Fees of a general dentist in France

Behind the €302,480 average

Assurance Maladie files general dentists as “chirurgiens-dentistes hors ODF”, meaning every dentist except orthodontists: 38,065 of them in private practice in 2025. Only 36,478 feed the average. These “full-time active” practitioners worked the whole year under the national agreement (convention), as Assurance Maladie defines them, so the first and last years of a career, when billing is thin, drop out.

Of the €302,480, €164,450 is billed at the regulated rate and €138,030 is extra-billing. That split shapes your cost base. Extra-billing comes mostly from prosthetic work, and every crown carries a lab invoice, so a prosthetics-heavy practice tends to show high fees and a high cost ratio at once.

Anything outside the national fee schedule (the nomenclature) is invisible here. Implants, non-reimbursed periodontal treatment, whitening and adult aligners never reach health insurance records, and no public per-dentist figure exists for them (DREES health accounts, sheet 09). The calculator asks for that share and takes it out of your receipts before comparing.

A decade of fees, 2015 to 2025

Year	General dentists (excl. orthodontists)	All dentists
2015	€240,376	€257,676
2017	€251,547	€270,953
2019	€258,551	€280,306
2020	€247,695	€268,798
2021	€293,340	€314,576
2023	€299,343	€322,160
2024	€301,737	€325,071
2025	€302,480	€325,818

In current euros, the general dentist average is up 25.8 % over ten years. Two breaks stand out: a dip in 2020, then a 18.4 % jump in 2021. Growth has nearly stalled since, at 0.2 % between 2024 and 2025. Over five years the private headcount grew 8.5 %, from 35,072 to 38,065, so patients are spread over more chairs.

None of this is adjusted for inflation. A flat average in nominal terms means a thinner margin if costs keep rising; the cost ratio guide tracks how each expense line moved in practice accounts.

Profile of the profession

• women: 47.7 %, close to parity;
• under 35: 29.6 %; aged 60 or more: 19.2 %;
• density: 55 general dentists per 100,000 residents nationwide;
• mixed private and salaried practice: 5.5 %;
• patients seen in the year: 837 per dentist.

Compared with orthodontists, where only 7.9 % are under 35, general practice is young. Almost one general dentist in three is under 35, while those aged 60 or more remain a minority.

Haute-Saône versus Paris

All 101 départements publish an average. Haute-Saône leads with €447,855 across 71 dentists, followed by Yonne at €439,087. Alpes-Maritimes (€234,219) and Paris (€233,004) close the list. Paris has 102 general dentists per 100,000 people, Haute-Saône 31: scarcity, not skill, drives most of the gap. Every département is in the full ranking.

Putting your own number next to the average

Start by stripping out what Assurance Maladie cannot see. A practice that places many implants can look far above average while its reimbursable activity is quite ordinary. The calculator does that subtraction first, using the share you enter.

Then check the year itself. Opening mid-year, maternity leave or a long sick leave all produce a total that does not compare with a full-time active practitioner. Associates (collaborateurs) are a special case, since they pay a fee back to the practice owner: UNASA accounts show €4,984 of such retroceded fees per practice on average in 2024.

Finally, the national figure is not a midpoint. Only 35 of 101 départements sit below €302,480, because populous, well-served départements with low averages carry a heavy weight in the national number. Your own département is usually the fairer yardstick.

From fees to profit: what practice accounts show

Practices that belong to an approved management body file accounts that UNASA aggregates by receipts quarter. These are sole practices taxed under BNC (bénéfices non commerciaux, the sole-practice profit regime), not companies. Margin does not rise neatly with size. Small practices spend little on staff, yet their own social contributions take a bigger bite out of modest receipts; the top quarter keeps the highest share despite heavier purchases and payroll.

Receipts quarter	Average net receipts	Staff	Purchases	Rent	Own contributions and CSG	Profit	Average profit
1st quarter	€121,826	4.9 %	15.7 %	6.1 %	19.3 %	34.2 %	€41,608
2nd quarter	€236,480	9.7 %	18.1 %	4.9 %	16.3 %	32.9 %	€77,889
3rd quarter	€337,668	12.0 %	19.6 %	4.6 %	15.3 %	33.1 %	€111,642
4th quarter	€542,562	11.9 %	19.4 %	4.1 %	14.8 %	36.6 %	€198,678
All practices	€309,713	10.8 %	18.8 %	4.6 %	15.6 %	34.7 %	€107,474

Book profit still faces income tax. For actual pay, DREES measured €118,100 on average for private dentists in 2021, with a median of €93,700; that figure covers every dental specialty together. More in the dentist income guide.