Best degree programs for Dentists, All Other Specialists, ranked by enrollment
9 college programs and 56 schools train Dentists, All Other Specialists. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $224,990 median wage, 5,230 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
9 college programs at 56 schools train dentists, all other specialists, graduating 1,165 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Dental Clinical Sciences, General. The job pays a median of $224,990 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About dentists, all other specialists
All dentists not listed separately.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
9 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.0501 | 419 | 36.0% | 25 | $195,650 | — |
| 2 | CIP 51.0503 | 201 | 17.3% | 20 | $195,650 | — |
| 3 | CIP 51.0506 | 161 | 13.8% | 30 | $195,650 | — |
| 4 | CIP 51.0510 | 150 | 12.9% | 28 | $195,650 | — |
| 5 | CIP 51.0599 | 138 | 11.8% | 11 | $195,650 | — |
| 6 | CIP 51.0504 | 88 | 7.6% | 13 | $195,650 | — |
| 7 | CIP 51.1404 | 6 | 0.5% | 3 | $223,926 | $16,250 |
| 8 | CIP 51.0505 | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $195,650 | — |
| 9 | CIP 51.0514 | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $195,650 | — |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What dentists, all other specialists earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvaniamoderate | $195,150 | 160 | 0.78× | 3 | 127 |
| Floridamoderate | — | 380 | 1.14× | 3 | 117 |
| Massachusettsmoderate | — | 60 | 0.45× | 3 | 116 |
| California | $230,730 | 340 | 0.55× | 5 | 101 |
| Texasmoderate | $286,510 | 730 | 1.55× | 3 | 78 |
| Michiganlimited | $229,150 | 130 | 0.91× | 2 | 55 |
| Illinoislimited | $250,880 | 230 | 1.13× | 2 | 43 |
| Ohiolimited | $192,050 | 160 | 0.84× | 2 | 42 |
| Minnesotamoderate | — | 580 | 5.85× | 3 | 31 |
| New Jerseylimited | $201,840 | 290 | 2.04× | 1 | 26 |
| North Carolinalimited | $225,990 | 130 | 0.75× | 1 | 20 |
| Marylandlimited | $207,450 | — | — | 1 | 17 |
| Coloradolimited | $186,640 | 70 | 0.75× | 1 | 14 |
| Connecticutlimited | $126,410 | 50 | 0.90× | 1 | 13 |
| Kentuckylimited | — | 80 | 1.17× | 2 | 13 |
| Missourilimited | $230,130 | 30 | 0.31× | 2 | 11 |
| West Virginialimited | $235,370 | 40 | 1.88× | 1 | 10 |
| Nebraskalimited | $224,990 | — | — | 2 | 8 |
| Oregonlimited | $256,510 | — | — | 1 | 7 |
| Oklahomalimited | $223,160 | 80 | 1.34× | 1 | 3 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
How to get in
How to become a Dentist, All Other Specialists
- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- On-the-job training
- Internship/residency
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 18 majors mapped to Dentists, All Other Specialists9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.0501Dental Clinical Sciences, General
- 51.0503Oral Biology and Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
- 51.0504Dental Public Health and Education
- 51.0505Dental Materials
- 51.0506Endodontics/Endodontology
- 51.0510Periodontics/Periodontology
- 51.0512Digital Dentistry(no graduates reported)
- 51.0513Geriatric Dentistry(no graduates reported)
- 51.0514Implantology/Implant Dentistry
- 51.0599Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Other
- 51.1404Temporomandibular Disorders and Orofacial Pain
- 60.0102Dental Public Health Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0103Endodontics Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0104Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0106Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0107Periodontology Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0109Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Residency Program(no graduates reported)
- 60.0199Dental Residency/Fellowship Program, Other(no graduates reported)
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Dentist, All Other Specialists?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Dental Clinical Sciences, General, which awarded 419 degrees in 2024-25, 36.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Dentist, All Other Specialists?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Medical Clinical Sciences/Graduate Medical Studies. Together they graduate about 1,165 people a year.
How much do dentists, all other specialists earn?+
The median is $224,990 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $104,120 at the 10th percentile to $402,700 at the 90th. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for dentists, all other specialists growing?+
BLS projects a +0.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
56 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 9 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+
BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'Internship/residency' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024-25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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