---
title: "What Is Associate compensation? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "Associate compensation is how an associate dentist is paid, such as a salary, a share of production or collections, a daily rate or a combination."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/associate-compensation
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Ownership and transitions

# Associate compensation

Associate compensation is how an associate dentist is paid, such as a salary, a share of production or collections, a daily rate or a combination.

The ADA's guide for associates names common models, including straight salary, salary plus, straight commission and net profit. An ADA article on associate pay says that when pay is tied to results it is typically based on total production, billable production or total collections. Those three bases can give different results, because they treat discounts and uncollected fees differently. The ADA's guide also notes that expenses such as lab fees can be deducted before pay is figured. Contracts should state the base, the percentage and the treatment of [lab fees](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/lab-fees). An attorney should review them. See [production-based pay](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/production-based-pay) and [net production](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/net-production).

[Next stepPractice consulting with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=consulting)

## Related terms

-   [Production-based pay](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/production-based-pay)
-   [Net production](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/net-production)
-   [Lab fees](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/lab-fees)
-   [Associate dentist](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/associate-dentist)

## Sources

1.  [ADA, More Than Meets the Eye: How Associate Pay Can Vary](https://www.ada.org/resources/careers/career-planning/articles/more-than-meets-the-eye-how-associate-pay-can-vary)
2.  [ADA, Dentist compensation: what every dental associate should know](https://www.ada.org/resources/careers/dentist-compensation)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)