General dentists
Official title Dentists, General (SOC 29-1021)
Also called Dentist, DDS, DMD, Doctor of dental surgery, Doctor of dental medicine
In brief
In May 2025, BLS counted 124,390 US general dentists, with median pay of $170,950 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 13,000 from 1871, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for general dentists: Intraoral scanning and cone-beam CT in general practice, 2010 to 2021.
What the sources say
Official outlook
BLS projects employment to grow 5.7% from 2025 to 2035.
AI exposure studies
- 22.5% of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. Eloundou and others, 2023
Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.
Last updated .
Cite this page
Future History. (2026, October 11). General dentists: jobs and pay since 1871 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1021
Future History. "General dentists: jobs and pay since 1871." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1021.
@misc{futurehistory_29_1021, author = {{Future History}}, title = {General dentists: jobs and pay since 1871}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1021}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }
The access date is today's date on your device.
≈ $166,567 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)
February 1, 1840: The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery opens in Baltimore, Maryland, as the world's first institution devoted exclusively to training dentists. Its founders, Horace Hayden and Chapin Harris, had petitioned the Medical College of Maryland to add dental instruction as a department; when the medical faculty refused, believing dentistry was too mechanical to be a true profession, Hayden and Harris founded their own school. The same year, August 1840, sees the founding of the American Society of Dental Surgeons in New York City. Alabama enacts the first dental practice act in 1841, requiring practitioners to pass an examination before treating patients. These three events in 1839-1841 constitute the founding of dentistry as an organized profession in the United States.
December 10, 1844: Hartford dentist Horace Wells attends a public laughing-gas demonstration by Gardner Quincy Colton and observes that a participant feels no pain after injuring his leg while intoxicated on nitrous oxide. The next day (December 11), Wells has Colton administer the gas while his colleague Dr. John Riggs extracts one of Wells's own teeth. Wells feels nothing. He immediately recognizes the potential and begins using nitrous oxide in his own patients. His January 1845 demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital is not immediately successful (the patient appeared to feel pain, though later denied it), delaying broad adoption by two years. William Morton's 1846 ether demonstration at the same hospital achieves wider recognition. Both physicians and dentists began using ether and nitrous oxide within months; Wells is recognized today as the discoverer of general anesthesia, the foundation that made modern surgery and dentistry possible.
Edmund Kells, a New Orleans dentist known for innovations in dental technique, becomes the first American dentist to use X-rays clinically for dental diagnosis, within months of Roentgen's November 1895 announcement. Kells became an evangelist for the technology, personally demonstrating radiographic techniques at dental meetings across the country. Because radiation safety was not yet understood, Kells irradiated his own hands thousands of times. By 1928, he had lost all the fingers of his right hand, then the hand itself, then his arm, to radiation-induced cancer. He died in 1928 by his own hand, unwilling to endure further amputations. The first generation of dental radiographic pioneers paid a terrible price for bringing the technology to the profession. Protective lead aprons and film holders were not standardized until the 1920s.
The postwar fluoridation of public water supplies, which began experimentally in Grand Rapids, Michigan in January 1945 and expanded to become federal policy by the 1960s, had a paradoxical effect on the dental workforce: it dramatically reduced the caries rate in children (primary prevention success) but did not reduce the demand for dentists. Instead, it shifted demand from urgent extraction-based care toward elective and restorative care in a population that now retained its teeth into old age. Dentists who had expected fluoridation to shrink their market found instead that patients with retained teeth needed ongoing periodontal care, restorations, crowns, and eventually implants. The dental workforce grew steadily through the 1960s and 1970s even as childhood caries prevalence fell.
The 1970s marked the peak enrollment era for US dental schools, driven by the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act funding. By the late 1970s, dental schools were graduating approximately 6,300 students per year and concerns about an oversupply of dentists had emerged prominently in the literature. The Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee (GMENAC) predicted a surplus of 7,000-15,000 dentists by 1990. In response, the federal government cut dental school funding subsidies; seven dental schools closed between 1986 and 1994 and first-year enrollment dropped by more than one-third. By 1994, only 3,744 dentists graduated nationally. The surplus prediction proved overstated: the caries reduction from fluoridation reduced per-capita treatment need but growing population, an aging cohort retaining teeth, and expanded insurance coverage absorbed the supply. This episode made US dental-school planners persistently cautious about enrollment growth, a constraint that still shapes the pipeline.
The rapid rise of Dental Support Organizations (DSOs) reshaped the economics of dental practice in the 2010s. DSOs are non-clinical management companies that provide business services (billing, HR, marketing, supply purchasing, scheduling software) to dental practices while the clinical decisions remain with dentists. In 2015, DSOs employed or affiliated roughly 15-20% of US dentists; by 2025 that figure had grown to approximately 45% according to Dentistry Today's DSO Landscape Report. The shift from solo and small-group practice to DSO affiliation is the most significant structural change in US dentistry since the professionalization of the 1840s. It has accelerated AI adoption (DSO-affiliated practices report 61% AI imaging adoption vs. 22% for solo practices in 2025) and created a new career ladder within the profession: from associate dentist, to lead dentist, to clinical director, to dental medical director.
The FDA clears Pearl Second Opinion (K211016) as the first AI-powered dental radiographic analysis tool, followed by Overjet (K212171) for bone-level quantification and caries detection, and VideaHealth (K213201, 2022). These clearances are Class II 510(k) devices classified as clinical decision support tools, meaning the AI findings require dentist review and approval before any clinical action can be taken. The ADA Ethics Code (2025) affirms that the dentist of record retains full diagnostic and treatment-planning accountability regardless of AI-generated findings. By 2025, peer-reviewed blinded RCTs had documented that AI assistance increases caries detection sensitivity by 18-23% compared to dentist examination alone, and ADA survey data showed that 34% of US dentists were using AI diagnostic tools, up from 8% in 2022. The technology is reaching the early majority of the profession within four years of first clearance.
Will AI replace general dentists? What the research says
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.
What's changing day to day for general dentists
Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.
AI is sitting alongside you hereManage practice scheduling, billing, and operational efficiency using AI-powered practice management tools, reviewing AI-generated no-show risk scores and automated patient outreach for appointment confirmation (Curve Dental AI, Dentrix Ascend AI)
Manage practice scheduling, billing, and operational efficiency using AI-powered practice management tools, reviewing AI-generated no-show risk scores and automated patient outreach for appointment confirmation (Curve Dental AI, Dentrix Ascend AI); monitoring AI-flagged billing claim errors and pre-authorization issues before submission; reviewing AI-produced production and collections dashboards; and making scheduling and staffing decisions informed by AI-generated operational analytics.[13],[14]
Practice management AI is delivering the fastest near-term ROI in general dentistry for practice owners and DSO affiliates: Curve Dental's AI scheduling fills appointment gaps by predicting cancellations before they happen, Dentrix Ascend AI reduces no-shows via automated outreach, and both platforms flag billing errors pre-submission to reduce claim denials. For dentists who own or lead a practice, developing fluency with these analytics dashboards moves practice management from reactive (fixing problems after the fact) to predictive (acting on AI-identified patterns before they hurt revenue). For associate dentists, understanding production and collections metrics positions you for equity partnership conversations where financial literacy is the differentiating credential.
AI is sitting alongside you hereGenerate and review AI-assisted clinical documentation and treatment notes, dictating or reviewing Suki AI-drafted dental procedure notes for restorative, surgical, and preventive visits
Generate and review AI-assisted clinical documentation and treatment notes, dictating or reviewing Suki AI-drafted dental procedure notes for restorative, surgical, and preventive visits; reviewing AI-populated perio charting entries; ensuring treatment notes meet state dental board and insurer documentation requirements for procedures performed; and signing the finalized notes as the dentist of record.[15],[3]
Clinical documentation in dentistry is a persistent time cost: procedure notes, perio charting, and treatment plan documentation can consume many minutes per clinical day. Suki AI and similar voice-assisted documentation tools support DDS/DMD-specific note templates and are integrating with major dental practice management systems. Your time shifts from dictation mechanics to expert review: ensure procedure descriptions accurately reflect what was performed (for malpractice protection), verify medication and material codes match actual prescribing, and confirm informed consent language is complete.
AI is sitting alongside you hereProvide clear aligner orthodontic treatment, reviewing AI-generated Invisalign ClinCheck or SureSmile tooth-movement simulation plans
Provide clear aligner orthodontic treatment, reviewing AI-generated Invisalign ClinCheck or SureSmile tooth-movement simulation plans; modifying AI-proposed staging, attachment placement, and interproximal reduction (IPR) amounts based on clinical judgment; approving final aligner fabrication; delivering and monitoring aligner therapy through refinement stages; and counseling patients on compliance, attachment management, and expected outcomes.[7],[3]
Invisalign ClinCheck AI has been the single largest scope-expansion tool in modern general dentistry: it algorithmized orthodontic treatment planning to the point that 65,000+ general dentists now offer comprehensive aligner treatment that previously required orthodontist training. The AI generates the movement simulation; your clinical value is in case selection (which cases exceed your training boundary), modification of AI-staged movements based on your knowledge of biologic limits and anchorage requirements, and patient management through the refinement process. Developing confidence in ClinCheck modification, understanding when AI overstages and when it under-stages complex movements, is the primary competency that separates dentists who are profitable aligner providers from those who over-rely on ClinCheck without understanding the mechanics.
Where general dentists go next
Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.
- Medical and Health Services Managers
- US median pay
- $123,860 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +24.2%
- Health Informatics SpecialistsNo timeline for this role yet
- Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary
- US median pay
- $107,310 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +17.9%
What each move takes
Medical and Health Services Managers
General dentists who develop operational, financial, and clinical AI leadership experience are well positioned for DSO (Dental Support Organization) clinical director, regional dental director, or VP of Clinical Affairs roles: all classified under Medical and Health Services Managers. As AI imaging tools (Pearl, Overjet, VideaHealth), digital workflow platforms (3Shape, iTero), and AI practice management systems (Curve Dental, Dentrix Ascend) are deployed across multi-site DSO networks simultaneously, DSOs urgently need licensed DDS/DMD leaders who understand both the clinical and operational dimensions of AI adoption. The stepping stones are dental team lead, regional quality committee, or clinical champion roles in an existing DSO or group practice, paired with an MBA or MHA credential for the financial and management language required at the director level.
- · Healthcare management credentials: MBA with healthcare concentration or MHA (Master of Health Administration); AADOM (American Academy of Dental Office Management) advanced certificates as a stepping stone
- · Dental AI governance: evaluating FDA 510(k)-cleared AI diagnostic tools, designing clinical override protocols, monitoring AI detection performance across multi-site deployments
- · DSO finance and operations: understanding dental production KPIs (production per chair, case acceptance rate, hygiene reappointment rate), EBITDA modeling for group practices, and clinical quality dashboards
- · Clinical quality systems: dental quality committee leadership, peer review program design, and infection control/regulatory compliance across multi-site dental organizations
- · Medical staff and provider development: associate dentist mentorship and evaluation, continuing education program design, provider productivity and quality metrics
How has the work of general dentists changed since 1840?
The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.
Hand instruments + foot-treadle drill (pre-electric era)
The dental instruments of the 1840s were descendants of barber-surgeon tools: hand scalers, extraction forceps, and a foot-pedal-powered drill introduced around 1790 by John Greenwood (George Washington's dentist) adapted from a spinning wheel. The founding of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1840 standardized the teaching of these techniques for the first time. The defining technology shift of this era was not mechanical but pharmacological: Horace Wells' discovery of nitrous oxide anesthesia in December 1844 transformed dentistry from an ordeal to a procedure patients could actually tolerate. William Morton's demonstration of ether anesthesia in 1846 confirmed the principle. Together, these discoveries expanded the pool of patients willing to seek care and the range of procedures a dentist could perform.
Effect on the workAnesthesia dramatically expanded effective demand for dental services. Before 1844, many patients would endure years of dental disease rather than submit to extraction without anesthesia. The profession grew from 13,000 practitioners in 1871 to roughly 30,000 by 1900, tracking the anesthesia-driven expansion of willing patients.
Electric dental drill (Green, 1864) and cavity preparation science
In 1864, Dr. George F. Green patented the first electric-powered dental drill. James B. Morrison commercialized a practical foot-engine drill in 1871 that became standard in dental offices over the following two decades. These drills were still slow by modern standards and generated heat that required frequent pausing for cooling, but they were far faster and more controllable than hand excavators. G.V. Black, the "Grand Old Man of Dentistry," developed the principles of cavity preparation (extension for prevention, resistance and retention form) in the 1880s-1890s that are still taught in dental schools today. Black's classification of carious lesions (Classes I through VI) standardized the diagnosis and treatment of tooth decay across the profession for the first time.
Dental X-ray (Roentgen 1895; Kells first clinical use 1896)
Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays on November 8, 1895. Within weeks, Otto Walkhoff in Germany had taken the first dental radiograph (a exposure of his own teeth) in January 1896. New Orleans dentist Edmund Kells made the first clinical use of dental X-rays in a US practice in 1896, and by 1900 dentists recognized that radiographs could reveal interproximal caries, bone levels, and root morphology invisible to clinical examination alone. The dental X-ray transformed diagnosis from a primarily symptom-driven exercise into a systematic screen for disease the patient had not yet noticed. It also exposed a generation of early adopters to radiation: Kells, who pioneered X-ray use without knowing its dangers, lost fingers, hands, and ultimately his life to radiation-induced cancer by 1928. Radiation safety protocols were not standardized until the 1920s-1930s. By the mid-20th century, intraoral periapical and bitewing radiographs were the central diagnostic tool of every dental office.
Effect on the workRadiographic diagnosis enabled dentists to detect interproximal caries earlier, when conservative treatment (small fillings) was possible, rather than after the decay had become clinically symptomatic. This shifted the economics of dental practice toward more, smaller interventions and gave dentists a diagnostic capability that technicians could not replicate.
High-speed air-turbine handpiece (Borden Airotor, 1957) and panoramic X-ray
In 1957 two transformative dental technologies arrived almost simultaneously. John V. Borden developed the Airotor: a high-speed air-turbine dental handpiece capable of 300,000 RPM. The high-speed turbine cut tooth structure faster with far less pressure and heat, reducing patient discomfort and procedure time dramatically. The first commercial panoramic X-ray unit (the Orthopantomograph, developed by Finnish scientist Yrjo Paatero and commercialized by Siemens from 1960) followed shortly after: a single X-ray image that captured all teeth, both jaws, the TMJ joints, and surrounding bone. These two tools defined the equipment of the general dental office for the next three decades: the high-speed handpiece for preparation, the panoramic for screening, and periapical films for detail. Cavity preparation became faster, more comfortable, and more precise. The panoramic image enabled dentists to evaluate bone levels, detect impacted third molars, and identify pathology across the entire jaws in a single view.
Effect on the workThe high-speed handpiece reduced the time required for cavity preparation, enabling dentists to see more patients per day. The productivity increase supported the rapid growth of dental practices and contributed to the rising incomes of the profession in the 1960s-1970s.
Digital radiography (RVG, 1987) and CAD/CAM chairside milling (CEREC, 1987)
By coincidence, two landmark dental technologies launched in the same year. Trophy Radiology in France introduced the RadioVisioGraphy (RVG) digital intraoral sensor in 1987: the first intraoral digital X-ray system, reducing patient radiation dose by up to 80% compared to conventional film and eliminating the film-development step. Dr. Werner Mormann and Dr. Marco Brandestini at the University of Zurich simultaneously launched CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics), the first CAD/CAM dental milling system, enabling a dentist to take a digital optical impression, design a ceramic crown on a computer, mill it from a ceramic block, and deliver it in a single appointment. Digital radiography gradually displaced film-based radiographs over the following decades; by 2010 the majority of new dental offices in the US were film-free. CEREC spread more slowly due to initial cost but established that a dentist could own a digital workflow for restoration fabrication without a dental laboratory.
Effect on the workDigital radiography eliminated the darkroom, the chemical developer, and the film consumable cost from every dental office. CEREC demonstrated that the dental laboratory step (historically a turnaround for porcelain crowns) could be compressed to a single appointment, reducing lab fees and enabling same-day delivery of ceramic restorations.
Intraoral scanning and cone-beam CT (CBCT) in general practice
The 2010s brought two imaging modalities from specialty practice into mainstream general dentistry. Intraoral scanners (iTero launched for general dentistry 2011; 3Shape TRIOS 2010) replaced physical impressions for crown and bridge cases with real-time 3D digital captures, reducing patient discomfort and eliminating the polyvinyl siloxane impression material that had been standard since the 1960s. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) units, previously used only in oral surgery and orthodontics, dropped in price enough to appear in general practices: by 2015 the cost had fallen, making pre-surgical 3D bone imaging for implant placement accessible to general dentists. Dental implant placement by general dentists grew substantially in this period as CBCT-guided surgical planning reduced the risk of nerve injury and implant failure. Invisalign's ClinCheck aligner-planning platform also matured in this decade, enabling general dentists to offer comprehensive orthodontic treatment without orthodontist training for the first time at scale.
AI radiographic analysis (Pearl, Overjet, VideaHealth: FDA-cleared 2021-2022)
In 2021, Pearl Second Opinion (K211016) and Overjet (K212171) received FDA 510(k) clearance as AI-based dental radiographic analysis tools, followed by VideaHealth (K213201, 2022). These systems superimpose real-time AI findings (caries, bone loss, calculus, periapical lesions, restoration defects) directly onto dental X-rays within the dentist's existing viewer, requiring no change to the radiographic workflow. Peer-reviewed validation studies documented meaningful diagnostic improvements: Pearl increased caries detection sensitivity from 55% to 74% in a blinded study (Journal of Dentistry, 2024); VideaHealth AI showed an 18.2% improvement in caries detection accuracy vs. dentist-alone in a multi-site blinded RCT of many general dentists (JADA, 2025). By 2025, over 10,000 US dental offices were using AI radiographic analysis, and 34% of dentists reported using AI diagnostic tools, up from 8% in 2022. The ADA Ethics Code (2025) explicitly defines these tools as decision-support: the dentist of record retains full diagnostic accountability and must review and approve all AI findings before any clinical action. Adoption is moving fastest among Dental Support Organization (DSO)-affiliated practices: 61% of DSO dentists vs. 22% of solo-practice dentists reported using AI imaging tools in 2025.
Effect on the workAI radiographic analysis has not reduced dentist employment but has shifted what dentists are valued for within the examination: from manual detection (finding the lesion on the X-ray) toward clinical integration (deciding what the AI-flagged finding means in the context of this patient's full clinical picture). Practices using AI imaging tools report improvements in case acceptance rates, suggesting the technology increases revenue per dentist rather than displacing dentist positions.
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Browse all rolesDentists, General employment and pay by year
View all 27 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1871 | 13,000 | n/a | Est., Bowditch, H.I Researched context | Report |
| 1900 | 30,000 | n/a | Decennial Census 1900 Researched context | Report |
| 1940 | n/a | $3,200 | BLS historical bulletin 1950 Researched context | Report |
| 1960 | 90,000 | n/a | Est., NCBI Bookshelf Researched context | Report |
| 1980 | 121,000 | $55,000 | Est., Dental Economics (employment) Researched contextEst., NCBI Bookshelf (pay) Researched context | Report |
| 2004 | 84,240 | $123,060 | BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statistic | Report |
| 2005 | 86,270 | $125,300 | BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statistic | Report |
| 2006 | 86,110 | $132,140 | BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statistic | Report |
| 2007 | 85,260 | $137,630 | BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statistic | Report |
| 2008 | 85,910 | $142,870 | BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statistic | Report |
| 2009 | 86,270 | $142,090 | BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statistic | Report |
| 2010 | 87,700 | $141,040 | BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statistic | Report |
| 2011 | 90,950 | $142,740 | BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statistic | Report |
| 2012 | 93,580 | $145,240 | BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statistic | Report |
| 2013 | 96,000 | $146,340 | BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statistic | Report |
| 2014 | 97,990 | $149,540 | BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statistic | Report |
| 2015 | 100,080 | $152,700 | BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statistic | Report |
| 2016 | 105,620 | $153,900 | BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statistic | Report |
| 2017 | 110,400 | $151,440 | BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statistic | Report |
| 2018 | 113,000 | $151,850 | BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statistic | Report |
| 2019 | 110,730 | $155,600 | BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statistic | Report |
| 2020 | 95,920 | $158,940 | BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statistic | Report |
| 2021 | 108,680 | $160,370 | BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statistic | Report |
| 2022 | 120,740 | $155,040 | BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statistic | Report |
| 2023 | 121,640 | $166,300 | BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statistic | Report |
| 2024 | 113,490 | $172,790 | BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statistic | Report |
| 2025 | 124,390 | $170,950 | BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statistic | Report |