Which Dental Specialty Pays the Most? (Ranked)

The federal government does not publish a single "dental specialist" wage.

It tracks dentistry as several separate occupations, each with its own Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code and its own wage estimate.

Ranked by national median annual wage in the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release:

• 1. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons — $352,220 (SOC 29-1022)
• 2. Orthodontists — $289,140 (SOC 29-1023)
• 3. Dentists, all other specialists — $224,990 (SOC 29-1029), the grouped category that covers endodontics, periodontics, pediatric dentistry and the smaller specialties
• 4. Dentists, general — $170,950 (SOC 29-1021), the baseline every specialty is measured against

BLS keeps a fifth dental code for prosthodontists (SOC 29-1024), but we don't quote a median for it on this page — the reason is below.

Two things jump out of the list: the gap between the top specialty and general dentistry is roughly double, and the gap between the top two specialties and everything else is wider than most people expect.

This page ranks pay only.

For what each of these specialties actually does — who they treat, and what sends a case their way — see the 12 dental specialties explained.

Oral and maxillofacial surgery sits at the top because it is the most surgical specialty in dentistry.

Impacted third molars, implant placement, orthognathic (jaw) surgery, facial trauma and pathology are higher-fee procedures per chair hour than restorative or preventive work, and many oral surgeons also hold hospital privileges for cases no other dental provider handles.

The training is priced into that.

OMS residency is the longest path in dentistry — CODA sets a minimum of four years after dental school, with some integrated programs awarding a medical degree alongside the dental one — so the specialty is a small, heavily trained group.

It is also the widest spread of any dental occupation with published percentiles.

Measured like-for-like from the 25th to the 90th percentile, OMS runs $204,610 to $622,640, against $146,580 to $416,000 for orthodontics and $125,710 to $319,630 for general dentistry (BLS OEWS, SOC 29-1022 / 29-1023 / 29-1021, May 2025).

The "highest-paying specialty" label describes the middle of a very long distribution.

For the role itself, see what an oral and maxillofacial surgeon does; for the full percentile breakdown, the oral surgeon salary guide.

Orthodontists come second at a $289,140 median (SOC 29-1023, May 2025), reached through a shorter route — a two-to-three-year residency after dental school rather than OMS's four to six.

On a per-year-of-training basis, orthodontics is arguably the strongest return in the ranking.

What makes orthodontic income different is that it is largely elective and marketed directly to patients and parents, rather than arriving by referral from other dentists.

Case volume, marketing and the local competitive picture — including clear-aligner and direct-to-consumer options — move an orthodontist's income more than they move an endodontist's.

That shows up in the spread: BLS reports roughly $99,850 at the 10th percentile to $416,000 at the 90th, with the 25th percentile at $146,580 — below the general-dentist 75th percentile.

A struggling orthodontic practice can pay less than a busy general practice.

See what an orthodontist does and the orthodontist salary guide for the detail.

This is the biggest limitation of any dental-specialty pay ranking: a tidy ten-row table of federal medians cannot be built without ignoring it.

BLS does not give endodontists, periodontists or pediatric dentists their own occupation codes.

All three land in "Dentists, all other specialists" (SOC 29-1029), with a single median of $224,990 (May 2025) covering the whole group.

So the honest statement is that these specialties sit around the mid-$200,000s as a group, not that any one of them earns exactly $224,990.

They are genuinely different businesses: endodontics and periodontics are referral-driven — their volume depends on relationships with the general dentists who send cases — while pediatric dentistry is more direct-to-family and strong in group and DSO practices.

Each also takes at least two years of residency after dental school (CODA's accreditation minimum for both).

For the individual roles, see what an endodontist does, what a pediatric dentist does, and the explainer on periodontists and prosthodontists.

Prosthodontists — the specialists who rebuild and replace teeth with complex crowns, bridges, dentures, implant restorations and full-mouth reconstruction — do have a dedicated BLS occupation, SOC 29-1024.

It is a small specialty, and it is the one code on this page we leave blank.

We are not publishing a median for it on this page, because we don't have one tied to a verified current release.

That is a deliberate omission rather than an oversight: a wage figure quoted without a release date behind it is exactly the kind of number that gets copied around the internet and becomes wrong.

If you need it, pull SOC 29-1024 from the BLS OEWS tables directly and note the release date.

What can be said without a number: prosthodontics is a referral-driven specialty reached through roughly three years of residency and certification by the American Board of Prosthodontics, and its economics look more like periodontics than like orthodontics — complex, high-value cases arriving from other dentists.

At the median, meaningfully more.

The general-dentist figure is $170,950 (SOC 29-1021, May 2025) — so oral surgery runs about double it, orthodontics about 70% above it, and the grouped specialist category about a third above it.

The overlap is the part the ranking hides.

General-dentist wages run from about $86,250 at the 10th percentile to $319,630 at the 90th, with the 75th percentile at $224,040 — essentially level with the median for the whole "other specialists" group.

A top-quartile general dentist is out-earning a typical endodontist, periodontist or pediatric dentist on these numbers.

Practice model is the reason.

Associates are typically paid a percentage of production or collections, or a daily rate, while owners and partners take practice profit on top of clinical earnings — which a wage survey captures only partly.

For the general-dentist benchmark in full, see the dentist salary guide, and for how the two career tracks differ in scope, general dentist vs. specialist.

Four things move a real dental income more than the specialty label does. Ownership comes first — whether you own the chair changes earnings more than which procedures you do in it. Volume and referral flow come second: a referral-driven specialty with no referral network is a slow one.

Geography is third, and it cuts both ways, since the highest-paying metros are usually the highest-cost ones. Training time and debt are fourth: six years of OMS residency is six years of resident pay and deferred earnings, which changes the lifetime picture even though it wins the median.

The practical read is that this ranking is a good map of where the ceilings are and a poor predictor of any individual career.

If specializing is the question rather than which specialty, start with how dental residency and board certification work, and browse current dentist jobs to see what the market is actually paying near you.

If admission itself is the concern rather than eventual pay, which dental specialty is hardest to match into compares the same specialties on applicant and position counts instead.

This article is general career information, not financial advice. All wage figures are national BLS estimates from the releases cited and vary by ownership model, region, case mix, and experience.