NOC 31110 job description: dentist duties and responsibilities
- Examine patients' teeth, gums and surrounding tissue to diagnose disease, injury and decay and plan appropriate preventive or corrective treatment
- Provide general dental care such as cleaning teeth, filling cavities, performing root canals, applying veneers, and fitting crowns, bridges and dentures
- Restore, extract and replace diseased and decayed teeth
- Instruct patients on oral hygiene and preventive dental care
- Monitor patient progress to identify changes or the progression of dental disease
- Prescribe antibiotics or other medication as required
- Bleach, clean, or polish teeth to restore natural color
- Refer patients to dental specialists as needed for recommended procedures
- Supervise dental hygienists, dental assistants and other staff
- May provide basic orthodontic treatments with additional training.
- Collaborate with other professionals, such as restorative dentists and orthodontists, to plan treatment
- Administer general and local anesthetics
- Perform surgery to prepare the mouth for dental implants orto aid in the regeneration of deficient bone and gum tissues
- Remove impacted, damaged, and non-restorable teeth, as well as tumors and other abnormal growths of the oral and facial regions
- Perform surgery on the mouth and jaws to treat conditions, such as cleft lip, palate, and jaw growth problems
- Provide emergency treatment of facial injuries including facial lacerations, intra-oral lacerations, and fractured facial bones
- Treat infections of the oral cavity, salivary glands, jaws, and neck.
- Examine patients' teeth, gums and surrounding tissue to assess abnormalities of jaw development, tooth position, and other dental-facial structures
- Diagnose teeth and jaw or other dental-facial abnormalities
- Propose treatment plan for conditions such as underbites, overbites, crowding and others
- Design and fabricate appliances, such as space maintainers, retainers, and labial and lingual arch wires
- Fit dental appliances in patients' mouths to alter the position and relationship of teeth and jaws or to realign teeth
- Coordinate orthodontic services with other dental and medical professionals
- Educate patients about improving and maintaining orthodontic care, and promoting routine dental health care.
- Examine patient’s teeth, gums and jaws to diagnose disease, injury and decay, and plan appropriate treatment to enhance patients’ dental and facial aesthetics, or correct orofacial problems
- Replace missing teeth and associated oral structures with permanent fixtures, such as implant-supported prostheses, crowns and bridges, or removable fixtures, such as dentures
- Restore function and improve aesthetics for traumatic injury victims, or individuals with diseases or birth defects
- Design and fabricate dental prostheses, or supervise dental technicians who construct the devices
- Fit prostheses to patients, making any necessary adjustments and modifications
- Restore damaged teeth with materials such as fillings, veneers and crowns
- Collaborate with general dentists, dental specialists, and other health professionals to develop solutions to dental and oral health concerns.
Job titles under NOC 31110
See every job title and its code in the A–Z job title index, or all TEER 1 jobs.
Is NOC 31110 eligible for Express Entry?
By TEER, yes. TEER 1 is inside the TEER 0 to 3 range that the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class accept. You still need qualifying work experience, language test results and enough CRS points to get an invitation. Category-based draws and provincial nominee programs use their own occupation lists.
| Program | TEER check | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Skilled Worker | TEER qualifies | TEER 1 is within TEER 0 to 3 |
| Canadian Experience Class | TEER qualifies | TEER 1 is within TEER 0 to 3 |
| Federal Skilled Trades | Not a listed trade | Only certain trade groups qualify. Check IRCC |
| Spouse's open work permit | Qualifies | All TEER 1 jobs qualify. SOWP rules |
Category-based draws: NOC 31110 is on IRCC's Healthcare and social services list (checked 2026-10-16). Under NOC 2016, TEER 1 was skill level A ("NOC A").
Category-based Express Entry draws and provincial nominee programs use their own occupation lists. Check the current lists on IRCC's Express Entry page and provincial nominee page.
NOC 31110: common questions
What is NOC 31110?
NOC 31110 is the code for dentists in Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC 2021). Its first digit, 3, is the broad category and its second digit, 1, is the TEER level. Immigration forms, job offers and LMIA applications use this five-digit code.
What TEER is NOC 31110?
NOC 31110 is TEER 1. Occupations that usually need a university degree. Under the older NOC 2016 system, TEER 1 lines up with skill level A.
Is NOC 31110 eligible for Express Entry and PR?
By TEER, yes. TEER 1 is inside the TEER 0 to 3 range that the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class accept. You still need qualifying work experience, language test results and enough CRS points to get an invitation. Category-based draws and provincial nominee programs use their own occupation lists.
Is NOC 31110 in a category-based Express Entry draw?
Yes. As of IRCC's list dated 2026-10-16, NOC 31110 is in the healthcare and social services category. Category-based draws invite candidates with at least 6 months of continuous work experience in one of the listed occupations, and IRCC updates the lists from time to time.
Is NOC 31110 eligible for a spousal open work permit (SOWP)?
Yes. All TEER 1 jobs qualify, so a worker in this job can support a spouse's open work permit, as long as their own work permit has at least 16 months left when the spouse applies (IRCC page modified 2026-06-12).
What is the NOC code for a dentist?
Dentist is listed under NOC 31110, dentists. The job title alone does not decide your code: your duties should match the main duties of NOC 31110.
How do I know if NOC 31110 is my NOC code?
Compare what you actually do with the main duties listed for NOC 31110, not just your job title. IRCC expects your duties to match the lead statement and most of the main duties of the code you choose. If they fit another code better, use that one. You can paste your duties into nocfinder to see how they line up, duty by duty.
Source: ESDC NOC 2021 · IRCC program pages. Not legal advice.