Are you about to enter or are already in the dental profession? If so, this book is for you. As someone interested in the field of dentistry, you need a good sense of how much you’re going to make at various stages of your career. Salaries start off pretty good and rise until retirement. That’s why we have written Starting Salaries For Dentists – A guide and salary survey for dentists with answers to questions on:
A dentist’s average starting salary is $85,000 and the typical salary range for dentists is between $55,000 and $158,000. Factors that contribute to a dentist’s final salary include specialty and location where they practice.
Starting Salaries For Dentists Overview
If you’re thinking about becoming a dentist, the first thing you might want to know is how much you’d make.
A dentist can make anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000 per year, depending on factors like location and experience level. While this is certainly a lot of money, keep in mind that it’s only an average figure—there are plenty of dentists who earn much more than this range.
Dentists’ salaries depend on many factors. Location matters because some places pay more than others: for example, dentists in New York City tend to earn significantly more than those in rural areas because there are fewer people living there who need care. Dentists who work for hospitals or dental offices tend to make more than those who work independently; this is because they have access to better equipment and technology as well as higher levels of insurance coverage for their patients (which means less out-of-pocket costs).
Dentist salaries also vary depending on how long someone has been practicing dentistry: newer graduates often start off earning less than experienced professionals do because they haven’t yet built up their clientele or reputation as much as someone with years under their belt does. However, if you’re looking for
Types of dentistry
You may choose to specialise in a different area of dentistry, such as:
- Community dental care – working in patients’ homes, nursing homes and community clinics, treating patients who have special requirements that mean they can’t attend a high street practice.
- Dental public health – carrying out non-clinical work, assessing the dental health needs of populations rather than individuals.
- Hospital dental care – dealing with cases of special difficulty and providing treatment to long-stay hospital patients, emergency treatment for short-stay patients or the general public for teaching purposes.
- Armed forces – providing a comprehensive range of dental services for armed forces personnel in the UK and abroad, operating as a military dental officer.
Responsibilities
As a dentist, you’ll need to:
- educate patients on oral healthcare
- examine teeth, diagnosing dental conditions using tools such as x-rays
- assess treatment options and agree treatment plans with patients
- carry out agreed clinical treatments such as restoring teeth affected by decay and treating gum disease
- maintain patients’ dental records
- recruit, train and manage staff
- oversee budgets and maintain stocks of equipment
- market services to potential clients.
Some practices employ practice managers so that dentists can concentrate on clinical work.
Salary
- As a newly qualified dentist, if you want to work in the NHS, you’ll have to complete one year of foundation training. During this time you’ll earn a salary of £33,720.
- Most dentists are self-employed contractors in general practice, mixing NHS with private work. Profits of dental practices varies greatly but in general you can earn around £50,000 to £110,000. Wholly private dentists can earn £140,000+.
- If you enter dental core training, instead of working in general practice, you will earn a salary of £39,467 to £50,017. There are also additional payments for night, weekend and on-call work.
- If you work as a salaried dentist employed by the NHS, mainly in community dental services, you’ll earn around £43,019 to £92,013.
- In NHS trust hospitals, consultants in dental specialties earn a basic salary of £84,559 to £114,003 depending on the number of years spent in the consultant grade.
Other salaried posts exist in the armed forces and in corporate practices.
Income data from Health Careers. Figures are intended as a guide only
Working hours
If you work as a GDP, you’ll be self-employed and can arrange your own working hours, which may include weekend or evening sessions to suit patients. Career breaks and part-time work opportunities are possible.
Work within hospitals tends to be on short-term contracts and involves more irregular hours, with on-call responsibilities. Self-employment and freelance work in hospital dentistry are only possible for consultants.
What to expect
- Jobs are available throughout the country, in both urban and rural areas.
- When treating patients you’ll be required to wear a tunic, surgical gloves and safety glasses for protection and to reduce the risk of cross-infection.
- Eye strain and neck and back fatigue can be caused by the job. You may experience high stress levels when handling patients’ pain and anxiety or as a result of working within strict time schedules. However, the role can also be very rewarding when you see patient satisfaction.
- Travel within a working day and overnight absence from home are uncommon in general practice but may occasionally be necessary for work in hospitals or the community.
- Opportunities for overseas travel may arise to attend international conferences.
Qualifications
You must have an approved degree in dentistry to practise as a dentist and courses take at least five years to complete. You’ll typically need high grades at A-level/Highers, with chemistry and biology being required subjects. Some dental schools offer a one-year pre-dental course for those who don’t have the required A-levels or equivalent.
If you’ve already completed a degree, achieved at least a 2:1 and the course had a large element of biology or chemistry, you may be able to do an accelerated four-year dental course.
All dental schools in the UK are regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC) and a list of available courses can be found at GDC Dentistry Programmes and Qualifications. Competition for dental schools is fierce and many require you to sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) or BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT).
Once you’ve successfully completed your undergraduate degree, you’ll need to register with the GDC in order to practise as a qualified dentist.
Skills
You will need to show:
- manual dexterity and technical dental skills, plus the ability to maintain intense concentration for prolonged periods
- the ability to build relationships with patients and colleagues
- high level communication and interpersonal skills, for interaction with patients of all ages and backgrounds
- an interest in the welfare of others and a sympathetic manner, particularly to deal with patients’ fears
- good administrative and managerial abilities to run a dental practice
- information technology skills, due to the increasing use of computers for keeping records and accounts, and for digital imaging of radiographs and intra-oral photography.
Work experience
Pre-entry dentistry experience isn’t essential, but a few weeks of related work experience and work shadowing will indicate your motivation for the work.
It’s also a good idea to become a student member of the British Dental Association (BDA). You’ll get access to its journal and student magazine as well as its dental library and e-books. It also provides a support service and careers and interview advice. Find out more at BDA – Students.
What is the Average Dentist Starting Salary?
Dentistry has long been amongst the highest-paying professions in the United States and worldwide. But as is the case in other high-paying careers, a dentist starting salary can vary a great deal. Primarily, your salary as a dentist depends on your experience in dentistry, as well as where you live.
Dentist Starting Salary
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for all dentists in the U.S. was $156,240 as of May 2018.
Dentists straight out of dental school won’t be making this amount right away, but they can still earn a relatively high salary at about $120,000 per year (PayScale). Your salary as a dentist will vary based on where you live and where you choose to work, but it will always be lower than a tenured or high-level dentist position.
PayScale is a site that operates a real-time, large-scale salary survey for nearly every career path. The site’s salary reports come from real-life dentists who are currently earning salaries, rather than from open job listings.
Based on 1,802 anonymous users, PayScale reports that entry-level dentists with less than five years of experience earn an average salary of $120,00 per year, as of the writing of this article.
Highest and Lowest Dentist Salaries
The BLS report tells us that the median salary for all dentists is $156,240. The report also lists the highest and lowest salaries of dentists, which are as follows:
- The lowest 10% of dentists earned less than $72,840 per year, and
- The highest 10% of dentists earned more than $208,000.
As an entry-level dentist, working for a typical dentist’s office, you’re more likely to fall into, or nearer to, that lower 10% category. However, if you have a specialist degree or live in a popular and high-paying area, you will earn more.
