Best programs to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon
BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The field of study that leads most directly to this job is Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery (IPEDS completions).
1 college program at 12 schools trains oral and maxillofacial surgeons, graduating 39 people a year (IPEDS completions). The job pays a median of $352,220 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About oral and maxillofacial surgeons
Perform surgery and related procedures on the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial regions to treat diseases, injuries, or defects. May diagnose problems of the oral and maxillofacial regions. May perform surgery to improve function or appearance.
Best programs to study to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon
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 51.0507 | 39 | 100.0% | 12 | $195,650 | — |
Top 12 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder program | 7 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | — | — | — |
| 2 | University of Puerto Rico - Medical Sciences San Juan, PR Public · 1 feeder program | 5 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | — | — | — |
| 3 | Boston University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 4 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 89% | $21,956 | 11% |
| 4 | Loma Linda University Loma Linda, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 4 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | — | — | — |
| 5 | Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 3 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 87% | $27,976 | 37% |
| 6 | Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 3 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 63% | $31,672 | 73% |
| 7 | Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX Public · 1 feeder program | 3 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 84% | — | 57% |
| 8 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio San Antonio, TX Public · 1 feeder program | 3 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | — | — | — |
| 9 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 3 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 10 | Tufts University Medford, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 2 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 94% | $23,570 | 11% |
| 11 | Temple University Philadelphia, PA Public · 1 feeder program | 1 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 75% | — | 80% |
| 12 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder program | 1 | Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery | 75% | — | 74% |
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.
What oral and maxillofacial surgeons 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Californialimited | — | 670 | 1.17× | 2 | 7 |
| Floridalimited | $233,050 | — | — | 1 | 3 |
| New Yorklimited | $342,710 | 350 | 1.14× | 1 | 1 |
| Pennsylvanialimited | $553,740 | — | — | 1 | 1 |
Skills and knowledge
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Administer general and local anesthetics.
- Collaborate with other professionals, such as restorative dentists and orthodontists, to plan treatment.
- Evaluate the position of the wisdom teeth to determine whether problems exist currently or might occur in the future.
- Perform surgery to prepare the mouth for dental implants and to aid in the regeneration of deficient bone and gum tissues.
- Remove impacted, damaged, and non-restorable teeth.
- Treat infections of the oral cavity, salivary glands, jaws, and neck.
- Remove tumors and other abnormal growths of the oral and facial regions, using surgical instruments.
- Provide emergency treatment of facial injuries including facial lacerations, intra-oral lacerations, and fractured facial bones.
Skills
- Critical Thinking4.0
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Active Learning3.9
- Active Listening3.9
- Monitoring3.9
- Speaking3.9
- Science3.5
- Writing3.5
Knowledge areas
- Medicine and Dentistry5.0
- Biology4.4
- English Language4.4
- Customer and Personal Service4.3
- Psychology3.8
- Education and Training3.5
Abilities
- Arm-Hand Steadiness4.3
- Near Vision4.1
- Finger Dexterity4.1
- Inductive Reasoning4.0
- Deductive Reasoning4.0
- Control Precision4.0
Core activities
- Assisting and Caring for Others4.8
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.6
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public4.5
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.5
- Getting Information4.4
- Documenting/Recording Information4.4
How to get in
How to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon
- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- On-the-job training
- Internship/residency
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.0507Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery
- 60.0101Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program(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 an oral and maxillofacial surgeon?+
BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The field of study that leads most directly to this job is Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery (IPEDS completions).
Which college majors lead to becoming an oral and maxillofacial surgeon?+
The field of study that leads most directly to this job is Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery (IPEDS completions). In all, the NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 program to this job, which graduates about 39 people a year.
How much do oral and maxillofacial surgeons earn?+
The median is $352,220 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $86,250 at the 10th percentile to $622,640 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 oral and maxillofacial surgeons growing?+
BLS projects a +4.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
12 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 1 program 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.
What other job titles do oral and maxillofacial surgeons work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Surgeon, Oral Surgeon, Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon (OMS) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1022.
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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