A pediatric dentist is a dental specialist who cares for children — from a baby's first tooth through the teenage years — including kids with special health-care needs.
Beyond the treatments a general dentist provides, pediatric dentists train in child behavior management, growth and development, and treating anxious or very young patients.
It takes an accredited residency after dental school — at least 24 months by CODA's accreditation floor.
What is a pediatric dentist?
A pediatric dentist is a dentist who has specialized in treating children.
The clinical work overlaps with general dentistry — exams, cleanings, fillings, sealants — but the specialty is defined by the patients: infants, children, teenagers, and patients with special needs, whose care requires different skills and approaches.
That means training in child psychology and behavior guidance, growth and development, and techniques (including sedation where appropriate) for treating young or anxious patients safely and calmly.
Where a general dentist may see children, a pediatric dentist is built around them.
What does a pediatric dentist do day to day?
The day is general dentistry adapted for kids: exams and cleanings, cavity treatment and fillings, sealants and fluoride, and monitoring how teeth and jaws are developing.
Threaded through all of it is behavior management — helping frightened or wiggly children through a visit, and coaching parents on prevention and habits.
Pediatric dentists also handle early orthodontic assessment and referrals, manage dental trauma in active kids, and provide sedation or hospital dentistry for extensive treatment or patients who can't tolerate the chair.
Much of the practice is built on reassurance and parent trust.
Pediatric dentist vs. general dentist
Many general dentists happily treat children, so for routine care either can be a fine choice.
The pediatric specialist's edge shows with the harder situations: very young children, significant dental anxiety, special-needs patients, extensive treatment needing sedation, and complex behavior management.
Parents often choose a pediatric dentist for the child-focused environment and expertise, and general dentists refer children they'd rather a specialist handle.
It's less a hard line than a matter of complexity and comfort.
How you become a pediatric dentist
The path is dental school plus a pediatric residency.
First you become a dentist — a bachelor's degree, four years of dental school for a DDS or DMD, and licensure.
Then you complete a pediatric dentistry residency accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), whose standard sets a floor of at least 24 months of full-time training, covering behavior guidance, sedation, growth and development, and special-needs care — see what the residency itself requires for the CODA specifics.
Board certification comes from the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry (ABPD) — a voluntary step, not a license.
Pediatric dentistry has higher job volume than most specialties and strong demand from group and DSO practices, which makes it one of the more accessible specialty markets to enter.
See the step-by-step guide to how to become a pediatric dentist.
How much does a pediatric dentist earn?
There's no pediatric-dentistry-specific federal wage figure — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics groups the role under "Dentists, all other specialists" (SOC 29-1029), whose median is about $224,990 per year (OEWS, May 2025), a category that also includes endodontists and periodontists.
Salary aggregators put pediatric dentists in a broadly similar range, but their estimates vary widely.
Ownership, region, practice setting, and case volume drive the number, and many pediatric dentists own or partner in practices, so real earnings blend clinical pay and practice profit.
Treat any figure as directional and check current listings; to browse roles, see pediatric dentist jobs.
The ADA Health Policy Institute does survey pediatric dentists as their own group: its 2025 private-practice median, quartiles and seven-year series are on the pediatric dentist salary page.
Pediatric-dentist pay figures are directional