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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Diagnose & Treat

Orthodontist

Among the highest-paid occupations in the country, with hours most physicians would envy.

Years after high school

10-11

Degree

DDS or DMD plus specialty certificate or master's

Entrance exam

DAT

Median pay

$289,140 national median for orthodontists (BLS, May 2025).

What the job is actually like

Short, high-volume appointments: adjusting appliances, checking progress, starting new cases, and reviewing scans. You see the same patients every few weeks for two years, so relationships build steadily and outcomes are visible.

The path

  1. 014 years undergraduate with science prerequisites
  2. 02DAT examination
  3. 034 years dental school (DDS or DMD)
  4. 042-3 year orthodontic residency, highly competitive
  5. 05State licensure plus specialty credentials

Good fit if

  • You want top-tier earnings without hospital hours or call
  • You like gradual, predictable, visible results
  • You are competitive enough for a very selective residency

Think twice if

  • Doing one narrow thing for a career would bore you
  • The combined debt would keep you up at night
  • You are uneasy about direct-to-consumer aligner competition

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.