Àwọn Àmì-ìwé

Dentist licence (DDS/DMD)

The most expensive credential on this site — a quarter of a million dollars in federal loans at the median — leading to one of the best-paid occupations in the country.

$220,937–$317,068

Ohun ti o n san lati gba — aago kejì tí a bá fi pamọ́.

Oṣù kọ̀ǹpútà, akoko tó kù. Oṣù kọ̀ǹpútà kan ló kù jú lọ.

22–32

Oṣù tí a fẹ́ lati fi owó pamọ́. Kò jẹ́ oṣù tí o tí n bọ́ ní gbo - àkókò ìṣàlàyélẹ̀ tí a fi pamọ́ ní òkè.

Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn

Ohun tí àwọn à

The highest figures on this site, and still only the borrowed part. That range is median cumulative FEDERAL LOAN DEBT at completion, not a tuition sticker price and not total cost. It is what completers actually borrowed, so it excludes grants, savings, family money, employer funding and living costs — which makes it a FLOOR on what the credential costs, never a ceiling. The low and high figures are the 25th and 75th percentiles across the institutions that report a figure for this programme, so a quarter of institutions sit below the low end. College Scorecard pools two award years into each figure; the release used here is dated 10 June 2026.

Four years of dental school after a bachelor's degree, then a state or regional clinical licensing examination. Specialising adds two to six years of residency on top.

Licences renew every one to two years by state with continuing education requirements.

Ìgbà wò nínú àwọn eniyan náà ní yìí, àti ìgbà wò nínú iṣẹ́ nínú ààyè-iṣẹ́ náà

Ìgbà wò nínú àwọn eniyan náà

202,485 professionally active dentists in the United States — 2024, the last year in the ADA series, published 2025.

A ko ti i padanu eyi pada si ipọnju. We hold a sound count of dentists and a sound count of employed dentists and we are not dividing one into the other, because federal employment data counts employees and most dentists are self-employed practice owners. The ratio would read as though a third of dentists were not working in dentistry, and what it would actually measure is how many of them own the practice rather than being paid by one. Àwọn àwọn

Àwọn àwọn: People, from the ADA's masterfile, and already filtered to those whose primary occupation is dentistry — private practice, dental school faculty, armed forces and federal services, state and local government, hospital staff, residents and interns. It EXCLUDES retired dentists, dentists not in practice or waiting for boards, and anyone whose main job is something else. That filtering makes it a different kind of count from most on this site: it is closer to a workforce than to a registry, which is exactly why we do not divide employment into it.

The ADA count is also filtered differently from most credential registries on this site: it already excludes retired dentists and those not in practice, so it is closer to a workforce count than to a register of everyone who ever qualified. Two counts that are each right, measuring populations that do not line up, is precisely the case where publishing the pair and refusing the percentage is the honest answer.

American Dental Association Health Policy Institute, Supply of Dentists in the US: 2001–2024, Table 1 (Standing count of people holding the credential) · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn

Àwọn ohun tí a tí ìṣẹ̀dá nínú àwọn eniyan tí wọ́n tí ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà

Àwọn odun mẹrin lẹhin ti o ti pari, lati Federal Records

Àwọn àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ 7,918 Àwọn eniyan tí wọ́n tí kọ̀ọ̀kan Dentistry (DDS/DMD), first professional degree ati ki o ti ko ti wa ni kọ ẹkọ mẹrin ọdun lẹhin, 210 kò ní àwọn owó tí a fi pamọ́ ní gbogbo — 2.7%. Awọn ti o ti wa ni iṣẹ gba median ti $170,812, pẹlú àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ $110,187 àti $239,976.

“Awọn owo-ori ko si lori iwe-aṣẹ” kii ṣe “awọn ti ko ni iṣẹ”. Ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà nípa àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínú àwọn aagó tí a fi pamọ́ nínu

Àwọn àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò àìṣàmúlò-ètò: CIP 51.04 at first-professional level is the DDS and DMD. It does not include dental hygiene or dental assisting, which are CIP 51.06 and appear separately. Specialty residencies taken after the degree are also outside it.

Tí a bá fi àwọn àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́ pamọ́ fullers ti won gba federal ọmọ ile-iwe ìmọ - nipa idaji ti US undergraduates, ati awọn miiran idaji ti ko ti a ti ayẹwo nibi. Awọn eniyan ti lọ lori si siwaju sii ẹkọ ni ko si ninu eyikeyi column. The Department suppresses institutions with cohorts too small to publish and adds statistical noise to the rest, so this is a sum over the institutions large enough to report: 53 ti wọn, ti n paṣẹ 98.6% ti a ti ṣe fun iṣẹ yii. Tí a bá fi àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò ìròyìn tí o kù jù lọ, a á gbé àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò náà lọ́wọ́lọ́wọ́ 0.0 Àwọn ìpèwọ̀n àwọn ìtàn.

Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · Àwọn ìṣàfihàn · àwọn

Ohun ti o gba ọ lórí

Àwọn owó tí a fi pamọ́ sí iṣẹ́, kò sí àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò. Àwọn yìí ní àwọn iṣẹ́ tí o fi pamọ́ sí ọ̀rọ̀ rẹ̀.

Àwọn iṣẹ́	Ṣe o fẹ́?	Àwọn ààyè-iṣẹ́	Àwọn Ìṣàmúlò-ètò
Dentists, General	Legally required to hold the job	$170,950	124,390
Dentists, All Other Specialists	Legally required to hold the job	$224,990	5,230
Orthodontists Requires the dental degree plus a two- to three-year orthodontic residency.	A step towards it, not sufficient on its own	$289,140	6,210
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Requires the dental degree plus a four- to six-year surgical residency.	A step towards it, not sufficient on its own	$352,220	4,910
Prosthodontists Requires the dental degree plus a three-year prosthodontic residency.	A step towards it, not sufficient on its own	$311,180	870

Median owo ati iṣẹ: BLS Occupational Employment ati Wage Statistics, May 2025.

Ń bá jẹ́ pé ó ń gbá owó fun ara rẹ́?

Àwọn iṣẹ́ tí a tí ìpàdé yìí párá àwọn àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò $170,950. Iṣẹ́ iṣẹ́-ìpádé nínú gbogbo iṣẹ́ ti a fi kọ́ ni $50,020, ki o si awọn premium fun titẹsi yi ni nipa $120,930 ọdun kan ṣaaju owo-ori.

Ká o bí ìṣàfarawé sí iṣẹ́ ìṣàfarawé, kò sí iṣẹ́ rẹ̀. Ohun tí ààyè-iṣẹ́ náà jẹ́, àti ohun tí o fi kùnà

Ati pe o gbagbọ pe o gba iṣẹ naa. Àwọn àwọn

Ohun ti o fẹ́ ṣaajú tí o bá bẹrẹ

A bachelor's degree with science prerequisites
The Dental Admission Test
A place at a CODA-accredited dental school
A clinical licensing examination

Kò ṣẹ̀dà yìí látì jẹ́ pé

you are not prepared for the largest debt on this site and the years of practice-building or buy-in that usually follow it
you want to be an employee — most dentists own or buy into a practice, which is a second and separate capital requirement
you cannot work with your hands at a millimetre of tolerance for eight hours a day

Gbogbo àwọn ìṣàmúlò-ètò, láti inú àkókò ìṣàfarawé · Bií a ṣe lè ṣé ìṣàmúlò-ètò yìí · Wárúkọ àwọn àwọn ààtò àwọn ààtò