Dental Earnings and Expenses Estimates 2018/19

Data to determine who is a Principal and who is an Associate dentist is not available for dentists in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As a result a methodology to determine dental type has been devised in consultation with the Dental Working Group (DWG). Please note that in 2017/18 the methodology was revised to allow dental type to be identified more accurately. Historically the expenses to earnings ratio (EER) information was obtained in 10 percentage point increments but following a consultation with the working group, this methodology was revised and 5 percentage point increments were used to determine the lowest point. This led to a 35 per cent EER being used to define the split in dental type for 2017/18, opposed to 40 per cent in 2016/17.

Following the same methodology this year, in 2018/19, there has again been a shift in dental population and so the EER has been set to 40 per cent - as was in 2016/17. The reclassification of dentists should be considered when making any comparisons. Please see the Methodology  for a more detailed explanation.

For Principal dentists in 2018/19 the average taxable income from NHS and private dentistry was £112,200, compared to £107,600 in 2017/18, a 4.3 per cent increase, which is not statistically significant.

In 2018/19, the average taxable income from NHS and private dentistry for Associate dentists was £57,400, compared to £55,400 in 2017/18. This is a increase of 3.6 per cent, which is not statistically significant.

Table 21.1: All self-employed GDS dentists – average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type, Scotland, 2017/18 and 2018/19

Cash and real term figures

Please refer to the accompanying Power BI visualisation for a time series of taxable Income and total expenses for Principal and Associate dentists in Scotland, from 2009/10 to 2018/19, in both cash and real terms. 

Report population changes

It is important to note that figure 21.2 represents the changing report population that is used in the annual earnings and expenses estimates reports and does not represent the actual dental population. See Introduction for further explanatory notes.

^{_{Note: Numbers shown are earnings and expenses estimates report populations and will not match those found elsewhere}}

Earnings and expenses estimates by gender

Table and figure 22.1 show that in 2018/19 male dentists consistently had higher gross earnings, expenses and taxable incomes than their female colleagues

It is important to note that this report includes both full-time and part-time dental earnings and expenses, which – given that on average more female dentists work part-time and that male dentists also tend to work longer weekly hours than their female counterparts (Dentists' Working Patterns, Motivation and Morale - 2018/19 and 2019/20) – could be a contributory factor to the differences observed in earnings and expenses by gender.

Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed dentists, it is important to note that the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that these values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

Table 22.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and gender, Scotland, 2018/19

^{_{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125)  2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Earnings and expenses estimates by age

For the purposes of this report, dentists’ ages were calculated as at 30 September 2018 – the mid-point of the 2018/19 financial year.

It is important to note that given the relatively low dental sample sizes in each age band, extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages; the results may be subject to more uncertainty and differences may not be statistically significant.

Table and figure 23.1 show that:

• for all self-employed Principal dentists, average taxable income from NHS and private dentistry increased with age; those aged under 35 years (£74,000) had the lowest taxable income when compared to those aged 35-44 (£112,800) and 45 years and over (£123,700)
• for all self-employed Associate dentists, average taxable income from NHS and private dentistry was similar for all age bands; with dentists aged over 45 earning slightly more (£60,400) than those aged under 35 years (£56,700) and those in the middle age band (35-44) having the lowest taxable income (£55,800)

Table 23.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and age band, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimates by weekly hours devoted to dentistry

The results in table and figure 24.1 show that in 2018/19, as may be expected, in general average taxable income increased as the number of weekly working hours increased.

Table 24.1: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and weekly hours devoted to dentistry, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimates by weekly hours devoted to dentistry and gender

It is important to note that the small sample sizes for each subgroup mean that the values are subject to more uncertainty, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages. Due to small sample sizes, results have been suppressed for some subgroups.

The results in tables 24.2-24.4 show:

• male dentists earned more than their female counterparts in every weekly working hour band; this will be due to a number of factors including variation in the number of hours worked

Table 24.2: Self-employed Principal dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry by gender and weekly working hours, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Small sample (<125)  2. c: due to a small sample size some results have been suppressed to ensure anonymity of results. 3. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report.}}

Table 24.3: Self-employed Associate dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry by gender and weekly working hours, Scotland, 2018/19

^{_{Notes:  1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Table 24.4: All self-employed GDS dentists - average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry by gender and weekly working hours, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Small sample (<125) 2. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Dental Working Patterns Survey findings: earnings and expenses estimates by Percentage of time spent of NHS dentistry

Table and figure 25.1 show average earnings and expenses by percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry as identified from responses to the Dental Working Patterns Survey.

Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed GDS dentists, it is important to note that the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that the values are subject to additional levels of uncertainty beyond those already associated with estimates based upon sample data, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

Table 25.1: All self-employed GDS dentists – average earnings and expenses from NHS and private dentistry, by dental type and percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes: 1. Results are based on responses from The Dental Working Patterns Survey. This Survey was only sent to dentists who carried out some NHS work in 2018/19 or 2019/20; therefore, percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry cannot equal zero 2. Small sample (<125) 3. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report}}

Although sample sizes allow results to be presented for Principals, Associates, and all self-employed GDS dentists, it is important to note that the small sample sizes of each subgroup mean that the values are subject to additional levels of uncertainty beyond those already associated with estimates based upon sample data, as extreme values can have noticeable effects on the averages.

As discussed in the UK Chapter, earnings and expenses may be counted more than once across tax returns, and this should be borne in mind when considering these results.

Table 26.1: Self-employed Principal dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender, weekly working hours and percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry, Scotland, 2018/19

^{_{Notes: 1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report  2. Small sample (<125)}}

Associate dentists are less likely to employ staff then their Principal dentist counterparts which is reflected in the percentage of Associate expenses for Employee costs, at 1.0 per cent (£300) compared to 33.8 per cent (£87,400) for Principals

Table 26.2: Self-employed Associate dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender, weekly working hours and percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)}}

Table 26.3: All self-employed GDS dentists - detailed expenses breakdown, by age, gender, weekly working hours and percentage of time spent on NHS dentistry, Scotland, 2018/19

_{^{Notes:  1. Further explanatory notes can be found in the UK Chapter of this report 2. Small sample (<125)}}