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Dentists, General

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · SOC 29-1021

3.1% AI Exposure — Medium
$170,950
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
5,300
Proj. Annual Openings
124,390
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+2%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
97/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 29-1021 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
3.1%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
66/100
High friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$170,950
H-1B offered wage $180,000; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
5,300
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +4.1%.
Observed/proxy demand
984
FY2025 certified LCAs; 16,721 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Critical ThinkingJudgment and Decision MakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeaking
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure3.1%
AI Resiliency97/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure5.4%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

29.1%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic3.1%
AI capability · OpenAI25%
AI ability · AIOE59.3%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne0.4%

AI could do ~25% of this role but only ~3.1% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Critical Thinking
2.Judgment and Decision Making
3.Reading Comprehension
4.Active Listening
5.Speaking

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

9,699
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
984
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$180,000
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#55 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care.

Common titles: Dental Surgery Doctor (DDS), Dentist, Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), Family Dentist, General Dentist

Representative Tasks

  • Use masks, gloves, and safety glasses to protect patients and self from infectious diseases.
  • Examine teeth, gums, and related tissues, using dental instruments, x-rays, or other diagnostic equipment, to evaluate dental health, diagnose diseases or abnormalities, and plan appropriate treatments.
  • Administer anesthetics to limit the amount of pain experienced by patients during procedures.
  • Use dental air turbines, hand instruments, dental appliances, or surgical implements.
  • Formulate plan of treatment for patient's teeth and mouth tissue.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Protect patients or staff members using safety equipment.
  • Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
  • Examine mouth, teeth, gums, or related facial structures.
  • Operate diagnostic imaging equipment.
  • Administer anesthetics or sedatives to control pain.

Tools & Technologies

eClinicalWorks EHR software · hotHenry Schein Dentrix · hotMicrosoft Excel · hotMicrosoft Office software · hotAlphaDentWeb browser softwareWindent SQL

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
2.6%
Avg AI Exposure
14
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 29-1021: 2019 — employment: 110,730, median wage: $155,600; 2020 — employment: 95,920, median wage: $158,940; 2021 — employment: 108,680, median wage: $160,370; 2022 — employment: 120,740, median wage: $155,040; 2023 — employment: 121,640, median wage: $166,300; 2025 — employment: 124,390, median wage: $170,950.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure3.1%5.4%
OutlookBright ↗62% Bright
Median Salary$170,950N/A
AI Resiliency97/100N/A