Welcome

Hello, my name is Stephen Leeb, and I have been a traveling dentist since 2024.  My journey to becoming a traveling dentist was not smooth, and there were many lessons I learned along the way. I want to share these lessons with you. The goals of this website include as follows: 

1. to educate owners 

   • the potential benefits of traveling dentistry for your office

   • paying 1099 temporary dentists

   • how to find dentists

2. to educate dentists 

   • the pros and cons

   • how to become traveling dentists and start an LLC

   • how to find jobs

Click the links in the upper right to learn about these goals. Below I will explain my journey of becoming a traveling dentist. 

In July 2023 I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. Before this diagnosis, I was experiencing hand tingling, muscle weakness, and other symptoms that led to panic. I thought I had carpel tunnel and would need to retire early. It is wild how our brains can quickly go to dark places. After consulting with my doctor and getting an HbA1c test result of 9.6; it was confirmed that I had diabetes and life would change forever. My boss at the time was very understanding and allowed me to go from four days a week to three. But I knew my body ultimately needed a break from dentistry, so I gave my boss a two month notice and he gracefully supported me.

I finished as many patients' cases as I could and helped my boss find my replacement. I then took two months off allowing my body to recover; and thank goodness it did.  I knew I would be susceptible to injuries, arthritis, poor healing, and more as a diabetic. Therefore, I did not want to jump back into a full-time associate position, putting myself and the owner dentist at risk. So this led to me searching for jobs in academia and part-time dental jobs. To my surprise, I found that traveling dentistry had become a viable option. Even better, it allowed me the flexibility to work 1-5 day shifts. This was unheard of, I thought I'd have to work months at a time like traveling nurses do. But no! This was the answer to my worries and woes.

I got connected with some traveling dentistry companies by doing web searches and consulting with a friend who had started on a similar journey. Most of these companies do traveling medical positions and didn't have clear guidelines specific to dentists. I found contracts that lasted anywhere from 1-100+ working days. The pay structure was different from company to company. Some companies had contracts that required you to only work through their organization with certain dental corporations; locking me in. It was all confusing and new. This website is meant to clear the air for you and help you directions!

I eventually tried out some traveling dentistry gigs in Minnesota, and found that the flexibility of my schedule was remarkable, the pay was good, and it was an overall rewarding experience (challenged in new environments/what works what doesn't). If my body was telling me to slow down, I would take a couple weeks off between gigs.  I would communicate with the traveling dentistry companies and apply for positions as I pleased.  This was wonderful, but the next hurdle was figuring out finances.

I was going to be paid as a 1099, instead of a W2 employee.