Dentists top graduate salary survey again

Dentists have again topped the list as the highest paid graduates of any profession. In an article published in Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper quoting What Jobs Pay 2003- 2004 (by Rodney Stinson), it stated that graduate dentists typically earned a salary of $1192 per week. Chiropractors and osteopaths were next at $1032 while the average GP was third with $1026 per week.

Table 1. Top earning graduate occupations

Salaries per week. Number in brackets denotes ranking.
Source: What Jobs Pay 2003-2004 by Rodney Stinson

Legal professionals ranked sixth on graduation and quickly moved into the number two position when surveyed 10 and 20 years post-graduation. Dentists conversely, were ranked number five amongst the professions ten years after graduating and had further slipped to number eight 20 years post-graduation.

While surveys such as this do not appear to reflect what the average self-employed private-practitioner in a busy, well managed operation would earn, to students considering their options for the future, dentistry appears to be a good way to make a living. Whether this, in turn, attracts ideal candidates to the profession remains to be seen.