How much do Dental Specialists make?

We have 2 reliable sources of data to help answer this question: the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (B.L.S.) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey and the American Dental Association’s (A.D.A.) Survey of Dental Practice. Both data sets include information on income for both General Dentists and Specialists.  In the previous post, we looked at the income of General Dentists.  In this post, we will explore the income of Dental Specialists. This includes Oral Surgeons, Orthodontists, Endodontists, Periodontists, Prosthodontists and Pediatric Dentists.  These data sets provide longitudinal data over the last 20+ years that allow us to see how income has changed for various Dental Specialists.  

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Income for Specialists peaked in 2023 at $292K. This was significantly more than the $185K for General Dentists.  The median income for Specialists peaked in 2021 at $298K. Among the specialists, the top earning fields was Oral Surgery ($445K). This was followed by Orthodontics ($287K), Endodontics ($279K), Pedodontics ($260K) and Periodontics ($245K).  This trend of Oral Surgery as #1 has been consistent for the last 20 years.  

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Similar to the A.D.A. data, the B.L.S. survey shows Oral Surgeons as the top earning specialty ($360K). Orthodontists, Prosthodontists, and Endo/Perio/Peds all earned between $247K and $259K.  General Dentists were significantly below this with an average income of $196K in 2024.

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Amongst specialists, the A.D.A. survey consistently had higher averages than the B.L.S data, but some reasonable conclusions can be made when looking at these 2 data sources.  Oral Surgeons earned the most, averaging more than $360K. Orthodontists, Prosthodontists, Endodontists, Periodontists, and Pedodontists followed, averaging about $250K-$275K.  

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The A.D.A survey also gives us insight as to how Dental Specialist income varies by employment type.  Specifically, they compare Owners to Employed dentists.  The A.D.A. further breaks down owners into ‘solo owners’ and ‘nonsolo’ owners. There is a clear hierarchy that becomes clear when looking at the data.  Owners make more than the Employed.  Among owners ‘nonsolo’ owners make more than ‘solo’ owners. This trend has held up over the last 20 years.It is also true for General Dentist’s income, which we broke down in our previous post.