Industry group, 6212
Offices of Dentists
1,054,930 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $79,690 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 737 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 42%
- 8%
- 50%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 27% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 32%. Today's estimate: 34%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 14 largest jobs hold 95% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants | 120,490 | 81% | 202 million | $48K |
| Dental Hygienists | 211,560 | 33% | 146 million | $98K |
| Dental Assistants | 354,900 | 17% | 127 million | $48K |
| Receptionists and Information Clerks | 69,930 | 59% | 86 million | $47K |
| Dentists, General | 111,880 | 15% | 36 million | $170K |
| Office Clerks, General | 29,070 | 54% | 33 million | $48K |
| Billing and Posting Clerks | 15,240 | 77% | 24 million | $52K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 32,840 | 35% | 24 million | $64K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 10,020 | 78% | 16 million | $52K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 10,940 | 43% | 9.7 million | $49K |
| Orthodontists | 5,990 | 39% | 4.8 million | $288K |
| Medical Equipment Preparers | 7,090 | 16% | 2.4 million | $38K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 55 smaller jobs (52,110 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 99% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Maintain patient recall system.Dental Hygienists78 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants48 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Plan, organize, or maintain dental health programs.Dentists, General45 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Analyze or evaluate dental needs to determine changes or trends in patterns of dental disease.Dentists, General44 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Order and monitor dental supplies and equipment inventory.Dental Assistants42 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record and review patient medical histories.Dental Hygienists36 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Record treatment information in patient records.Dental Assistants34 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Schedule appointments, prepare bills and receive payment for dental services, complete insurance forms, and maintain records, manually or using computer.Dental Assistants32 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Operate office equipment, such as voice mail messaging systems, and use word processing, spreadsheet, or other software applications to prepare reports, invoices, financial statements, letters, case histories, or medical records.Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants27 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Attend continuing education courses to maintain or update skills.Dental Hygienists26 million hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Offices of Physicians2,936,460 people39% now, 49% by 2028
- Home Health Care Services1,789,480 people17% now, 21% by 2028
- Offices of Other Health Practitioners1,305,160 people37% now, 45% by 2028
- Outpatient Care Centers1,182,730 people35% now, 48% by 2028
- Other Ambulatory Health Care Services369,130 people22% now, 50% by 2028
- Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories309,310 people28% now, 40% by 2028
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works