Orthodontics/Orthodontology

Types of Degrees Orthodontics/Orthodontology 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	127
Doctor’s Degree	1

What Orthodontics/Orthodontology Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to orthodontics/orthodontology and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

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.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

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:

• 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

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.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Orthodontics/Orthodontology 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

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Orthodontics/Orthodontology?

The major attracts more women than men. About 59% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of orthodontics/orthodontology majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	24
Black or African American	8
Hispanic or Latino	9
White	60
International Students	11
Other Races/Ethnicities	15

Geographic Diversity

Orthodontics/Orthodontology appeals to people across the globe. About 8.7% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Orthodontics/Orthodontology

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.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to orthodontics/orthodontology have obtained the following education levels.

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 Orthodontics/Orthodontology 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	5	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	23	0
Post-Master’s	31	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Orthodontics/Orthodontology

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

Major	Number of Grads
General Dental Clinical Sciences	386
Advanced General Dentistry	224
Oral Biology & Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology	167
Pediatric Dentistry/Pedodontics	156
Endodontics/Endodontology	137
Other Advanced/Graduate Dentistry & Oral Sciences	130
Periodontics/Periodontology	119
Prosthodontics/Prosthodontology	97
Dental Public Health & Education	88
Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery	39
Implantology/Implant Dentistry	2
Dental Materials	0

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.