What is the Salary for Pediatric Dentistry?
Pediatric dentists treat their patients from infancy through their teen years. To do so, they must have at least two years of residency specifically devoted to pediatric dentistry in addition to their four years of dental school. The additional training is rewarded with slightly higher compensation than general dentists, who already rank among the highest-paid professionals in the United States.
Other People Are Reading
-
Private Practices
-
Most pediatric dentists work in private practices and set their own rates, so instead of a salary, it is more accurate to talk about their average annual compensation. Median net income for pediatric dentists in 2000 was $182,000, according to The Reach Online, an association devoted to recruiting minority dentists. Private practitioners in the early years of starting their practice should keep in mind, however, that it takes several years to bring their earnings up to average rates. Earnings for pediatric dentists, as in other dentistry professions, are also higher on the East and West Coasts and in urban areas. Top earners in established practice can expect to earn several hundred thousand dollars per year, according to pediatric dentist and blogger Dr. Dean Brandon.
Salaried Denitists
-
While they are in the minority, some pediatric dentists do earn annual salaries working for academic institutions or as salaried associates with other dentists' practices. Salaried associates in private practices are generally starting their careers and trying to accumulate experience to eventually start their own practices, according to Brandon. Pediatric dentists should make slightly more than the $130,000 median salary for all salaried dentists reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, especially because demand for pediatric dentists is rising, Brandon says. The average advertised salary for pediatric dentist jobs in 2010 was $142,000 with some salaries reaching as high as $300,000, according to Salary.com.
-
Salary During Residency
-
The lowest-earning years of a pediatric dentist's career will be the two years of residency, during which dentists are also struggling to start paying off the tens of thousands of dollars of debt they accumulated in medical school. But even though these two years are considered part of a dentists' training, most residency programs pay salaries that would be considered competitive in any other field. The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, for example, paid its first-year pediatric dentistry residents $46,000 in 2009 and 2010. Its second-year residents were paid $47,000, and all residents were provided health insurance, vacation time and other benefits.
Other Considerations
-
Becoming a pediatric dentist requires at least six years of schooling beyond an undergraduate degree, meaning dentists are still in school while their peers are out earning an income. While salaries for the profession eventually reach the highest ranges of professional salaries in the United States, pediatric dentists start their professions with as much as $100,000 in debt to pay off, according to Brandon.
-
References
- Photo Credit Schneidezähne für den Zahnarzt? image by Marem from Fotolia.com
