Frequently Asked Questions

Dental.me is an independent dentist directory covering 249,344 practice profiles across 13,146 U.S. cities in 56 states and territories. Profiles are built from public records and practice-provided data so you can compare dentists by location, specialty, Dental.me Score, public ratings, hours, and contact details. A listing is not an endorsement and nothing here is medical or dental advice.

You can browse by state, city, or specialty and compare practices side by side on one page — public rating and review volume, profile completeness, verification level, hours, website, and phone. The aim is to put the information needed to shortlist an office in one place; you contact the office directly to book.

Yes. Dental.me is free for patients and no account is required. Dentists can claim their profile for free. The only paid product is a clearly labeled Featured placement, which never changes organic ranking order.

Profile data is refreshed on a rolling basis from our sources, and corrections and owner updates are reviewed and applied as they come in. Each page shows its current last-updated date. Details can still change at the office before we see it, so confirm anything time-sensitive directly with the practice.

Practices on a city or specialty page are ordered by an independent Dental.me Score computed from the listing data we hold. Ranking cannot be bought, and payment is not an input to the score. Our full methodology is published on the How We Rank page.

A 0-99 score built from public star ratings, review-count strength, how complete a profile is, its verification level, and data freshness, with exact tie-breakers so the order is reproducible. It is a comparison aid, not a clinical judgement or a quality guarantee.

No. Featured placements are a separate, clearly labeled block marked "Featured – Ad", and they do not change the organic order or the Dental.me Score. A Featured practice still appears in its normal organic position, and the paid links carry rel="sponsored nofollow" so they pass no search credit.

It means a profile has reached an evidence-based verification level — details cross-checked against multiple public sources, claimed and updated by the practice owner, or confirmed directly with the office by our staff. It is never something a practice can buy, and it is not a clinical endorsement. The Verification Methodology page defines each level.

Dental.me does not declare a single best dentist — the right office depends on your location, the treatment you need, your insurance, and your schedule. Start from the Dentist Near Me page or your city page, then compare the shortlist on Dental.me Score, public ratings and review volume, verification level, and hours, and confirm suitability with the office.

Yes. Browse States lists every state and territory we cover, and each state hub links to its cities. Every city page lists the practices we hold for that city, ordered by Dental.me Score.

Yes. The Specialties page covers areas such as cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, and pediatric dentistry, both statewide and city by city. Specialty associations come from public taxonomy and business categories, not from clinical verification, so confirm a specific procedure with the office.

Use your city page and check published hours and phone numbers, then call the office to confirm same-day availability — hours change more often than any directory can track. If you have a medical emergency, or facial swelling affecting breathing or swallowing, seek urgent medical care rather than a directory.

Open the cosmetic dentists page for your state or city. Listings there are practices whose public categories or provider taxonomy indicate cosmetic work. Confirm the specific treatment, materials, and pricing with the office before booking.

Use the Invisalign page for your state or city. These are practices whose public data indicates clear-aligner treatment. Provider status and the brands an office carries change, so confirm directly with the practice.

Use the pediatric dentists page for your state or city, which lists practices whose public taxonomy or categories indicate pediatric dentistry. Confirm with the office that they are accepting new child patients and take your insurance.

From the federal NPPES provider registry and other public records, public business data such as Google and Maps where available, practice websites, updates submitted by owners on claimed listings, corrections from users, and direct office confirmation when our staff completes it. Each profile indicates its sources and, where applicable, when it was last updated or confirmed.

Hours are shown where our sources publish them, and they are as good as the source on the day we read it. Offices change hours, close for holidays, and take emergencies, so treat published hours as a guide and call ahead. If you spot wrong hours, tell us through the corrections page.

Profiles refresh on a rolling basis as our sources are re-read, and owner updates and corrections are reviewed and applied as they arrive. Claimed profiles tend to be the most current because the practice maintains them directly.

Verification is evidence-based, so a profile advances only when the evidence exists — most listings start as imported public records that nobody has claimed or confirmed. A practice can move up by claiming its profile and keeping details current. Verification cannot be purchased.

Dental.me does not collect its own reviews. Where a star rating and review count appear, they reflect third-party public data such as Google, shown as an attributed summary of what that source reports. We do not publish our own aggregate rating and we never invent reviews or testimonials.

No. Dental.me does not host patient reviews, so there is nothing to post to here. To leave feedback about a practice, use the platform where you found it, such as its Google business profile. If a profile has a factual error — wrong address, phone, or hours — send us a correction instead.

Because review counts come from third-party sources and reflect how long a practice has been listed there, how many patients it sees, and whether it asks for feedback. A low count means less public feedback exists, not that a practice is worse — the Dental.me Score weights review-count strength rather than treating a raw total as a verdict.

No. Dental.me is a directory, not a booking platform, and we do not take appointments or hold slots. Use the phone number or website on a profile to book directly with the office.

Every profile shows the contact details we hold — typically phone, website, and address with a map. Contact the office directly; enquiries do not route through Dental.me.

Go to the For Dentists page, search for your practice, and start the claim. Claiming is free and gives you a dashboard to keep details current. We review every claim before it changes a public listing.

Claim the profile and update it from your dashboard. If you would rather not claim it, or the practice is not yours, send the change through the data corrections page. Every change is reviewed before it goes live — nothing is applied automatically.

Claim your profile and keep its details complete and current, which supports the cross-checks behind each verification level. Levels are evidence-based and cannot be bought. The Verification Methodology page sets out what each level requires.

A Featured placement is a paid slot on a city or city-specialty page, shown in a separate block labeled "Featured – Ad", limited in number per page, and marked rel="sponsored nofollow". It does not raise your organic position or your Dental.me Score. Terms are on the Advertising Policy and Featured Placement Terms pages.

Yes. The directory covers 249,344 practice profiles across 13,146 cities in 56 states and territories, including all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Coverage depth varies by area because it follows the public data available for that market.

Use the data corrections page and tell us what is wrong — name, address, phone, website, hours, categories, a duplicate office, or a practice that has closed or moved. Anyone can submit a correction, and we review each one before changing a public listing.