Dentists, General

Top scored High pay & lowrisk Trending
Minimal Risk
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Why it fits

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
8.2/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

16% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Very important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
Jobs that also use this strength

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Show 5 more strengths

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Consulting and advising others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 1,292 votes

24% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 16% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Dentists, General will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Dentists, General was $172,790 ($83 per hour).

The median annual wage for Dentists, General was 249.1% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Dentists, General' job openings is expected to rise 4.1% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 113,490 people employed as 'Dentists, General' within the United States.

This represents around 0.07% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Dentists, General'.

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What people are saying (43)

Leave a comment
bob (Low)
08 Nov 2024 14:11
dentists make u feel comfy, robots ehh not so uch
Samuel Watanabe (No chance)
04 Feb 2024 22:35
I think no one would be ok with a machine or robot trying to fix your teeth and touching your mouth. This could be so dangerous. Besides it would be a waste of time and money trying to build ai for this function. No chance. One of the few jobs that can't be replaced by a robot.
AI will raplace dents sorry not sorry
14 Mar 2024 03:57
That is wrong, actually. More than 50% of people said they would consent to a fully automated robot to perform a surgery on them. It's because AI is better than any human on Earth. So... no. LOL!
EES (No chance)
11 May 2025 17:43
Everybody's mouths are different
Chase
23 Dec 2023 11:10
So many clueless people on this page. To be clear, I HATE dentists. However, Imagine an unfeeling robot hurting a patient. Would it be able to stop? Or will it continue operating on the patient while they're screaming? I also don't think a robot can come up with a treatment plan independently either, or consult people who are deathly afraid of dentists already.

Maybe in the year 2700 we will advance to that stage. I heard of tha Chinese robot dentist back in 2017, but have not really hear any more things about it. From what I've seen from it though, the dummy mouth it worked on was already "pre-molded" for the robot dentist to operate on. Every mouth is different, everyone's pain tolerance is different, and everyone's mental state when dealing with the dentist is different.
J
02 Jul 2023 22:48
Can a robot sense when a patient is getting an anxiety attack and stop to calm them down? Do you want a 200,000 rpm diamond bur cutting through your tooth that has a nerve in the middle of it, with a machine on the other end of that tool? Human dentists will be around for a long time.
Bella (No chance)
31 Jan 2023 15:20
Imagine a robot working in your mouth without no liability or sense of emotion. A high risk of malfunction can happen also. It could be automated but would we want it to?
Abdullah (Uncertain)
18 Jan 2020 18:03
Give Chinese people some time .
eliazk
13 Dec 2019 18:09
I want to be a dentist and I'm so happy
Allison Amodeo (Low)
27 Nov 2019 01:21
Dentists need to know what to do and need to give the child/or parent comfort. Robots wouldn't make anyone (including me) comfortable.
Yes
18 Oct 2019 10:53
A robot has much better precision than a human hand and it doesn't have big fingers that get in the way, tremble or age, nor does it have poor vision.
Albert Musco (Highly likely)
21 Sep 2019 06:57
The unaffordabilty of basic dental care will push the monetary greed out of the profession and replace humans with AI , robotics and lazers
Shadock (Highly likely)
05 Aug 2019 16:04
Remember the one fact of life. All humans are selfish. Most Dentist will do un-safe and/or un-needed operations just to make a quick dollar. Robots will have no need for money. Robots will be slaves that are perfect in the art of Dentistry. With that said, I hope robots take over the job.
Leonid
05 Oct 2019 04:49
Agreed, bingo
Nick
07 Jan 2021 20:40
Couldn’t be more wrong. You really think big business is gonna be less greedy than your dentist? Robots don't make their own decisions, their owners do.
Anonymous
28 Sep 2021 22:58
Exactly, I’d almost rather have a robot do it for this exact reason. No need to pay big dollars to the dentist if it’s a robot :)
Anonymous
25 Sep 2023 13:41
Lmao, you really think you’re gonna get it cheaper?

If there is a bigger margin it wont be going back to you, the customer.
Elrich
12 Mar 2023 12:22
Robots will do what theirs masters tell them to.

If you think that big medical facilities operating such a device won't be greedy, please research "American healthcare system"
Jake (Moderate)
09 Jul 2019 23:43
China already had a procedure done by a robot. It is only a matter of time. https://www.richmonddental.net/library/first-robotic-dental-implant/
Joe (No chance)
11 Nov 2019 06:07
I think a bigger threat to dentists are preventative measures that can be taken by people to reduce the probability that they will ever have to go to a dentist's office. Of course, as AI and machine learning are integrated in business the probability that some business will provide a product to a customer that will serve that specific purpose is nearly 100%.
Ron (Low)
25 Jun 2019 13:17
Mouths never change. AI could figure it out.
bruh
13 Sep 2019 07:32
clearly you've never seen wisdom tooth x-ray
Loompa
09 Sep 2020 03:42
they may change in the future with evolution and most peoples mouth and teeth placement are different
delta (Uncertain)
06 Jun 2019 08:56
I am not sure about my future jobs, but if there an operation devices that could do surgery, then yeah.
Brandon Young (No chance)
11 Jan 2024 16:47
I would like someone experienced and someone that know what hurts or not.
Khadiga (No chance)
27 Dec 2023 20:14
because i am a dentist and i know the challenges of this job.
deez (No chance)
10 May 2021 17:04
Dentists are needed to be people as their patients might not like a more mechanical approach to an already mechanical job
Honey Mandal
03 Sep 2023 06:53
I agree ...
Majority Patients will 😨 of machines handling their surgeries
T. Fairy (Highly likely)
30 Jan 2020 14:47
Dentistry is mainly about image recognition and operating machinery, machines excel at this.
Muddy (No chance)
28 Jan 2020 12:08
While I can see robots eventually replacing dentists, the degree of analytical creativity and personalized service makes it unlikely within 20 years .
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Job description

Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care.

O*NET-SOC code: 29-1021.00