Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many orthodontics/orthodontology graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Graduate Certificate	172
Master’s Degree	122
Doctor’s Degree	1

What Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to orthodontics/orthodontology were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Orthodontics/Orthodontology Majors

Orthodontics/Orthodontology majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• 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.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• 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.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Skills for Orthodontics/Orthodontology Majors

When studying orthodontics/orthodontology, 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.
• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Orthodontics/Orthodontology Majors

Orthodontics/Orthodontology majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• 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.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• 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.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Can You Do With a Major?

People with a orthodontics/orthodontology degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Orthodontists	18.2%	$208,000

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

The median salary for someone in a career related to orthodontics/orthodontology is $225,760. 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 orthodontics/orthodontology require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for orthodontics/orthodontology careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	7.7%
Post-Doctoral Training	93.4%

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	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	23	0
Post-Master’s	30	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	2	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 orthodontics/orthodontology grad is $225,760 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 466% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $3,717,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to orthodontics/orthodontology.

Major	Number of Grads
General Dental Clinical Sciences	382
Advanced General Dentistry	189
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.