What a dentist in private practice earns in France, source by source
Income figures from DREES, Insee, CARCDSF and UNASA, and what each of them actually counts.
The middle dentist in French private practice earned €93,700 in 2021, according to DREES, the health ministry’s statistics office. That is income after practice costs and social contributions but before income tax. The average is higher, €118,100, pulled up by the top of the scale: one dentist in ten makes more than €218,700 and one in ten less than €35,900, an interdecile ratio of 6.1. DREES covers practitioners under the national agreement, aged 70 or under, already set up at the start of the year, locums excluded, with all dental specialties pooled. Other sources land in the same range: Insee reports €10,300 a month on average (2022), CARCDSF, the dentists’ pension fund, an average contribution base of €106,635 (2025 statistics), and UNASA practices €107,474 of average profit in 2024. The €325,818 of average fees Assurance Maladie publishes for 2025 is billing, not pay.
Your income against your peers
Position among private dentists (2021)
53rd percentile
| Median | €93,700 |
| Average | €118,100 |
| Bottom and top decile | €35,900 / €218,700 |
DREES, 2021 income in current euros; position interpolated between published deciles and quartiles.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
One question, several definitions
Search for what a French dentist earns and you meet amounts that measure different things. DREES tracks the earned income of practitioners under the national agreement (DREES). Insee, the national statistics institute, counts self-employed workers classed under dental practice (Insee). CARCDSF, the pension fund for dentists and midwives, publishes the average base its members pay on (CARCDSF). UNASA pools the accounts of practices that belong to its approved accounting bodies (UNASA). Assurance Maladie, the national health insurer, publishes fees, which is a different thing altogether.
| Source | Year | What is measured | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| DREES, average | 2,021 | Private and salaried earnings after costs and contributions | €118,100 |
| DREES, median | 2,021 | Same scope, middle practitioner | €93,700 |
| DREES, private share | 2,021 | Private-practice income only, average | €108,900 |
| Insee | 2,022 | Self-employed in dental practice, monthly average × 12 | €123,600 |
| CARCDSF | 2,025 | Average contribution base of dentists | €106,635 |
| UNASA | 2,024 | Average book profit of member practices taxed as BNC | €107,474 |
| Assurance Maladie | 2,025 | Average fees before any cost (not income) | €325,818 |
Leave fees aside and the sources fall between €93,700 and €123,600 a year, with gaps explained by scope and year. DREES includes any salaried work and drops practitioners over 70. The CARCDSF base keeps only self-employed professional income. UNASA sees member practices run as sole traders and no SELARL companies. None of the figures is wrong, and none answers the question alone.
A very wide spread
Averages mislead more than usual here. With a ratio of 6.1 between top and bottom decile, DREES reports a spread it does not break down: hours worked, practice size and seniority all feed into it, none of them measured on its own. The table shows the five markers DREES publishes for 2021.
| DREES marker | Annual income | Per month | Ratio to median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom decile | €35,900 | €2,992 | 0.4 |
| Lower quartile | €57,500 | €4,792 | 0.6 |
| Median | €93,700 | €7,808 | 1 |
| Upper quartile | €145,700 | €12,142 | 1.6 |
| Top decile | €218,700 | €18,225 | 2.3 |
Between two markers the calculator draws a straight line, an approximation because DREES does not publish the full curve. On that basis the average CARCDSF base falls around the 56th percentile and the average UNASA profit around the 57th percentile, which shows again how far the mean sits above the median.
Years in practice matter most
DREES splits income by how long a dentist has been set up. Under ten years: €94,600 on average. Ten to 29 years: €136,900. Thirty years and more: €122,700. The curve rises, levels off, then dips late in a career, and DREES gives no reasons for the dip.
The gap between men and women, €137,700 against €94,900, needs care. Insee counts 47 % women among self-employed dentists and 21 % over 60. Published data do not cross sex with seniority or hours worked, so no like-for-like pay gap can be drawn from them.
From fees to income
The €325,818 of average 2025 fees from Assurance Maladie cover reimbursable procedures for a full-time active practitioner. Practice accounts show what is left. Among UNASA members, profit was 34.7 % of receipts in 2024, after supplies and laboratory work (18.8 %), staff (10.8 %), rent (4.6 %) and personal contributions with deductible CSG (15.6 %). The line-by-line breakdown by practice size is on the cost ratio page.
Profit is still not spendable income. Income tax has yet to be paid, and capital repayments on loans for buying the practice or equipment leave the bank account without ever appearing as costs. Two dentists with the same profit can live on very different amounts. See also CARCDSF pension contributions and, for those practising through a company, how a SELARL is taxed.
What no source publishes
- No official income by specialty: DREES does not separate orthodontists, oral surgeons or oral medicine specialists.
- No income by département: only fees are published at that level, in the département ranking.
- Nothing on income from implants or periodontal treatment, which sit outside the national fee schedule and never reach Assurance Maladie data.
- Nothing more recent than 2021 from DREES: later income years had not been released at the last update.