Dentist
Dentists examine, diagnose and treat problems with teeth, gums and mouths, from a routine check-up to a root canal.
- Median salary
- $168,100
4.1%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 14,200
3.6%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +35.8%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Low
- 3 out of 10
- Average hours
- 41/wk
+1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- In shortage
national
- Dentists work in private practices, public dental clinics, hospitals and community health services, and some travel to rural towns on locum contracts.
- A dental assistant or hygienist supports the clinical work, but the dentist diagnoses the problem, performs the procedure and carries the legal responsibility for it.
- You need a dental degree and registration with the Dental Board of Australia before you can treat a patient.
How much do dentists earn?
The median full-time salary for a dentist is $168,100 per annum, before tax, up $35,200 since 2018.
What a dentist earns is tied to how the practice charges. Associates are usually paid a fixed salary or a percentage of the billings they generate, while owners keep what is left after rent, staff wages, lab fees and equipment. Ask whether a percentage is worked out before or after lab fees, and whether the practice has a set fee schedule or charges whatever each patient's health fund will cover.
What does a dentist do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Working through a booked list of check-ups, fillings and root canals, usually with a dental assistant passing instruments beside you
- Talking a nervous patient through what the drill will feel like before you start, because plenty of people arrive expecting the worst
- Taking and reading X-rays and intraoral scans to work out whether a tooth needs a filling, a root canal or to come out
- Holding a bent-forward position over the chair for hours, which shows up later as neck, shoulder and hand problems
- Sterilising instruments between patients and keeping the infection control records the practice has to be able to produce
What skills do dentists need?
Employers look for clinical assessment and treatment, patient care and support, infection control and hygiene, backed by dental drill fluency and strong written communication.
Specialist skills
- Clinical assessment and treatment
- Patient care and support
- Infection control and hygiene
- Regulatory compliance
- Hand and power tool work
Software and tools
- dental drill
- intraoral camera
- X-ray equipment
- ultrasonic scaler
- practice management software
General skills
- Written communication
- Attention to detail
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 14,200 people work as dentists in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 35.8% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a dentist?
Here's the path most dentists take, step by step.
- 1Finish Year 12 with the right subjects
Chemistry is usually required and some universities also want maths or biology, so check the prerequisites for each dental program before you pick subjects. Entry ranks are high, and some schools also use the UCAT.
- 2Complete a dental degree
An undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery or Bachelor of Dental Medicine takes five years of full-time study, with clinical placements in the later years, and graduate-entry programs of about four years are available if you already hold a degree. Much of the early training happens on plastic teeth in a pre-clinical lab before you treat a real patient.
- 3Register with the Dental Board of Australia
You apply through AHPRA with your approved qualification, English language evidence and a criminal history check, and registration is what allows you to treat patients. It is renewed each year and requires continuing professional development, and dentists trained overseas usually sit the Australian Dental Council assessment first.
- 4Work as an associate and build speed
Most new graduates join a practice as an associate, either on a salary or a percentage of billings, and spend the first couple of years getting quicker at routine treatment. Choosing a practice with an experienced principal who will review your work matters more in that period than the headline rate.
- 5Specialise or buy into a practice
Specialist training in orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics or oral and maxillofacial surgery means a further doctorate of three or more years plus specialist registration, and places are few. The other path is ownership: buying into a practice or opening your own, which turns the job into running a small business.
Study routes we have checked
Qualifications that are a recognised way into this role, and what else you need.
- Bachelor of Dental Surgery
A recognised route into this role
Complete a Board-approved professional dentistry programme and satisfy dental registration requirements. Oral-health, hygiene, dental-assistance and dental-technology awards are different routes. This catalogue groups awards: verify the chosen provider, programme and intake; the family-level link is not confirmation that every offering is approved.
- Doctor of Dental Medicine
A recognised route into this role
Complete a Board-approved professional dentistry programme and satisfy dental registration requirements before practising. The course alone does not confer registration. This catalogue groups awards: verify the chosen provider, programme and intake; the family-level link is not confirmation that every offering is approved.
Ready to apply as a dentist?
Whether you're working toward becoming a dentist or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a dentist move to?
Moving into Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $65,900 a year more on average.
- Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeonRecorded move$234,000+$65,900
- ProsthodontistRecorded move$182,000+$13,900
- OrthodontistRecorded move$166,400−$1,700
- EndodontistRecorded move$166,400−$1,700
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon A dentist brings oral diagnosis and treatment skills, but needs specialist surgical training and medical qualifications to practise as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.Known move | +$65,900 | 45% | requalify |
Prosthodontist A dentist brings restorative and prosthetic dental skills, but requires specialist prosthodontic training to practise as a prosthodontist.Known move | +$13,900 | 57% | requalify |
Orthodontist A dentist brings patient assessment and dental treatment skills, but requires specialist orthodontic training to practise as an orthodontist.Known move | −$1,700 | 41% | requalify |
Endodontist A dentist brings root canal and pulp diagnosis skills, but requires specialist endodontic training to practise as an endodontist.Known move | −$1,700 | 57% | requalify |
Periodontist A dentist brings gum disease and oral health skills, but requires specialist periodontal training to practise as a periodontist.Known move | −$1,700 | 44% | requalify |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a dentist?
The typical dentist is 39 years old; 51% are men, 48% work full-time, and full-timers average 41 hours a week.
- 39
- Median age
- 49%
- Female share
- 48%
- Full-time
- +1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a dentist?
Your day is a booked list of patients, one after another, mostly routine check-ups and fillings with an emergency squeezed in somewhere. You will spend as much time talking as drilling, explaining what the X-ray shows, what treatment costs and what happens if the patient waits. The physical demand is real: hours bent over a chair in a small field of view, hands held steady in a wet mouth. If you like solving a problem with your hands and finishing the day with it fixed, this work holds up well; if you need to move around or find repetitive precision draining, the chair will wear you down.
What people like
- Someone walks out of pain. An aching patient arrives miserable and leaves comfortable, often within a single appointment, and that result came from your hands.
- You see your work hold up. A filling you placed years ago, a crown still seated properly: the recall appointment brings feedback on your own work twice a year.
- Hours you can plan around. Most practices keep regular weekday hours, and part-time and locum arrangements are common, so the schedule is more predictable than hospital medicine.
- A choice of settings. Private practice, a public clinic, a hospital dental unit or a rural locum circuit all use your qualification, and you can move between them without retraining.
What people find hard
- The posture takes a toll. Neck, shoulder, back and hand problems are common among dentists, and they build up over years, not overnight.
- Patients who arrive frightened or furious. Plenty of people dread dental visits, and some bring fear, embarrassment or anger into the chair with them. You keep the appointment moving without adding to it.
- Talking about money. You are often the person who tells someone the treatment they need costs more than they can pay, then works out what can safely wait.
- Running behind. One complex extraction or a patient who needs extra reassurance pushes the whole list late, and you carry that into the next appointment.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ dentists?
Health Care and Social Assistance employs the largest share of dentists.
Top employing industries
- 1Health Care and Social Assistance
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 70% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 25.4% | |
| Year 12 or below | 1.3% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 0.8% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 0.5% |
Will AI replace dentists?
Low exposure. Unlikely. AI will change some of the work around this job, not the job itself.
AI has limited reach into dentistry: the examination and the treatment happen inside a patient's mouth, where nothing holds still and a trained hand is doing the work. Software already helps in specific places, with algorithms flagging possible decay on radiographs, intraoral scanners and milling machines producing same-day crowns, and practice systems handling recalls and health fund claims. If you are starting now, get confident reading imaging and questioning what the software suggests, because spotting when the algorithm has it wrong is the skill that will keep its value.
How a typical week splits
- Practice records, claims and recall lists25% of the week
Practice software logs treatment, lodges health fund claims and sends recall reminders with little input, work that once filled an afternoon.
- Reading X-rays and intraoral scans to plan treatment15% of the week
Detection software can point to a suspicious shadow on a radiograph, but you decide whether to watch it or open the tooth.
- Cutting and restoring teeth by hand30% of the week
Fillings, crowns and root canals come down to feel, moisture control and a patient who shifts in the chair, none of which a machine handles well today.
- Explaining treatment, cost and prevention to patients30% of the week
People want the options from the person doing the work, particularly when the news is expensive or frightening.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a dentist
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a dentist earn in Australia?
The median is $168,100 per year before tax for full-time work. An associate paid a percentage of billings can earn more in a busy practice than one on a fixed salary, while owners cover rent, staff and equipment out of what the practice takes.
How do you become a dentist?
You complete a five-year dental degree, or a four-year graduate-entry program if you already hold a degree, then register with the Dental Board of Australia through AHPRA. Registration is what lets you treat patients, so the qualification on its own is not enough.
Are dentists in demand in Australia?
Dentists are currently in shortage nationally, and employment is projected to grow 35.8% over the decade to 2035. Practices keep hiring, so a registered graduate can generally find an associate position, though the location and the type of practice affect how quickly your appointment book fills.
Will AI replace dentists?
Not in any near term: the examination and the treatment happen inside a patient's mouth, and no current tool can sit a nervous patient upright, keep the field dry or cut a cavity margin by feel. What is changing is the supporting work, with software reading scans, flagging possible decay and chasing recalls, which pushes the job towards checking the machine's suggestions. Ask a practice which clinical software it uses, because the ones that invest in it tend to run more smoothly.
What can a dentist move into later in their career?
Specialising is the main path, with orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics and prosthodontics each needing a further doctorate and specialist registration, while oral and maxillofacial surgery also requires a medical degree and pays $65,900 more. Many dentists instead buy into or open their own practice, which can lift earnings but brings staff, rent, equipment finance and the responsibility of running a business.
Do dentists work weekends and evenings?
Most work regular weekday hours, but plenty of practices open on Saturdays or stay late one or two evenings to suit patients who work. Part-time and locum arrangements are common, so a four-day week or school hours is often negotiable once you have experience and a track record.
Specialisations
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