The U.S. dental-access data study
Original research from the SmilesAtlas dataset on dental license status, board disciplinary actions, and corporate ownership, the public data the booking directories leave out.
- 133,305 dental providers are on record across 4 states.
- 550 detailed profiles carry a disciplinary-action flag in the board data available to us.
- 3.8% of operating practices show a DSO or corporate-affiliation signal in public business records.
- 91% of license-matched dentists hold an active license in good standing.
By state
| State | Dentists | Active license | Disciplined | DSO-affiliated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 31,946 | 90% | 344 | 4.8% |
| California | 54,534 | 92% | 1 | 3.1% |
| Florida | 23,493 | 90% | 204 | 5.4% |
| New York | 23,332 | 86% | 1 | 2.4% |
Active-license rate is among dentists matched to the state board (TX, CA, FL publish a roster; NY does not). Disciplinary counts are board-published actions. DSO share is among operating (review-bearing) practices, matched against a maintained list of major dental service organizations.
Method
We join the federal NPPES NPI registry to state dental board license files and to public Google business data, then flag corporate ownership from public business records. License status and disciplinary actions come straight from the boards; we never fabricate a status, and where a state (NY) publishes no roster we say so. Updated each refresh cycle.