Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code IRC
Orthodontists
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.
Also called: Orthodontic Dentist, Orthodontic Specialist, Orthodontics Doctor, Orthodontist, Board Certified Orthodontist, Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Specialist.
O*NET 29-1023.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $289,140
- Middle half earn $146,580 to $342,300. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Post-Doctoral Training
- 69% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 5 of 5
- Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Diagnose teeth and jaw or other dental-facial abnormalities.
- Examine patients to assess abnormalities of jaw development, tooth position, and other dental-facial structures.
- Study diagnostic records, such as medical or dental histories, plaster models of the teeth, photos of a patient's face and teeth, and X-rays, to develop patient treatment plans.
- Fit dental appliances in patients' mouths to alter the position and relationship of teeth and jaws or to realign teeth.
- Adjust dental appliances to produce and maintain normal function.
- Provide patients with proposed treatment plans and cost estimates.
- Advise patients to comply with treatment plans.
- Prepare diagnostic and treatment records.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening4.0 / 5
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
- Monitoring4.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Active Learning3.8 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Medicine and Dentistry5.0 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
- English Language3.7 / 5
- Biology3.7 / 5
- Computers and Electronics3.3 / 5
- Mathematics3.2 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic77
- Investigative79
- Artistic10
- Social50
- Enterprising8
- Conventional60
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- dental practitioner · DE Zahnarzt/Zahnärztin · FR dentiste
- specialist dentist · DE Fachzahnarzt/Fachzahnärztin · FR dentiste spécialiste
- podiatrist · DE Podologe/Podologin · FR podologue
- podiatry assistant · DE Podologieassistent/Podologieassistentin · FR assistant podologue/assistante podologue
- dental technician · DE Zahntechniker/Zahntechnikerin · FR technicien de fabrication de matériel dentaire/technicienne de fabrication de matériel dentaire
- prosthetist-orthotist · DE Orthopädist Prothetik und Orthetik/Orthopädistin Prothetik und Orthetik · FR orthoprothésiste
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Dental practitioners (2253)34,800 employed
- Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
- Podiatrists (2256)16,200 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “歯科医師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥792,600
- Middle half earn ¥484,700 to ¥1,009,300 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 11,240
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.16. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-1023).
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