Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code RIS

Prosthodontists

Diagnose, treat, rehabilitate, design, and fit prostheses that maintain oral function, health, and appearance for patients with clinical conditions associated with teeth, oral and maxillofacial tissues, or the jaw.

Also called: DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery), Denturist, Maxillofacial Prosthodontist, Prosthodontist, Dental Science Dr (Dental Science Doctor), Prosthetic Dentist, Reconstructive Dentist, Removable Prosthodontist.

O*NET 29-1024.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $311,180; Middle half earn $252,050 to $333,480. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Post-Doctoral Training; 61% 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.

Examine patients to diagnose oral health conditions and diseases.
Fit prostheses to patients, making any necessary adjustments and modifications.
Replace missing teeth and associated oral structures with permanent fixtures, such as implant-supported prostheses, crowns and bridges, or removable fixtures, such as dentures.
Measure and take impressions of patients' jaws and teeth to determine the shape and size of dental prostheses, using face bows, dental articulators, recording devices, and other materials.
Collaborate with general dentists, specialists, and other health professionals to develop solutions to dental and oral health concerns.
Design and fabricate dental prostheses, or supervise dental technicians and laboratory bench workers who construct the devices.
Restore function and aesthetics to traumatic injury survivors, or to individuals with diseases or congenital disabilities.
Repair, reline, or rebase dentures.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.6 / 5
Monitoring3.6 / 5
Writing3.4 / 5

Knowledge areas

Medicine and Dentistry5.0 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.1 / 5
Administration and Management3.4 / 5
English Language3.3 / 5
Biology3.2 / 5
Education and Training3.1 / 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.

Realistic86
Investigative76
Artistic13
Social60
Enterprising7
Conventional37

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
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
prosthetic-orthotics technician · DE Orthopädietechnik-Mechaniker/Orthopädietechnik-Mechanikerin · FR technicien podo-orthésiste prothésiste/technicienne podo-orthésiste prothésiste

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 “Technicians and associate 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.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

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 (29-1024).

Is it a fit for you?

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