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Healthcare · Helping & Teaching

Dentist: what the job actually is

Diagnosing and treating problems in teeth, gums and mouths, and, as a general dentist, usually running the practice you do it in.

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Dentist: quick facts

Dentist salary in Ontario: the median pay is $104,000 a year, according to Job Bank (reference period 2021). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$104,000 a year
Pay range (low to high)
$38,308 to $210,000 a year
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
10,150
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31110. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Fixing, replacing and preventing problems in teeth and gums, with your hands, in a very small space, on a person who is awake and a bit anxious.
  • Job Bank says the majority of dentists are self-employed in dental offices. So for many dentists the job is also running a small clinic: staff, supplies, scheduling and money.
  • A lot of the work is routine and preventive: examinations, fillings, advice. The harder cases are the ones where something has gone wrong, and the patient is in pain.
  • You work with a team. Hygienists, assistants and receptionists are the difference between a good day and a bad one, and managing them is part of the job.
  • There are specialities. Job Bank lists oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists and prosthodontists, each of which needs further training after the dental degree.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:00 — Huddle with the team: who is coming in, who is nervous, who needs longer than their slot.
  2. 8:20 — A routine filling. Numb it, drill, place, shape. Forty minutes of steady hands and quiet talk.
  3. 9:30 — Examination of a new patient. You find something that needs treatment and explain it without scaring them.
  4. 10:30 — A child who has decided they will not open their mouth. You work out whether the answer is patience or a different appointment.
  5. 12:00 — Lunch, interrupted by a phone call about someone's swollen face.
  6. 13:00 — The emergency fits into the afternoon, and the afternoon moves.
  7. 14:30 — A longer procedure where your back is bent for an hour, and your neck notices.
  8. 16:00 — Look at a quote for a piece of equipment and a staffing question. This is the business half of the job.
  9. 16:45 — Write up the notes. Clinical notes are legal records.
  10. 17:30 — Home. You leave other people's pain at work, but you take your shoulders with you.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like fine hand work and can hold steady in a small space for a long time.
  • You can calm a nervous person, and you do not mind that most people would rather not be in your chair.
  • You like both the clinical side and the idea of running a small business.
  • You like it when a problem has an answer you can fix, see and check.
  • You can take a long road to the first real paycheque if it ends somewhere you want to be.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want years more school. Job Bank asks for pre-dentistry university studies and then a recognised dental programme, and the programmes are hard to get into.
  • Debt scares you. Years of university tuition come before your first dentist's pay, so look up the cost of each programme yourself before you commit.
  • You get tense about repetitive physical strain. Working bent over a patient's mouth for years is a body problem, not a metaphor.
  • You dislike running a business. Many dentists are self-employed, which means payroll, rent and supplies on top of patients.
  • You dislike that many patients arrive afraid or in pain, and that dental work is something most of them would rather avoid.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Do university before dentistry

    Job Bank says two to four years of pre-dentistry university studies, then a degree from a recognised dental programme. Each dental school sets its own entry requirements, so read them on the school's own page before choosing your undergraduate courses.

  2. Get into a dental programme

    Admission is competitive and the schools publish their own requirements. We have not verified the number of Ontario programmes or places and are not stating them; look at the Ontario universities' information site and the schools themselves.

  3. Earn NDEB certification

    The National Dental Examining Board of Canada runs entry-to-practice certification for graduates of programmes recognised by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of Canada. Its main component for those graduates is the Virtual OSCE.

  4. Register with the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario

    To practise you need a certificate of registration from the RCDSO. Its page lists your NDEB certificate, language ability and completion of its Jurisprudence and Ethics Course among the requirements. Fees change, so check its page when you apply.

  5. Specialise only if you want to

    Job Bank lists further training of three years for orthodontists and prosthodontists, and four to seven years for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. That is a second long road on top of the first.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Dentist requirements in Ontario · Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario — Become a dentist · National Dental Examining Board of Canada

The money

Dentist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$38,308
Low (a year)
$104,000
Median (a year)
$210,000
High (a year)

Ontario, NOC 31110. Reference period 2021, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth. Job Bank reports this one by the year rather than by the hour, because the income is commission and the hours behind it are nothing like fixed.

Source: Job Bank — Dentist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Increased popularity of cosmetic, aesthetic and orthodontic procedures may support employment opportunities in this occupation
  • The aging population is expected to increase the demand for geriatric dentistry including restorative and more complex dental work
  • Access to private insurance and workplace insurance plans, which cover the majority of spending on dental services, may support more routine dental visits
  • Public-sector investments in affordable dental care should support job prospects

Who hires for it

  • The majority of dentists are self-employed in dental offices
10,150
people work in this job in Ontario
43%
are women (48% across all jobs)
83%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Dentists job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31110). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the senior sciences and keep your marks up. Entry to the dental programmes is competitive, and your undergraduate marks come first.
  • Ask the guidance office whether any local dental office takes a student for a job-shadow. Say you are researching the career, which is true.
  • Volunteer hours count toward your diploma, and a health setting that puts you around patients shows you whether you like people in discomfort.
  • Try something that needs small, steady hand work, such as model building, drawing in fine detail or sewing, and see if you enjoy it for an hour.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Ask a dental office one question and read one page

About 60 minutes
  1. Phone or visit a dental office and ask the receptionist: "I am researching dentistry as a career. Is there a dentist who would answer one question by email about what the work is like?" Do not ask for treatment or advice about your own teeth.
  2. Read the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario's page on becoming a dentist, including the NDEB step.
  3. Watch a day-in-the-life video from a working dentist. Notice how much of it is the business and the team rather than teeth.
  4. Look up the entry requirements for one dental programme in Canada on its own site, and write down what you would need to do in Grade 12 and first year to be a candidate.

What it tells you. If the small hand work, the long study and the business side all sounded like a trade you would take, this is worth a real conversation with a guidance counsellor and a dentist. If you wanted the helping but not the years, the loans or the clinic management, dental hygiene is a shorter route into the same field.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What do you spend the most time on that you did not expect when you were studying?”
  2. “How much of your week is the business rather than patients?”
  3. “How hard was getting into a programme, and what would you do differently?”
  4. “What does your back and neck feel like after years of this?”
  5. “How did you pay for it, and how long did it take to feel comfortable about that?”
  6. “What kind of dentist would you not recommend this to?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, and it is the usual way. Job Bank says most dentists are self-employed in dental offices. That is a real small business with staff, equipment, rent and regulation, and how it is financed and run is something to ask a working dentist, not something to take from a web page.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a dentist make in Ontario?

The median pay for a dentist in Ontario is $104,000 a year, according to Job Bank (reference period 2021, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $38,308 to $210,000 a year. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a dentist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a dentist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Do university before dentistry; Get into a dental programme; Earn NDEB certification.

Where does a dentist work in Ontario?

The majority of dentists are self-employed in dental offices. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a dentist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 10,150 people working in this job in Ontario. 43% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.