205,088 dentists · ADA, BLS and Path32 data

Dentist Life Simulator

Press the button to meet a random practicing dentist, drawn in proportion to who actually practices in the U.S.

Each one is fictional, but every detail is drawn from real distributions.

Customize pick any of these, or leave them on Any

Gender Age Years in practice Practice Practices in Dental school

General dentist, 43

Man · North Carolina

Est. income$235,000

Practice: General dentist
Age: 43
Gender: Man
Practices in: North Carolina
Dental school: University of Pittsburgh, class of 2008
Residency: General practice residency (GPR), Newark Beth Israel Medical Center-Dental Service (NJ) · 1-year
Student loans: None (graduated debt-free)
Work setting: Owner, group practice
Works with a DSO: No
Years in practice: 16

0 of 11 wildcards found

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Your collection is saved in this browser. Only dentists generated with Customize set to Any count.

Out of 10,000 random dentists

What the simulator produces

40%are women (and 21% are women under 45)

22%are specialists; the most common is orthodontics

65%own their practice

15%work with a DSO: 26% of those up to 10 years out of dental school, 9% after 25 years

$194Kmedian income; the middle half earns $140K–$281K

How it works

What's real and what's estimated

Each dentist is fictional, but built from ADA, BLS and other published data, so the mix of states, specialties, ages, schools and incomes follows the 205,088 dentists working today. Large samples are checked against the ADA's published figures.

Where no national figure exists, we estimate: ownership, residencies, student loans, ages over 65, and several wildcard odds. Income is net income from the main practice as reported to the ADA, and the ADA doesn't publish the very top of the range.

Older dentists who went to schools that have since closed, or trained abroad, aren't represented.