2026 metro dental report
Dental care in Detroit, by the numbers
How many dentists the 4,400,578 people of the Detroit 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
12th of 50
98.5 dentists per 100k residents (U.S.: 80.2)
Pediatric access
46th of 50
9.8 pediatric dentists per 100k children (U.S.: 14.9)
4,336
Registered dentists
3,292
Practice addresses
13.8%
Specialists
6
Counties
Key findings
- Detroit has 4,336 registered dentists for 4,400,578 residents: 98.5 per 100,000 people, 23% above the national rate of 80.2. That ranks 12th of the 50 largest U.S. metros.
- Where you live inside the metro matters. Oakland County has 121.9 dentists per 100,000 residents; Lapeer County has 55. That is a 2.2x gap within one metro area.
- There is one pediatric dentist for every 10,183 children here (9.8 per 100,000 kids, 34% below the national rate).
- 389 dentists now practicing here received their NPI in 2023 to 2025, 8.8 per 100,000 residents (national: 6).
- 37.7% of Detroit's registered dentists are women, against 35.8% nationally.
- In 2025, 37.9% of the metro's dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company, $1.1 million in total. For most it was small: 61% received nothing but meals, and the typical recipient got $77 for the year. The top 10% of recipients took 85% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne County | 1,771,063 | 1,525 | 86.1 | 6.8 |
| Oakland County | 1,296,888 | 1,581 | 121.9 | 15.6 |
| Macomb County | 886,175 | 918 | 103.6 | 10.6 |
| Livingston County | 196,976 | 152 | 77.2 | 7.8 |
| St. Clair County | 160,308 | 111 | 69.2 | 6.3 |
| Lapeer County | 89,168 | 49 | 55 | 0 |
Specialists
Dentists whose primary registered specialty is one of the six below, with the national rate for comparison.
| Specialty | Dentists | Detroit rate | U.S. rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatric dentists | 92 | 9.8 per 100k children | 14.9 |
| Orthodontists | 169 | 3.8 per 100k residents | 4 |
| Oral surgeons | 115 | 2.6 per 100k residents | 2.7 |
| Periodontists | 90 | 2 per 100k residents | 1.9 |
| Endodontists | 91 | 2.1 per 100k residents | 2 |
| Prosthodontists | 43 | 1 per 100k residents | 1.1 |
Who is practicing
37.7%
Women (U.S.: 35.8%)
389
New NPIs, 2023 to 2025
9%
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 Detroit ranks 6th 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, 1,645 Detroit dentists (37.9%) received at least one payment, $1,082,779 in all. 61% of them received only meals; the top 10% of recipients took 85% 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 Detroit dentists, 2025 |
|---|---|
| ZimVie | $247,291 |
| Orapharma, A Division Of Bausch Health | $238,564 |
| Straumann USA | $113,515 |
| Prismatik Dentalcraft | $98,235 |
| Align Technology | $59,765 |
Where Detroit's dentists practice
The cities in the metro with the most registered dentists. Each links to the practices there.
- Detroit393 dentists
- Dearborn201 dentists
- Livonia199 dentists
- Sterling Heights175 dentists
- Farmington Hills165 dentists
- Warren152 dentists
- Southfield150 dentists
- Troy131 dentists
- Canton107 dentists
- West Bloomfield94 dentists
Frequently asked questions
How many dentists are in the Detroit area?
The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro area has 4,336 dentists registered in the federal NPI registry, about 98.5 per 100,000 residents, or one for every 1,015 people. The U.S. rate is 80.2 per 100,000.
Which part of Detroit has the fewest dentists per person?
Among counties with at least 50,000 residents, Lapeer County has the fewest: 55 dentists per 100,000 people. Oakland County has the most, at 121.9.
How many pediatric dentists does Detroit have?
92 dentists in the metro register pediatric dentistry as their primary specialty, roughly one for every 10,183 children. Nationally the figure is one for every 6,705 children.
Do dentists in Detroit get paid by dental companies?
Federal Open Payments data shows 37.9% of Detroit's registered dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company in 2025, $1.1 million in total. 61% of those recipients received only meals. You can look up any individual dentist at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Metro = the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI 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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