2026 metro dental report
Dental care in Chicago, by the numbers
How many dentists the 9,408,576 people of the Chicago metro have, where they cluster, which specialties run thin, and who is joining the workforce.
Part of the Metro Dental Reports 2026 by Pete Johnson, founder of dentalist.ai. Sources: federal NPPES registry, CMS Open Payments and U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Dentist access
9th of 50
99.6 dentists per 100k residents (U.S.: 80.2)
Pediatric access
42nd of 50
11.6 pediatric dentists per 100k children (U.S.: 14.9)
9,368
Registered dentists
7,120
Practice addresses
14.2%
Specialists
13
Counties
Key findings
- Chicago has 9,368 registered dentists for 9,408,576 residents: 99.6 per 100,000 people, 24% above the national rate of 80.2. That ranks 9th of the 50 largest U.S. metros.
- Where you live inside the metro matters. DuPage County, IL has 135.6 dentists per 100,000 residents; Grundy County, IL has 37.2. That is a 3.6x gap within one metro area.
- There is one pediatric dentist for every 8,628 children here (11.6 per 100,000 kids, 22% below the national rate).
- 752 dentists now practicing here received their NPI in 2023 to 2025, 8 per 100,000 residents (national: 6).
- 38.8% of Chicago's registered dentists are women, against 35.8% nationally.
- In 2025, 35.8% of the metro's dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company, $6.0 million in total. For most it was small: 66% received nothing but meals, and the typical recipient got $96 for the year. The top 10% of recipients took 94% of the money.
Dentists per person, county by county
Every county in the metro, largest first. Rates for counties under 50,000 people swing on a handful of dentists, so read those loosely.
| County | Population | Dentists | Per 100k | Pediatric per 100k kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook County, IL | 5,182,617 | 5,622 | 108.5 | 13.4 |
| DuPage County, IL | 937,142 | 1,271 | 135.6 | 16.7 |
| Lake County, IL | 718,604 | 779 | 108.4 | 13.6 |
| Will County, IL | 708,583 | 453 | 63.9 | 5.6 |
| Kane County, IL | 520,997 | 347 | 66.6 | 6.7 |
| Lake County, IN | 502,955 | 357 | 71 | 9.6 |
| McHenry County, IL | 315,959 | 238 | 75.3 | 5.7 |
| Porter County, IN | 175,860 | 112 | 63.7 | 5.5 |
| Kendall County, IL | 143,171 | 70 | 48.9 | 0 |
| DeKalb County, IL | 101,335 | 81 | 79.9 | 4.7 |
| Grundy County, IL | 53,835 | 20 | 37.2 | 0 |
| Jasper County, IN | 33,387 | 15 | 44.9 | 0 |
| Newton County, IN | 14,131 | 3 | 21.2 | 0 |
Specialists
Dentists whose primary registered specialty is one of the six below, with the national rate for comparison.
| Specialty | Dentists | Chicago rate | U.S. rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatric dentists | 232 | 11.6 per 100k children | 14.9 |
| Orthodontists | 382 | 4.1 per 100k residents | 4 |
| Oral surgeons | 282 | 3 per 100k residents | 2.7 |
| Periodontists | 182 | 1.9 per 100k residents | 1.9 |
| Endodontists | 177 | 1.9 per 100k residents | 2 |
| Prosthodontists | 71 | 0.8 per 100k residents | 1.1 |
Who is practicing
38.8%
Women (U.S.: 35.8%)
752
New NPIs, 2023 to 2025
8%
Share of all dentists (U.S.: 7.5%)
A dentist keeps one NPI for life, so most new NPIs belong to dentists early in their careers. By that measure Chicago ranks 11th of the 50 largest metros for new dentists per resident.
Industry payments to dentists
Drug, device and dental supply companies must report what they pay dentists to CMS Open Payments. In 2025, 3,354 Chicago dentists (35.8%) received at least one payment, $5,989,760 in all. 66% of them received only meals; the top 10% of recipients took 94% of the dollars. A payment does not mean anything improper, and you can look up your own dentist at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
| Company | Paid to Chicago dentists, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Align Technology | $3,787,052 |
| Dentsply Sirona | $455,254 |
| Straumann USA | $245,131 |
| Envista Holdings | $210,965 |
| Dental Monitoring | $107,212 |
Where Chicago's dentists practice
The cities in the metro with the most registered dentists. Each links to the practices there.
- Chicago, IL2,694 dentists
- Naperville, IL225 dentists
- Arlington Heights, IL154 dentists
- Aurora, IL153 dentists
- Schaumburg, IL148 dentists
- Orland Park, IL136 dentists
- Skokie, IL134 dentists
- Downers Grove, IL126 dentists
- Great Lakes, IL123 dentists
- Elgin, IL107 dentists
Frequently asked questions
How many dentists are in the Chicago area?
The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area has 9,368 dentists registered in the federal NPI registry, about 99.6 per 100,000 residents, or one for every 1,004 people. The U.S. rate is 80.2 per 100,000.
Which part of Chicago has the fewest dentists per person?
Among counties with at least 50,000 residents, Grundy County, IL has the fewest: 37.2 dentists per 100,000 people. DuPage County, IL has the most, at 135.6.
How many pediatric dentists does Chicago have?
232 dentists in the metro register pediatric dentistry as their primary specialty, roughly one for every 8,628 children. Nationally the figure is one for every 6,705 children.
Do dentists in Chicago get paid by dental companies?
Federal Open Payments data shows 35.8% of Chicago's registered dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company in 2025, $6.0 million in total. 66% of those recipients received only meals. You can look up any individual dentist at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Metro = the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metropolitan statistical area (OMB 2023 delineation). Dentists are individual NPI registrations with a dental taxonomy in the NPPES registry (October 2026), with deactivated NPIs removed; counts are registry-based, not licensure-based, and can include dentists who have retired. Practices are placed in a county by ZIP code. Population: Census Vintage 2024 estimates. Industry payments: CMS Open Payments, general payments, program year 2025. Full methodology on the report index.
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