What does a Orthodontist
actually do all day?
top skill Monitoringcore tasks 6median pay $289,140AI exposure 0/100
Orthodontists is deadline-driven, mixed sitting & moving, people-heavy work. Precision matters a lot here.
What this job actually does all day
The representative tasks O*NET analysts recorded for this role — not a glossy job ad, the real work.
- Diagnose teeth and jaw or other dental-facial abnormalities.
- Examine patients to assess abnormalities of jaw development, tooth position, and other dental-facial structures.
- Study diagnostic records, such as medical or dental histories, plaster models of the teeth, photos of a patient's face and teeth, and X-rays, to develop patient treatment plans.
- Fit dental appliances in patients' mouths to alter the position and relationship of teeth and jaws or to realign teeth.
- Adjust dental appliances to produce and maintain normal function.
- Provide patients with proposed treatment plans and cost estimates.
Skills & environment
Bars are O*NET importance/intensity ratings (originally a 1–5 rating), rescaled so 1 = 0 and 5 = 100 — a relative reading, not a percentage.
The skills it demands most
What the environment feels like
Deadline pressure: constant deadline pressureConflict & friction: moderateNeed to be exact: precision is criticalTime spent sitting: moderateContact with people: constantly dealing with people
Go deeper on this role
How this is built. Tasks, skills, and work-environment ratings come from the
U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET occupational analysis — job analysts survey real workers, so this is the
closest thing to "what the job is actually like" in public data. Skill scores are O*NET Importance
ratings and environment measures are Context ratings — both on O*NET's 1–5 scale
(1 = the floor: not important / never). We rescale them so 1 maps to 0 and 5 maps to 100, giving a
relative reading for easy comparison — it is not a percentage. This task-and-skill detail comes straight from the O*NET database — it's
pulled straight from the survey, not invented. Figures describe the typical role, not any one person's job.
