Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many advanced general dentistry graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Graduate Certificate	159
Master’s Degree	30

What Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, advanced general dentistry majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Advanced General Dentistry Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in advanced general dentistry should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

Skills for Advanced General Dentistry Majors

When studying advanced general dentistry, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Advanced General Dentistry Majors

A major in advanced general dentistry will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with advanced general dentistry:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Dentists, General	19.4%	$151,850

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Advanced General Dentistry majors often go into careers with median salaries of $175,840. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some careers associated with advanced general dentistry require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for advanced general dentistry careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Some College Courses	7.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	5.7%
Master’s Degree	5.8%
Doctoral Degree	82.1%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	2	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	5	0
Post-Master’s	17	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a advanced general dentistry grad is $175,840 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 341% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $2,718,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to advanced general dentistry.

Major	Number of Grads
General Dental Clinical Sciences	382
Orthodontics/Orthodontology	295
Pediatric Dentistry/Pedodontics	148
Oral Biology & Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology	140
Periodontics/Periodontology	139
Endodontics/Endodontology	131
Other Advanced/Graduate Dentistry & Oral Sciences	124
Dental Public Health & Education	118
Prosthodontics/Prosthodontology	92
Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery	35
Implantology/Implant Dentistry	2
Dental Materials	1

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.