"ASPIRING HEALTH CARE providers who are interested in preventing and addressing cavities and other oral health problems often hope to become dentists. These highly trained clinicians take care of everything in and around people’s mouths, including teeth, gums and jaws, and they have doctorates in dentistry.
A career as a dentist typically results in a six-figure annual salary. The median salary for a U.S. dentist in 2018 was $156,240, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; dentists who specialize in fields such as oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontia typically earn salaries of $208,000 or more.
However, getting accepted into dental school is not easy. Only 55.3% of dental school applicants who sought admission to the 66 accredited dental schools in the U.S. for the 2018-19 school year actually enrolled in one that year, according to admission statistics from the American Dental Association." …