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Dentists, General vs Dental Assistants

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Dentists, General and Dental Assistants on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Dentists, General Dental Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$172,790
$47,300
Employment · BLS OEWS
113,490
375,430
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
9th pct
13th pct

At a glance

Dimension Dentists, General Dental Assistants
Median pay $172,790 $47,300
Employment 113,490 375,430
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.1%) About average (+6.4%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 3,900 52,900
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree). Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 9th pct Low · 13th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 18th pct · 15% of tasks 19th pct · 16% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (77.1%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Medicine and Dentistry, Problem Sensitivity, Finger Dexterity, Customer and Personal Service, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Near Vision, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Monitoring, Complex Problem Solving, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Control Precision, Speech Clarity, English Language, Active Learning, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Manual Dexterity, Speech Recognition, Coordination, Category Flexibility, Written Expression.

Specific to Dentists, General

  • Time Management
  • Science
  • Persuasion
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Biology
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Psychology

Specific to Dental Assistants

  • Administration and Management
  • Administrative
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Instructing
  • Production and Processing
  • Writing
  • Time Sharing

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Internet browser software .

Specific to Dentists, General

    Specific to Dental Assistants

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Dentists, General or Dental Assistants — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

    More comparisons

    Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

    Sources for this page

    Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

    Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

    Cite this page
    Plain

    Singulariki. "Dentists, General vs Dental Assistants." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/dentists-general-vs-dental-assistants

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Dentists, General vs Dental Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/dentists-general-vs-dental-assistants

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-dentists-general-vs-dental-assistants,
  title  = {Dentists, General vs Dental Assistants},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/dentists-general-vs-dental-assistants}
}

    Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.