How much do General Dentists 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 this post, we will only explore the income of General Dentists.  We have also looked at the same data for Specialists. These data sets provide longitudinal data over the last 20+ years that allow us to see how income has changed.

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From the B.L.S. data, the mean income for General Dentists in 2024 was $196K.  This number rose steadily since 2004 when the average income was $133K.  This amounts to about a 2% increase in annual income.  

The A.D.A. survey tells a similar story.  General Dentist income peaked in 2023 with an average of $185K. This amounts to about a 1.5% annual increase since 2000, when the average income was $130K.  

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The A.D.A survey also gives us insight as to how General Dentist 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 Specialist’s income, which we have also analyzed. In 2023, Owners averaged an income of $195K while Employed general dentists averaged $168K.  Amongst Owners, ‘nonsolo’ owners averaged $230K compared to ‘solo’ owners that averaged $172K.