PathLensSOUTH AFRICA · CLEARER PATHS. BRIGHTER OPTIONS.
Dental Specialist
OFO Code: 226101
Last checked 7 October 2026
1. Occupation identity
- OFO code
- 226101
- Occupation
- Dental Specialist
- Classification
- OFO 2021
- Major group
- PROFESSIONALS
- Unit group
- 2261 · Dentists
Official description
Dentists diagnose, treat and prevent diseases, injuries and abnormalities of the teeth, mouth, jaws and associated tissues by applying the principles and procedures of modern dentistry. They use a broad range of specialised diagnostic, surgical and other techniques to promote and restore oral health.
More official OFO detail
Specialisations: Dental / Oral Surgeon, Community Dentistry Specialist, Periodontist, Prosthodontist, Orthodontist, Endodontist, Oral Pathologist, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Stomatologist, Paedodontist
- Supervising dental hygienists, dental assistants and other staff
- Designing , making, and fitting prosthodontic appliances such as space maintainers, bridges, and dentures, or writing fabrication instructions or prescriptions for dental prosthetic technicians
- Prescribing medication for relief of ongoing pain after procedures
- Diagnosing diseases, injuries, irregularities and malformations of teeth and associated structures in the mouth and jaw using a range of methods such as radiographs, salivary tests and medical histories
- Providing preventative oral health care such as periodontal treatments, fluoride applications and oral health promotion
- Providing restorative oral care such as implants, complex crown and bridge restorations, and orthodontics, and repairing damaged and decayed teeth
- Assisting in diagnosing general diseases having oral manifestations such as diabetes
- Restoring oral function with removable and fixed oral prostheses
- Measuring and taking impressions of patients' jaws and teeth in order to determine the shape and size of dental prostheses
- Educating patients and families on dental hygiene, nutrition and other measures to take care of oral health
- Providing surgical treatments such as extraction of teeth, biopsy of tissue, and performing orthodontic treatment
- Administering anaesthetics to limit the amount of pain experienced by patients during procedures
2. Demand status
Demand evidence unavailable
No approved governed OIHD graph relationship is available on this deployment for this OFO code.
PathLens does not fall back to legacy specimen demand flags when governed evidence is unavailable.
A national demand signal is not a promise of a vacancy in your town.
3. Salary evidence
No approved governed salary observation or sourced snapshot salary record is available for this OFO code yet.
Open remuneration history & calculator →4. Quick EE check
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5. Qualification
Qualification evidence pending.
Understand NQF levels, institutions & recognition → Build my qualification pathway →6. Study funding
Check all funding options, eligibility & obligations →A funding match will only be shown once a recognised qualification or study route has been identified.
7. Industry, sector and provincial context
National occupation classification. Industry and provincial context are shown only where a separate official source supports the link.
No source-backed modern OFO↔SIC 7 industry link has been ingested for this occupation yet. PathLens does not infer one from the job title.
Browse the official South African industry classification →8. Next steps — official links
9. Decision tools
10. Sources for this page
- DHET Organising Framework for Occupations (OFO 2021) · Ingested · identity spine active
Canonical OFO identity data has been ingested and validated. 1511 occupation records are recorded in the ingest artifact. - DHET Occupations in High Demand · Validated pipeline · graph publication not confirmed
The governed OIHD pipeline is active, but a successful populated graph run is not currently confirmed on this deployment. - Critical Skills List · Monitored · occupation linkage pending
Official migration sources are monitored, but PathLens does not infer visa eligibility or occupation-level eligibility from monitoring alone. - QCTO qualifications and occupational certificates · Candidate staging ready · not published
Qualification staging and human review are implemented; no qualification↔OFO relationship is published without an explicit source identifier or governed human review. - Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey · Acquisition active · no approved evidence on this deployment
Official QLFS artifact discovery is active. Dataset-specific schema, weighting, reliability and review gates remain separate; a discovered artifact or executable estimator does not itself create a public claim. - SETA Sector Skills Plans / hard-to-fill vacancy tables · Partial · explicit source links only
PathLens preserves explicit source-backed SETA/activity links where present and does not infer modern SIC relationships from occupation titles.