Dentistry is one of the highest paying jobs, paying higher than even other medical jobs, and there is a very good reason why. Dentists spend a lot more years than other professionals, including general doctors, to finish their education; it has been observed that on average, dentists start their practice when they are 28 years old. This extra-long education requires an investment in time and effort, which is later offset by a higher dentist salary.
It should be noted that more than 3/4th of dentists have a private practice, so the term salary, when applied to them, is not completely accurate. Most of them do not draw a salary because they are self-employed; for them, the correct term to refer to their earnings is net income. However, for the purpose of this survey, we shall use the term salary when referring to dentists’ earnings.
An Overview of Dentists in United States
According to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more than 141,000 dentists in the United States in 2008. Approximately 15% of dentists have a degree in one of the many different specialties recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA). The bureau reported that the total number of dentists in the country is expected to grow by 16% to 164,000 by the year 2018.
The 2010 CNN Money survey ranked dentistry as the 11th highest paying job in the country, drawing an average dentist salary of $142,000. With such a high average salary, dentists were ranked higher than even attorneys/lawyers and software architects, which are widely known as very high-paying jobs. More importantly, dentist was rated as the 12th best job from among the hundreds of jobs that were compared. Surveys like this regularly show that choosing to become a dentist is one of the best career decisions one can take.
Average Dentist Salary by Specialty
The ADA recognizes many different specialties in dentistry. Dentists with different specialties have varying skills, and consequently, varying salaries too. For example, an Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon has to take one more degree after their completing their dentist’s degree to learn surgical skills, which makes it a higher paying job than that of a general dentist.
Usually, the average annual salary for a profession or specialty is estimated by taking a survey from the practitioners of the given profession. This dentist salary guide takes its salary information from a number of reputed sources, including from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN Money and the American Dental Association, among others.
The following is the average dentist salary for the different specialties, as well as for the general dental practitioner:
• General Practitioner According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 85% of all dentists are general practitioners. Most of them work in private practice, making them dentists as well as business owners. Since everyone needs dental care and inspection, we can safely say that this is a profession that is not expected to decline anytime soon. According to BLS, the median annual salary for general dentists was $142,870 in 2008. This number correlates nicely with the CNN Money number of $142,000 as the average salary for dentists in 2010.
• Orthodontist The BLS reports that there were more than 7,700 orthodontists in the United Sates in 2008, making it one of the largest specialties in dentistry. An orthodontist’s job is to make sure that the patients’ teeth are well-aligned and regular. When the teeth are irregular, orthodontists often prescribe braces and other such solutions to fix the problem. The median salary for orthodontists, as reported by the BLS in 2010, was $200,290, making it one of the highest paying specialties.
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon are the surgeons of the dental world. If you are injured in your head, neck, jaws or face, and require surgery to fix the problem, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon would be the specialist most likely to work on it. According to the CNN Money survey from the year 2006, the latest year when such a survey was done for this specialty, the average annual salary for this specialist is $211,766. We can surmise that the current dentist salary for this specialty is much higher than $211,766, which was reported in year 2006, making it one of the highest paying jobs around.
• Periodontist A periodontist specializes in treating ailments of the supporting structures of the teeth, including oral tissues known as periodontium, from which they get the name of their specialty. Periodontium are oral tissues such as gums, cementum, alveolar bone and periodontal ligament. A survey of more than 50 periodontists on PayScale.com tells us that the salary range for this specialty is $80,000 to $300,000 per annum.
A dentist salary is one of the highest salaries a professional can aspire to. However, a dentist starts earning only after years of education, which often costs upwards of $100,000. Most dentists are general practitioners, and more than 3/4th of them work for themselves or in a partnership. A dentist’s salary depends not only on his or her experience and specialty, but also on the location of their practice. A dentist’s clinic in upscale Los Angeles can easily earn more than a few million dollars every year, whereas clinics in other locations and cities may not do that much business. On average, a dentist earns more than a lawyer, and this statistic is not expected to change in the near future.
