Value for money?

Having been a principal dentist for a few years now, I look back at my time as an associate and begin to realise that life was not as bad then as I had thought it was. I was always planning to be an owner of a dental practice, even before I went to dental school. My dream was to own a practice and be in charge of my own destiny at the same time as caring for my patients.

Life as a principal does not come straight after graduation though and the route of vocational trainee to associate normally precedes this. Looking back at life as an associate I remember debating with principals in practice, in seminars, in British Dental Association meetings and online forums about the value of associates and how they were poorly treated. How principals did not appreciate their value in practice and how they had forgotten what life was like as an associate as memories of this experience dim with the passage of time.