Dentist salary

How much do dentists make?

General dentists who work for someone else make a median of $170,950 a year; the 10th percentile is $86,250 and the 90th is $319,630.^[oews_dds] BLS annual figures are hourly rates times 2,080 hours, so they show full-time-equivalent pay; even so, the 90th percentile is 3.7 times the 10th, compared with 1.7 times for dental hygienists.^[oews_tech] The Occupational Outlook Handbook, which combines all dentists rather than general dentists only, reports a median of $176,110.^[ooh_dds]

Employee vs practice owner income

The BLS wage survey covers employed dentists only, so it leaves out practice owners: 12% of dentists are self-employed, and 78% work in dentists’ offices.^[ooh_dds] The ADA Health Policy Institute’s survey of practicing dentists, which includes owners, put the average net income of general practitioners at $215,320 in 2025, unchanged from the year before, and specialists averaged about $346,520.^{[ada_hpi_income]} Owners’ income comes after paying staff, rent, supplies and practice loans, so it is not directly comparable with an associate’s salary.

Dentist take-home pay

A married dentist filing jointly with a $170,950 salary keeps about $137,923 (81%) after 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, before state tax and retirement savings.^{[irs_2026][irs_p15]} At this income the 22% and 24% brackets apply, and Social Security tax stops at the $184,500 wage base, so a dentist above that level pays no more of it. High earners also owe the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above $200,000 of wages for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers.^[irs_tc560] Use the calculator above with your filing status and state rate.

Dentist salary vs dental school debt

Dental school graduates in the class of 2025 who borrowed left school with an average of $297,800 of education debt, and 82% graduated with debt, according to the ADEA senior survey.^[adea_debt] At a 7% interest rate, chosen here only for illustration, that balance costs about $3,458 a month over 10 years or $2,309 a month over 20 years. The first-year tuition and fees alone were $46,845 at public schools for residents and $90,090 at private schools in 2025-26.^{[ada_hpi_edu]}

That is why the first years of a dental career look different from the median: an associate at the 25th percentile ($125,710) paying $3,458 a month would spend 33% of gross pay on loans. Our dental school cost page has a payback calculator that adds tuition, lost earnings and interest.

Dentist vs hygienist and orthodontist

A general dentist’s median wage is 1.7 times the dental hygienist salary median ($98,100), after roughly four extra years of school beyond a hygienist’s associate degree plus the cost of a bachelor’s degree. Specialists earn more again: the orthodontist salary median is $289,140 after a residency of at least two years. To see the hygiene path and its costs, read how to become a dental hygienist.

• Training: a four-year DDS or DMD program, usually after a bachelor’s degree; the first two years focus on biomedical sciences and the last two on clinical care.^{[adea_curriculum]}
• Licensing: all states require a license, typically an accredited degree, the written INBDE and a clinical exam.^[ooh_dds] The INBDE has 500 items over two days and costs $890.^{[jcnde_inbde]}
• Outlook: BLS projects 6% job growth for dentists from 2025 to 2035, about 4,800 openings a year.^[ooh_dds]