Dashes tend to emphasize the elements being set off.
The other specialized dash is the en dash. It is slightly longer than a hyphen. If necessary for space, you can abbreviate Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Use no punctuation if listing only the month and the year, but set the year off with commas if listing the day of the month as well. Use periods in abbreviations of academic degrees. When referring to degrees in general, lowercase the first letter of the degree and use 's.