Average Pay

• In its data on dentists, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the 2010 mean annual wage for the profession at $158,770. The average pay per hour for dentists that year was $76.33. Therefore, a dentist may earn an average wage of $3,053 per week based on a 40-hour workweek. The bureau notes that the American Dental Association indicates that three out of four dentists work in private practice. As a result, most dentists likely have significant control over the number of hours they work per week.
  
  

Full Time Dentists

• The amount of experience dentists have may affect the number of hours per week that they work. The BLS indicates that full time dentists generally work 35 to 40 hours per week. However, new dentists who are trying to get their practices off the ground may work many more hours. The bureau lists California and Texas among states with the highest employment levels for dentists. California dentists earned a mean hourly wage of $70.56 in 2010. A full time California dentist who works 40 hours each week may earn average weekly pay of $2,822. A full time Texas dentist may earn significantly higher weekly pay at $3,153, since the average hourly pay in Texas was $78.84 in 2010.
  
  

Top-Paying States

• New Hampshire and North Dakota are among the top paying states for dentists and labor statistics show hourly wages in those states in 2010 were $107.14 and $99.91, respectively. Therefore, a full time New Hampshire dentist may earn $4,285 per week, and full time weekly pay for a North Dakota dentist may come to $3,996. Most dentists work 4 or 5 days each week, according to the BLS.
  
  

Economic Factors

• A dentist could see a sharp decline in weekly pay in a lagging economy. Patients who don't have dental insurance have to pay out of pocket for all of their dental care. The BLS notes that during an economic downturn the demand for dental care slows because fewer people can afford to pay for dental services themselves. In such cases, reduced demand may lead to fewer working hours for dentists and a reduction in their weekly pay.