General Practice Dentistry: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A general dentist is the primary dental care provider for patients of all ages. The general dentist is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment, management and overall coordination of services related to patients' oral health needs.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, the sole-proprietor share indicates how many active records are flagged in NPPES as sole proprietors, not how many dentists work independently or own a private practice. Because the field is self-reported and may not capture group ownership, employment arrangements, or practice structure, treat 29.2% as an imperfect proxy for private practice rather than a direct measure.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• - Counts are active NPI records with this taxonomy as the primary classification; an NPI record is not necessarily a unique person or practice.
• - First-enumeration totals describe when NPIs were issued, not changes in the number of active general dentists; records can be added, updated, deactivated, or reactivated.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions