Where the listings come from
We start from official and professional sources, not from user submissions or paid placements:
- The federal health center directory (HRSA): community health centers and look-alikes, which must offer sliding-scale fees.
- The Indian Health Service facility directory, for tribal and IHS dental clinics.
- Accredited dental and dental hygiene programs (Commission on Dental Accreditation), many of which run patient clinics.
- State and local sources: state health departments, county health departments, state dental associations and oral health coalitions, and free clinic networks.
- The national provider registry (NPI), to see whether dentists practice at a given address.
How each location is checked
Many health centers have several sites, and only some of them offer dental care. So we check each location, not just each organization. We read the organization's own website and the state and county sources, and record the page that shows dental care at that address. We use automated tools, including AI research assistants, to read these sources at scale. Their findings are checked against the cited pages: for example, the phone number and street address must appear on the page the listing came from.
Each listing carries one of two labels:
- Dental care confirmed: a source says this location provides dental care.
- Call to confirm: strong evidence, such as dentists registered at the address or an accredited teaching program, but no source yet confirms dental care at this exact location.
What we leave out
Programs that only serve their own members or residents are not listed: VA dental clinics, military dental clinics, PACE programs for enrolled seniors, and detention or prison health units. Listings whose dental service appears to be suspended are held back until we can confirm it has restarted.
Some listed clinics serve only certain patients, such as students at a school, or American Indian and Alaska Native patients at tribal clinics. Their listings say so clearly, and search shows clinics open to the public first.
Keeping it current
Every listing shows the date it was last checked and links to its sources. When details came from an older published list, the listing says so. We re-check the directory regularly and act on reports from readers.
If something is wrong, use the Report a problem link on the listing, or tell us about a missing clinic.
What this site is not
We are not a clinic, an insurer or a referral service, and listings are not endorsements. We are not paid by the clinics listed. The site is free to use and supported by advertising.