialist?
Why ask it
This is where you learn if the job matches your hands. A practice that refers all molar endo and all surgical extractions is offering a narrower job than the ad suggested, and one that expects you to keep everything may be short on backup when a case goes long.
Would I have a mentor here, and what does that look like in an ordinary week?
Why ask it
Mentorship is easy to promise in a job posting, so ask for the mechanics: is the owner in the building on your days, can you call them into a difficult extraction, do the two of you review cases together. If you would work opposite days, it will mostly be a text thread.
How much freedom would I have to diagnose and treatment plan my own patients?
Why ask it
Every practice has house habits about when to crown, when to extract and how often to take X-rays. Ask if anyone signs off an associate's plans, and what happened the last time two dentists here read the same case differently. The story tells you if you are wanted for your judgment or for your hands.
Who presents the treatment plan and the fee to the patient: the dentist, or a coordinator?
Why ask it
In some offices the dentist explains the clinical side and a coordinator takes over on cost and booking, and in others you do all of it chairside. Either can work. If the staff earn a bonus on accepted treatment, you would want to know before your plans are being presented for you.
How long is a new patient exam, and who takes the X-rays and records?
Why ask it
The time given to a first visit shows how the practice thinks about diagnosis. Twenty minutes squeezed between other patients produces a different treatment plan from an unhurried hour, and yours is the signature on it.
Can I choose my own materials and dental lab, or are those set by the practice?
Why ask it
Dentists get used to a particular composite, cement or lab technician, and changing all of them in the same week makes a new job harder than it needs to be. A fixed list is reasonable on cost grounds. The thing to learn is how a request for something off the list gets handled.
What imaging and equipment do you have, and what is due for replacement?
Why ask it
What they own matters less than what they plan to buy next and who gets a say in it. If you rely on something they do not have, an intraoral scanner or a cone beam unit for instance, say so now and hear the answer before you are the new dentist asking for money.
How many operatories would be mine, and are they set up the same way?
Why ask it
One room means you wait while it is turned over, and two mismatched rooms mean hunting for the curing light mid-procedure. Ask to see the ones you would use, not the owner's.
If I wanted to offer something the practice does not do now, such as implants or clear aligners, how would that be decided?
Why ask it
Three things come out of this: the appetite for new services, who pays for the equipment and training, and how pay works on a procedure with heavy lab or supply costs. An owner who already places implants may also want to keep those cases, which is better heard now.
What happens when a patient is unhappy with work I did?
Why ask it
The policy to pin down is who decides on a redo or a refund and whose column absorbs the lost time. Some practices charge remakes back to the associate, and that should be said out loud before you sign, not after your first failed crown.
Which software do you chart in, and how detailed do you expect clinical notes to be?
Why ask it
Notes are your record if a case is ever questioned, so a practice that rushes them is handing some of its risk to you. Ask if there are templates, who types them, and if dentists finish charts during the day or after the last patient has gone.
Who is responsible for sterilization and infection control, and may I see the area?
Why ask it
A tidy answer names a person, a routine and a log. Looking at the room takes two minutes and shows if instruments keep pace with the schedule, which matters when your name is on the treatment done with every tray.
Team
How long have the assistants, hygienists and front desk been here?
Why ask it
Years of tenure at the chair and the front desk usually mean people are treated well enough to stay. A team hired mostly in the last six months is not proof of trouble, since practices do grow, but it is a reason to ask what changed, and to put the same question to an assistant when the owner is out of the room.
Would I have a dedicated assistant, or is assisting shared?
Why ask it
Working alone, or sharing one assistant across two operatories, caps what you can get done in a day whatever your skill. Ask how experienced that assistant is too, because a new dentist paired with a new assistant is two people learning the room at once.
How many hygienists are on at once, and would I be checking their patients?
Why ask it
Hygiene exams are often where an associate's restorative work is found, and each one pulls you out of your own procedure when it is ready. Ask how the hygienists signal for a check and how long their patients usually wait for the dentist.
Would I be expected to do cleanings myself when a hygienist is out or the hygiene book is full?
Why ask it
Some associates, new ones especially, spend part of the week on hygiene, which is fine if you know it going in and know how that time is paid. The number of days it happened last month is a better guide than a yes or a no.
Who manages the office from day to day, and who would I go to if something was not working?
Why ask it
In plenty of practices it is the office manager, not the owner, who decides the schedule, the supplies and the staffing. Try to spend ten minutes with that person before you say yes. Where the route for a complaint is unclear, problems sit until they turn into resignations.
How much say would I have over how my assistant and the front desk work with me?
Why ask it
An associate is responsible for the dentistry but is rarely anyone's boss. Try a concrete case, such as wanting a room set up differently or a patient booked for longer, and ask whose instruction the staff would follow if you and the owner wanted different things.
Does the team meet before the first patient, and what gets covered?
Why ask it
A short morning meeting that runs through the day's cases, lab deliveries and open slots is a sign the schedule is being managed. If production figures are the only thing read out, you have learned what the practice watches most closely.
Pay
How is compensation structured, and are lab fees taken out before or after my percentage?
Why ask it
A percentage of collections, a percentage of production and a daily rate behave very differently in a slow month. Where the lab bill lands matters most on crown and denture work, so have them run one real case through the formula with you: the fee, the lab charge, and what reaches you.
Is there a minimum guarantee while my schedule fills, and would I have to pay any of it back?
Why ask it
A true guarantee is yours to keep. A draw is an advance against later earnings, and a slow start can leave you owing the practice. Ask which of the two this is and how many months it runs, then read the wording yourself.
If pay is based on collections, what share of what you bill is collected, and how are write-offs treated?
Why ask it
On collections you are paid from money that comes in, so the practice's billing becomes your concern. Insurance adjustments, discounts the owner hands out and unpaid accounts can each shrink the base, and the contract should say which of them count against you.
Would I be credited for exams and X-rays on hygiene patients?
Why ask it
Checking hygiene can take a good part of the day, and practices differ on whether the exam fee counts toward the associate's production. It is small per visit and adds up over a month, and the answer shows how carefully your time has been costed.
Are there production targets, and what happens if I do not hit them?
Why ask it
Targets themselves are normal; targets with unclear consequences are not. Pushback on quoting a number, or a soft answer about "expectations," can mean the pressure arrives later, in the monthly meeting.
What did the last associate produce and take home in a typical month?
Why ask it
Real figures from the dentist who had the chair before you beat any projection. Ask for a slow month as well as a good one, and if the role is new, ask what the owner's estimate is built on.
Would I be an employee or an independent contractor?
Why ask it
The label changes who pays which taxes, what benefits you can get and what protections apply, and the rules on who may be classed as a contractor differ by country and state. Ask how the practice arrived at its answer, then check it with an accountant before you sign.
What benefits come with the role: health cover, retirement, paid time off?
Why ask it
Benefits for associates run from a full package to nothing, and a dentist paid purely on production may get no paid leave at all. Add up what you would have to buy yourself before setting this offer's percentage beside another one's.
Who pays for my malpractice insurance, and what happens to the cover when I leave?
Why ask it
Policies differ in whether they still protect you for past treatment once they end, and closing that gap can be costly. Ask what type of policy it is and who would pay for cover after you go, then run the answer past the insurer or a broker.
How is continuing education handled, and is there anything attached to it?
Why ask it
Course fees plus paid days off is real support. Reimbursement that has to be repaid if you leave within a set time is closer to a retention clause. Before you compare offers, get the yearly amount, whether course days are paid, and what you would owe back.
Who handles my credentialing with the insurance plans, and how am I paid until it is done?
Why ask it
Getting a new dentist approved by each plan can take a while, and until then some of your work may not be billable under your name. You need to hear who files the paperwork, when they would start, and what your pay is based on in the meantime.
How often is pay calculated, and would I get a statement showing how the figure was reached?
Why ask it
You should be able to trace each paycheck back to the procedures behind it. A practice that hands over a production or collections report without being asked is one where a mistake gets found and fixed in a five-minute conversation.
Before you sign
Would you want me to do a working interview, and what would that day involve?
Why ask it
A day in the operatory shows you the assistants, the pace and the instruments better than any conversation. Settle beforehand if it is paid and how licensing and insurance are covered while you treat patients, since the rules depend on where the practice is.
Is there a non-compete, and what radius and time period does it cover?
Why ask it
Draw the radius on a map, and check if it is measured from this office alone or from every location the owner has. Ask to read the clause itself, including anything about contacting patients or staff afterward. Whether it could be enforced depends on where you are, so have a local adviser look at it.
How long does the agreement run, and how much notice does either side give to end it?
Why ask it
Notice periods cut both ways. A long one keeps you in a job you have decided to leave, and a short one lets the practice end things faster than you can find another chair. Check that the terms are the same for both sides.
If I leave, who finishes my cases in progress, and am I paid on work collected after my last day?
Why ask it
Crowns waiting to be seated and insurance claims still outstanding can add up to weeks of earnings. Contracts deal with this in very different ways, so get the answer in the document and not just in the conversation.
If the practice were sold, what would happen to my contract?
Why ask it
Some agreements pass to the buyer, non-compete included, and some end at the sale. You are not accusing anyone of planning an exit. You are asking what the paper says, since it will outlast the owner's intentions.
Is there a route to partnership or ownership, and has anyone here taken it?
Why ask it
Partnership is easy to mention in an offer and is worth little until it has a date and a way of setting the price. Ask who last bought in and how the figure was reached. If nobody has, weigh the job as though the route were not there.
Would we sit down at three months and again at a year to review how it is going, pay included?
Why ask it
A date on the calendar for looking at the schedule, the numbers and how the two of you work together lets small problems be raised while they are small. If the percentage or the guarantee is meant to change after a first period, ask for the review date to go into the agreement.
Could I take the draft agreement away and have it reviewed before I give an answer?
Why ask it
A week with the document and a lawyer or adviser who knows dental contracts is an ordinary request. Pressure to sign on the day, or an offer that lapses by Friday, deserves as much weight as any clause in the agreement.
What has surprised past associates about working here?
Why ask it
You might hear about the pace, the paperwork or how long the schedule took to fill. Whatever comes up, ask how the last dentist dealt with it. If the role is new, turn it around and ask what surprised the owner in their own first year in this building.
What happens next, and when would you want someone to start?
Why ask it
A start date takes more planning for a dentist than the calendar suggests, because licensing, credentialing and any notice you owe elsewhere all take time. Give your own realistic date here so nobody plans around a month that cannot happen.
Interviewing at a dental practice
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Choosing from a long list
Nobody asks all of these in one sitting. Pick eight to ten for a first conversation, mostly from the practice, schedule and clinical groups, and hold the pay and contract questions until an offer looks likely. Anything you run out of time for can go in an email afterward, and on pay or contract terms a written reply is the more useful one to have.
Sequence the conversation
First conversation: fit and scope
Cover why the role is open, the philosophy of care, which procedures you would do and which are referred, mentorship, and how many patients there are to go round. Nothing about contract terms yet. You are deciding whether the clinical job is one you want.
Working interview or second visit: the room itself
Watch a hygiene check happen and sit in on the morning meeting if there is one. Look at how many operatories run at once, whether sterilization keeps up, and whether the assistants speak freely. Ask the staff how long they have been there.
Offer stage: the paper
Compensation mechanics, lab fee treatment, any guarantee and whether it is a draw, employee or contractor status, malpractice cover, remake policy, non-compete radius, notice period, on-call duty, and continuing education terms. Ask for the draft agreement and read all of it before you negotiate any single term.
Numbers to ask for directly
- New patients per month, and how they are divided between the dentists.
- Patients per day seen by the associate you would replace.
- The percentage you are paid, whether it applies to production or collections, and the practice's collection rate.
- Payer mix: in-network plans, any public programs, and fee for service.
- Hygiene chairs running at the same time, and how many checks land in an average day.
- Assistants per dentist, and whether one is assigned to you.
- Non-compete radius and duration, and the point it is measured from.
- Active patient count, and how the practice defines active.
- Length of any pay guarantee, and whether it is repaid from later earnings.
- Notice period for each side, in days.
Signals worth slowing down for
Several associates in a few years
One departure has a story. Three in a short span deserve a direct question about each, and a call to at least one of them if the practice will pass on a number.
Reluctance to quote numbers
New patient counts and collection figures can usually be pulled from the practice's own software. Vagueness on both can mean nobody is tracking them or that the owner would prefer you did not see them, and neither is a comfortable basis for a job paid on a percentage.
Compensation explained only in percentages
A percentage says nothing until you know the production it applies to and the deductions taken first. Ask what the previous associate earned in a typical month, and in a slow one.
Terms that cannot be discussed
Some groups use one standard agreement for every dentist and cannot alter it, and some owners simply prefer not to. Ask which it is. How a polite question about the non-compete or the notice period is received is a preview of how later disagreements may go.
If you are applying for another role
This list is written for the dentist. If you are a hygienist, assistant or front desk applicant being interviewed by a dentist, the questions about why the role is open, how long the team has been there, who runs the office day to day, the morning meeting and the working interview carry over as they stand. The ones about percentages, lab fees and partnership are the dentist's; ask how pay and hours are set for your own role instead.