Orthodontists

Minimal Risk
Low High

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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
7.2/10
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

12% (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.

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.
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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.
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Assisting and caring for others

Quite 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.
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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.
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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.
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Show 6 more strengths

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
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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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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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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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Operations analysis

Quite important
Why this matters
Figure out what people need and what a product must do, then translate those requirements into a workable design.
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What users think

Based on 187 votes

31% 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 12% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Orthodontists 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 Unknown, the mean annual wage for Orthodontists was Unknown (Unknown per hour).

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Orthodontists' job openings is expected to rise 4.4% 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

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 5,150 people employed as 'Orthodontists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 29 thousand people are employed as 'Orthodontists'.

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What people are saying (8)

Leave a comment
Dr. Abdulrahman (No chance)
31 May 2025 13:24
AI will not replace orthodontists in the next two decades completely. However it will be a bigger part of it, orthodontists already utilize AI more often than other dental specialists.

The reason why AI will not replace orthodontists is ortho is a time sensitive and diagnostic speciality. The difference between changing the whole patient's face without surgery vs needing surgery depends heavily on time, and diagnostic skills. Also orthodontists require fine hand motor skills and multi-tasking. Clinical judgement must be fast and efficient as orthodontists usually see more sheer patients volume vc other dental specialities sometimes up to 80 a day.

However, an orthodontist who knows how to utilize AI and increase efficiency is the one who's taking the job vs an orthodontist lacking AI skills.
Khaled
11 Oct 2020 14:34
Orthodontists are all of Robots taking over part of the labor bill. For example, I can not wait to get a robot receptionist who does not get sick, does not have to take personal days off, compassionate days off (because her pet is sick). Patients should be able to walk to the front and get an appointment booked themselves. Just like when you book a flight and select your seat. Similarly, there's got to be an accounting software which orthodontists use for bills, to pay bills, to communicate with your accountants for the year end, to generate cheques for staff (pay) without having to hire a bookkeeper. This will decrease the overhead. Even the financial manager position can be replaced. You enter the contract for the particular patient, and the robot presents and emails all the details. No need for cleavage to close the deal, for patients to bargain, or for them to feel that they are being treated unfairly price wise. Replacing the job of the Orthodontist with a robot is actually risky. When teeth move, there is a biologic cost. If things are moving via Autopilot, and then someone finds out, that movement took place in the wrong direction, fixing these errors is costly both in time, money, and most importantly, patient's dental tissue repair sometimes.
GGM
28 Sep 2019 08:53
I think, the risk will be more, the AI actually is able to make diagnostic and with plastic printer make the treatment. The braces are soon out of date.
Christian Lopez
24 Apr 2019 15:23
Because if a robot makes a wrong move when taking out teeth or putting braces they could mess up and lose a lot of money
Sami
02 Apr 2019 23:53
Who wakes up one day and decides they want to look at mouths everyday? This job is dead.
Idgaf
06 Jul 2020 02:30
Someone who’s interested in that? I personally want to be an orthodontist bc I think it’s really cool and the work-life balance is great (the salary is nice too)
orthodontist lover
13 Mar 2026 21:43
Ummmm. Are you ok, sir? Orthodontists are some of the most highly paid professionals in the world, and enjoy a great work life balance. Incredibly uneducated comment
Raphael Tavares Pinto
30 Mar 2019 13:03
I love it
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Job description

Examine, diagnose, and treat dental malocclusions and oral cavity anomalies. Design and fabricate appliances to realign teeth and jaws to produce and maintain normal function and to improve appearance.

O*NET-SOC code: 29-1023.00