Periodontics: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

That specialty of dentistry which encompasses the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the supporting and surrounding tissues of the teeth or their substitutes and the maintenance of the health, function and esthetics of these structures and tissues.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

Among these periodontics records, 2,687, or 32.5%, carry the sole-proprietor flag. This is a self-reported NPPES field and an imperfect proxy for private practice: it reflects a provider's reported organizational status, not every way a periodontist may practice or own a practice.

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.
• - NPI records are not a direct count of unique periodontists, practices, locations, or clinical activity.
• - The primary taxonomy is an NPPES designation and may not capture every specialty, affiliation, or change in practice status.
• 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