Methodology
How we build this site, what we verify, and what we do not.
Summary
We aggregate the public NPPES (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System) registry published by CMS and organize dentists + dental clinics by city, state, and NPPES specialty. We also publish regional cost benchmarks derived from the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. We do not verify licenses or complaints ourselves — for that, we link directly to each state dental board.
Data Pipeline
- Ingest. We download the NPPES bulk file from CMS (updated monthly) and filter to individual providers (Entity Type 1) and organizations (Entity Type 2) whose primary taxonomy starts with 1223 (Dentist / dental organization).
- Normalize. We standardize address fields, format phone numbers, and compute years since NPI enrollment (from the NPPES enumeration date).
- Attach specialty only when NPPES supports it. Some NPPES taxonomy codes indicate a real dental specialty (e.g., 1223X0400X = Orthodontics, 1223E0200X = Endodontics). We label those. The generic dentist and general practice codes (122300000X, 1223G0001X) are NOT labeled with a specialty.
- Cost benchmarks. We use the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to build regional cost ranges for common procedures. These are area averages — not a specific dentist's published prices.
- Group by city and state; link to state boards. Every profile links to the correct state dental board for authoritative license lookups.
What We Publish
Only fields that appear in the NPPES public bulk file (or Medicare fee schedule for cost pages):
- Provider first and last name
- Credential (DDS default; NPPES does not distinguish DDS vs. DMD reliably)
- NPI number and taxonomy code
- NPPES-declared specialty when a specialty-specific taxonomy code applies
- Practice-location address, ZIP code, and phone
- NPI enumeration date and years since NPI enrollment
- For clinics: real NPPES organization name, authorized official, linked dentist count
- Regional procedure cost ranges from the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
What We Deliberately Do NOT Publish or Claim
License status.
NPPES does not publish license status. Use the state dental board link on every profile to verify current status.
Disciplinary or complaint history.
NPPES does not publish complaints. State boards do. We link there rather than republish.
Clinical years of experience.
"Years on NPPES" is time since CMS issued the NPI, not clinical practice years.
Fabricated practice names.
We only display a practice name when NPPES has a real "Provider Organization Name" field. We do not fabricate a practice name from the dentist's last name (e.g. "Smith Dental").
Trust scores, rankings, endorsements.
We do not score or rank individual dentists. Our "Longest-Established" lists are NPPES-tenure sorts, not quality ratings.
A specific dentist's prices.
Cost benchmarks are regional Medicare averages — always request a written treatment plan.
Corrections and Removal
Providers may request correction or removal via our contact page. We honor takedown requests within 1 week.
Not Medical Advice
This directory is a starting point for finding a dentist. It is not medical advice. Do not delay professional evaluation based on information on this site.