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Kraena Pre-Health
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Diagnose & Treat

Pediatric Dentist

Dentistry for children and special-needs patients — high pay, family hours, and real behaviour management.

Years after high school

10-11

Degree

DDS or DMD plus specialty certificate

Entrance exam

DAT

Median pay

$224,990 is the BLS May 2025 median for 'dentists, all other specialists.' BLS does not publish a pediatric-dentist-only median.

What the job is actually like

Fast-moving days of exams, sealants, fillings, and extractions on patients who may be crying, wriggling, or terrified — plus sedation and operating-room cases for children who cannot tolerate treatment awake. You manage the parent as much as the child.

The path

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

Good fit if

  • You genuinely like children, not just the idea of treating them
  • You are patient with fear and can defuse it
  • You want strong pay with family-friendly hours

Think twice if

  • Constant behaviour management would exhaust you
  • Anxious or difficult parents would frustrate you
  • Sedation risk and responsibility would weigh on you

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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.