Data dictionary & source registry
Every figure on DentalSalary.com is traceable to a documented source with a stated reference period and known limitations. This page is the registry analysts, journalists, and dental professionals can cite. Verified wage data reflects BLS OEWS May 2025.
Source registry
Sources are listed in order of authority — federal survey data first, then the modeled layer we use only to fill gaps, then the taxonomy authorities we use for naming. Each entry states exactly what it covers and, crucially, what it does not.
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
VerifiedVerified national, state, and metropolitan wage distributions (10th/25th/median/75th/90th percentiles, mean) and employment counts for dental occupations with a clean SOC series.
- Reference period:
- May 2025
- Update cadence:
- Semi-annual (May & November reference periods; published ~annually).
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- www.bls.gov
- Measures employed wage-and-salary workers only — excludes self-employed practice owners, whose income is typically higher and structured differently.
- Wages above the BLS top-code are reported as a floor ($X+), not a precise midpoint.
- Small occupations are frequently suppressed or top-coded at the state/metro level; suppressed cells are omitted, never estimated into a page.
- Does not separately capture production, collections, bonus, or benefit compensation.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)
VerifiedCareer-outlook context (job duties, entry requirements, and projected employment change) linked per occupation.
- Reference period:
- Current OOH edition
- Update cadence:
- Annual.
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- www.bls.gov
- Projections are modeled estimates of future change, not guarantees.
- OOH groups some dental specialties into broader categories; we link out rather than restate a specialty-specific projection BLS does not publish.
DentalSalary modeled local estimates
ModeledModeled state/metro figures for role×location cells BLS does not publish, derived as the verified national median × a documented wage index (itself derived from published local BLS dental wages).
- Reference period:
- May 2025 baseline
- Update cadence:
- Recomputed on each data refresh.
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- /how-it-works
- A modeled estimate, always labeled 'Modeled estimate' — never presented as a BLS survey value.
- Used only to fill gaps; where BLS publishes the cell, the published figure is shown instead.
- The wage index reflects relative labor cost, not consumer cost of living.
OEWS 'Dentists, All Other Specialists' (SOC 29-1029)
AggregateAggregate context for dental specialties BLS does not isolate (endodontists, periodontists, oral pathologists, oral & maxillofacial radiologists, public-health dentists, and others).
- Reference period:
- May 2025
- Update cadence:
- Semi-annual.
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- www.bls.gov
- A mixed bucket of several specialties — it does NOT measure any single specialty precisely, and is shown only as clearly-labeled context.
- Individual specialty pay can sit well above or below the bucket median.
Community compensation submissions
AggregateDe-identified, reviewed, threshold-gated aggregates used to benchmark roles where public data is insufficient (e.g. specialties in the 29-1029 bucket).
- Reference period:
- Rolling
- Update cadence:
- Continuous; published only above a minimum sample threshold.
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- /submit-salary
- Self-reported and self-selected; shown only as an aggregate above a minimum count, never as an individual record.
- Not a probability sample — directional, not authoritative.
Recognized dental specialties
TaxonomyAuthoritative taxonomy of the 12 recognized dental specialties, used for naming and page structure — not a compensation source.
- Reference period:
- Current
- Update cadence:
- As recognized.
- Last refreshed:
- 2026-06-10
- Reference:
- ncrdscb.ada.org
- Taxonomy only — carries no wage data.
Data dictionary
Precise definitions of every term and unit we display, and how each is calculated. Where a definition depends on a source, it is linked back to the registry above.
| Term | Definition | Unit / calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Median (P50) annual wage | The midpoint wage: half of workers in the occupation earn more, half earn less. Preferred over the mean because it is not skewed by very high earners. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | USD / year Read directly from BLS OEWS (A_MEDIAN) where published. |
| Mean (average) annual wage | The arithmetic average wage. Shown alongside the median but treated as secondary because it is pulled upward by top earners. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | USD / year |
| Percentiles (P10, P25, P75, P90) | The wage below which that share of workers earn — e.g. P90 means 90% earn less. Together they describe the spread of pay, not just the midpoint. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | USD / year |
| Hourly median wage | The median hourly wage as published by BLS, where an occupation is commonly paid hourly. Not derived by dividing an annual figure by assumed hours. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | USD / hour |
| Employment | The estimated number of workers employed in the occupation nationally, as counted by the OEWS survey. Excludes the self-employed. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | workers |
| Top-coded value ($X+) | A wage at or above the BLS reporting ceiling. BLS does not publish a precise figure above the cap, so we show it as a verified floor, never a midpoint. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | USD |
| Verified · BLS | A figure read directly from a BLS OEWS published cell for that exact role and geography. — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | — |
| Modeled estimate | A figure BLS does not publish for that role×location, derived from the verified national median times a documented wage index. Always labeled as modeled. — DentalSalary.com | modeled_median = verified_national_median × wage_index(location) |
| Wage index | A location's dental-wage level relative to the national = 1.00, derived from the BLS dental wages actually published there (mean of local/national across dentist, hygienist, assistant). A labor-cost measure, not consumer cost of living. — DentalSalary.com | mean over published core roles of local_median / national_median |
| Production pay | Compensation as a percentage of the dollar value of dentistry a provider performs. Not captured by BLS wage data, so a producing dentist's real earnings can exceed the published wage. | — |
| Collections pay | Compensation as a percentage of money the practice actually collects (after insurance write-offs and unpaid balances) — a lower-risk base than production for the payer. | — |
| Daily guarantee | A minimum per-clinical-day amount an associate is paid regardless of production; often combined with a production percentage as 'the greater of'. | USD / day |
| Owner vs. employee income | Practice-owner income (profit distributions) is not the same as an employee wage and is not measured by OEWS. We never present practice revenue or profit as a salary figure. | — |
Verification
Our stored national figures are cross-checked against the live BLS Public Data API — every verified national median and employment count, and all 233 verified state medians, are confirmed to match the authoritative source exactly (top-coded cells included) before release. When the underlying BLS data updates, the figures are re-imported and re-verified rather than edited by hand.
How to cite our data
Attribute verified figures to their originating source, not to us: e.g. “U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, via DentalSalary.com.” Modeled estimates should be described as such. For the full modeling method, see how it works and data sources.
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