How Many Dentists Are in Each State?

271,719 dentists hold active registrations in the federal NPI registry across all 50 states and DC, about 8.0 for every 10,000 residents. This counts individual providers with dentist taxonomies (general dentists plus the recognized specialties); dental hygienists, dental assistants, and practice organizations are excluded. NPI registration is not the same as an active clinical license, so this is a registration count, not a licensure count.

California has the most NPI-registered dentists at 39,627. Raw counts track population size, which is why the ranking on this page uses dentists per 10,000 residents instead: it shows supply density rather than state size.

District of Columbia has the highest ratio at 13.5 dentists per 10,000 residents. South Dakota has the lowest at 4.8. The national figure is 8.0.

Individual providers in the federal NPI registry whose primary taxonomy is one of the ten dentist classifications: general dentist, pediatric dentist, oral surgery, orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, dental public health, and the two oral and maxillofacial diagnostic specialties. Dental hygienists, dental assistants, and organizational registrations are excluded, and deactivated NPIs are removed. Counts refresh weekly from the NPPES bulk file.

Population denominators are the US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates (NST-EST2025), as of 2025-07-01. Dentist counts refresh weekly; population updates annually when the Census Bureau publishes the next vintage.

Not by itself. The ratio measures registered supply density, not access to care. Formal shortage designations come from HRSA's dental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) program, which also weighs poverty rates, travel distance, and provider capacity. A state can have a modest statewide ratio with adequate urban access and severe rural shortage at the same time.