There was a question mark. Plus you are the one always talking about salaries.
I know both countries very well. Others neighboring countries too. So when I say I would rather do dentistry in other countries than those two, I mean it.
And sorry but thinking already about the potential salary of your children is ridiculous! They could as well end up homeless in Switzerland or millionnaire in Italy for what you know!
Of course I'm asking about salaries, it's the topic of the post. Complaining because we are "always talking about salaries" in a post named "salary of a dentist" and saying that it's ridiculous to ask simple info for my family is a bad behaviour. What's wrong with you with asking about salaries? I don't know. If the topic irritates you, simply ignore it.
I have the opinion that some info, even if useless for the future, still better have 'em, if somebody wants to share.
I forgot to add: at least in the German speaking part of Switzerland, if you don't speak German as well as understand the local dialect (which varies depending on where you are), you can forget it. Locals want a Dentist they can talk to and who understands them in their language. If you can't provide this, you will lose patients, as well as not gain any. It is a very personal business and the only reason local Swiss do not simply go to Germany for cheaper dental care is because of the relationship they have with a local dentist who understands them. Do no underestimate this hurdle.
Thank you
I imagine that the language is really important. I know this is a weird question, but are there any "courses" of Swiss dialects in Switzerland? I know that people in Switzerland use Swiss standard German (the Swiss variety of standard German, similar to that in the north of Germany) for formal occasions, at school etc and local dialects of the Alemannic group for informal occasions which are a lot more different. I was wondering if there are language courses of, if not local dialects, at least of the most used one.
Do dialects differ a lot among Cantons (a part for the obvious Valais and Basel), even neighboring ones? If I learn one of them can I understand the other ones?
Try searching the forum for this information as well, courses, dialects and basically everything you're asking about here have been discussed.
The course info is probably out of date seeing as half of everything is cancelled these days.
Ok thank you. I'll search info for languages on my own
As, presumably, you're fluent in Italian, you could check out the Canton of Ticino, so you wouldn't have to wrestle with high German and dialect as well.
Yes, dialects differ quite a lot - somebody from Wallis isn't that easily understood in Zürich, for example.
If I were you, I would ask myself what kind of life I want to live and then figure out how much I'd need to earn to fund it. Sure, you might get paid more if you live in Geneva or Zürich, but you'd also spend more than if you live in Ticino.
The Swiss Dentists' Association will tell you more about what's expected of you in terms of professional qualifications.
https://www.sso.ch/it/sso/figure-pro...-dentista.html
You could sign up for their newsletter to get up to speed on what's new in the world of Swiss dentistry.
If you like the great outdoors, I'd have a holiday in Ticino and see if I'd like to live there. Check out local house prices and rentals, and maybe try and speak to a local dentist. Maybe the Swiss Dentists' Association could put you in touch with somebody.
https://www.myswitzerland.com/it/destinazioni/ticino/
Good luck!
Much agree with Karl. To add first-hand experience both as a contract dentist and as a practice owner: in the medical field in Switzerland, dentistry is among the least lucrative professions. Pricing has not changed much in the last 20 years, but the technological needs plus the rapidly increasing pricing for materials are greatly compressing the take-home pay for the practice owner. If you are a growing practice, you have to add capacity for the growth. Leaving constructions costs aside to get a new room ready, the equipment inside that 1 room is over CHF 100k. The dental chair is now full of technology; a new Sirona costs CHF 60k+ installed, with a CHF 3000 of annual maintenance. And those hand tools ... a few grams of metal start with CHF 60 for the simplest and rapidly go to few hundred per piece. A surgical implant set (cassette) is over CHF 5000. And it is vendor specific - so if you are working with both Astra and Straumann implant systems you need one of each. And on the topic of implants, Astra increased its implant pricing (just the implant) from CHF 270 to 400 per piece.
So the bottom-line is that if you chart the income of dentists in Switzerland for the last 15 years, you will see a marked downwards trend. It is just that people still have the impression of the incomes from 15 years ago.
Actually Orthodontics, as a profession, has been most heavily impacted by technology recently. In the analog days when you had to take 20+ measurements to do the planning, and do all the wiring manually, orthodontists had a good time. Fast forward to today, when all the measurements are done by software at the time the 3D xray is taken, all the planning is in software, is transmitted to the lab digitally and is shipped back to the dentist from the lab as a set. Plus, add the clear aligners, as a replacement for brackets. This has allowed other dentists to offer many of the orthodontics services that orthodontists once did exclusively (except for the hardest/extreme cases). Why pay CHF 12000 at an orthodontist, when you can get the same for CHF 5000 from a dentist? We have seen a huge increase in orthodontics cases in our practice in the last 12 months once we started offering both braces and clear aligners. All these cases would have gone to orthodontists previously.
Thank you kind collegues, I appreciate
Yes, It's the same here. Orthodontics, from what I've seen, particularly has been impacted. Oral Surgery less so apparently. There's growing concern whether persuing Orthodontics would be a good decision (I'm not a specialist).
How does the pathway to residency in Orthodontics, Oral Surgery etc work in Switzerland? Are you obliged to do that during the 5 assistant years previously cited, or you can do them later?
@squeezethecroc: thank you yes you're right: it would be a lot easier for the language but I do not know if it's a good deal to go to Ticino considering it's proximity to Italy. Dentistry aside, I know it would be easier and maybe could be a first step, but I felt in love with central Switzerland and I would love to live there
Also, do you have kids at age they need child care which can be eye watering, daycare could be 1600-2500/month and day school could be 6000-12000 chf per year; both depending on your canton
Hello sarcasmXXL, I saw your posts regarding how to settle in Switzerland with Indian MDS degree which was posted in 2017. Do you get any information regarding that? I am in the same position like you, I searched many websites, contacted SSO ,MEBEKO but didn't get any response correctly. I am a non EU dentist and my speciality is oral and maxillofacial surgery coming to Switzerland through dependent visa. If you know any information, kindly let me know. I tried to message you personally but this website is not allowing it
Thank you