# Will AI replace dentists? Updated October 2026 Dentists score 28 of 100 for AI exposure. 50% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 9% today and speed up another 41%. - **9%** AI can do it - **41%** AI helps - **50%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 66% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 20 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 2 of them today, speeds up 8 and leaves 10 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Produce or evaluate dental health educational materials. Drafting educational handouts and evaluating materials suits AI writing. | 75% AI can do it | | Analyze or evaluate dental needs to determine changes or trends in patterns of dental disease. Pattern analysis of patient records and trends suits AI data tools. | 68% AI can do it | | Manage business aspects such as employing or supervising staff or handling paperwork or insurance claims. Claims and paperwork are automatable; staff supervision needs human leadership. | 60% AI helps | | Plan, organize, or maintain dental health programs. AI can draft program plans and schedules; leaders make final calls. | 55% AI helps | | Write prescriptions for antibiotics or other medications. AI can draft prescriptions and check interactions; dentist signs. | 50% AI helps | ## How dentists compare All occupations (923) Healthcare practitioners and technical (89) **Dentists score 28**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 34 for healthcare practitioners and technical. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $170,950 a year, May 2025 People employed 124,390 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +5.7% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Perform periodontal surgery and tooth extraction manually - Administer local anesthetic safely before chairside procedures - Chart every procedure in Dentrix or Eaglesoft PMS - Review digital radiographs in dental digital radiology software - Hold a state dental licence and DEA registration for prescribing - Supervise dental hygienists and front-desk staff directly ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Oral surgeons14 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/oral-surgeons/) - [Prosthodontists16 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/prosthodontists/) - [Dental assistants26 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/dental-assistants/) - [Dental hygienists20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/dental-hygienists/) - [Optometrists27 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/optometrists/) ## Questions about dentists and AI Will dentists be replaced by AI? Partly. About 3 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting patient education handouts and finding disease trends in patient records. Chairside treatment, surgery and face-to-face counseling stay with dentists because they need hands, live judgment and a person in the chair. Will AI take over dentistry? AI can already do 9% of the task time for dentists and speeds up another 41%. People still do 50% of it. The US has 124,390 dentist jobs, with a projected change of +5.7% from 2024 to 2034. Which dentist tasks is AI taking over? Producing dental health education materials and analyzing disease patterns are the most exposed tasks, scoring 75 and 68 out of 100. AI can draft handouts and sort chart data for trends, which cuts the drafting and spreadsheet work done in Microsoft Excel and practice management software. Which dentist tasks stay human? Surgery on the jaw and gums, anesthetic injections and removing diseased tissue stay with dentists, each scoring 3 or 4 out of 100 for AI exposure. These tasks need hands in the mouth, live judgment on tissue and an immediate response to a patient's reaction. How can dentists stay valuable as AI spreads? Keep chairside skills current and document every procedure in Dentrix or EagleSoft. Review every AI-drafted prescription and patient handout before you sign it. Take on supervision of hygienists and front-desk staff, and lead the treatment planning conversation in person. ## Related jobs - [Orthopedic surgeons29 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/orthopedic-surgeons/) - [Urologists34 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/urologists/) - [Anesthesiologists28 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/anesthesiologists/) - [General internal medicine physicians44 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/general-internal-medicine-physicians/) ## Next steps for dentists - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.