Dentist — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons · Prosthodontists · Orthodontists · Dental Assistants · Pediatric Surgeons · Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric · Dental Hygienists · Dermatologists
In the official classification#
Dentists, General
Fit with this page: same job
Job Zone 5: extensive preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 29-1021.00 (Dentists, General). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- Judgment and Decision MakingVery important
- Social PerceptivenessVery important
- Service OrientationVery important
- Complex Problem SolvingVery important
- CoordinationVery important
- Time ManagementVery important
- Management of Personnel ResourcesVery important
- PersuasionVery important
Knowledge
- Medicine and DentistryExtremely important
- Customer and Personal ServiceVery important
- BiologyVery important
- Administration and ManagementVery important
- English LanguageVery important
- ChemistryVery important
Work activities
- Performing for or Working Directly with the PublicExtremely important
- Assisting and Caring for OthersExtremely important
- Getting InformationVery important
- Making Decisions and Solving ProblemsVery important
- Documenting/Recording InformationVery important
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal RelationshipsVery important
Abilities
- Finger DexterityVery important
- Near VisionVery important
- Problem SensitivityVery important
- Deductive ReasoningVery important
- Inductive ReasoningVery important
- Arm-Hand SteadinessVery important
Essential skills
- Critical ThinkingVery important
- Reading ComprehensionVery important
- Active ListeningVery important
- SpeakingVery important
- Active LearningVery important
Tasks O*NET proposes to add#
O*NET's analysts propose new or reworded task statements for future data collection, drawing on what surveyed workers write in, research into new technologies and professional associations. They are candidates, not yet part of the rated task list, and they say nothing about whether automation is involved. This site does not fold them into its own task judgements.
- Place or restore dental implants.New task · 2026-08 · reported by surveyed workers · O*NET 31.0
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 6 task judgements are for: 4 backed by a verified event, 2 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.