2026 metro dental report
Dental care in Milwaukee, by the numbers
How many dentists the 1,574,452 people of the Milwaukee 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
10th of 50
99.5 dentists per 100k residents (U.S.: 80.2)
Pediatric access
24th of 50
17 pediatric dentists per 100k children (U.S.: 14.9)
1,566
Registered dentists
1,001
Practice addresses
17.9%
Specialists
4
Counties
Key findings
- Milwaukee has 1,566 registered dentists for 1,574,452 residents: 99.5 per 100,000 people, 24% above the national rate of 80.2. That ranks 10th of the 50 largest U.S. metros.
- There is one pediatric dentist for every 5,887 children here (17 per 100,000 kids, 14% above the national rate).
- 133 dentists now practicing here received their NPI in 2023 to 2025, 8.4 per 100,000 residents (national: 6).
- 33.4% of Milwaukee's registered dentists are women, against 35.8% nationally.
- In 2025, 31.6% of the metro's dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company, $206,000 in total. For most it was small: 65% received nothing but meals, and the typical recipient got $54 for the year. The top 10% of recipients took 83% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee County | 924,740 | 929 | 100.5 | 18.6 |
| Waukesha County | 417,029 | 438 | 105 | 18.8 |
| Washington County | 138,727 | 101 | 72.8 | 3.5 |
| Ozaukee County | 93,956 | 98 | 104.3 | 10.4 |
Specialists
Dentists whose primary registered specialty is one of the six below, with the national rate for comparison.
| Specialty | Dentists | Milwaukee rate | U.S. rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatric dentists | 59 | 17 per 100k children | 14.9 |
| Orthodontists | 68 | 4.3 per 100k residents | 4 |
| Oral surgeons | 50 | 3.2 per 100k residents | 2.7 |
| Periodontists | 35 | 2.2 per 100k residents | 1.9 |
| Endodontists | 33 | 2.1 per 100k residents | 2 |
| Prosthodontists | 36 | 2.3 per 100k residents | 1.1 |
Who is practicing
33.4%
Women (U.S.: 35.8%)
133
New NPIs, 2023 to 2025
8.5%
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 Milwaukee ranks 9th 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, 495 Milwaukee dentists (31.6%) received at least one payment, $205,576 in all. 65% of them received only meals; the top 10% of recipients took 83% 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 Milwaukee dentists, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Align Technology | $48,754 |
| Dentsply Sirona | $37,598 |
| Straumann USA | $31,230 |
| A-dec | $9,484 |
| Dentsply Ih | $9,476 |
Where Milwaukee's dentists practice
The cities in the metro with the most registered dentists. Each links to the practices there.
- Milwaukee477 dentists
- Wauwatosa107 dentists
- Waukesha106 dentists
- Brookfield99 dentists
- West Allis72 dentists
- Menomonee Falls57 dentists
- Mequon46 dentists
- Franklin44 dentists
- West Bend39 dentists
- Glendale38 dentists
Frequently asked questions
How many dentists are in the Milwaukee area?
The Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI metro area has 1,566 dentists registered in the federal NPI registry, about 99.5 per 100,000 residents, or one for every 1,005 people. The U.S. rate is 80.2 per 100,000.
Which part of Milwaukee has the fewest dentists per person?
Dentist density is fairly even across the metro's large counties. The full county table on this page shows each one.
How many pediatric dentists does Milwaukee have?
59 dentists in the metro register pediatric dentistry as their primary specialty, roughly one for every 5,887 children. Nationally the figure is one for every 6,705 children.
Do dentists in Milwaukee get paid by dental companies?
Federal Open Payments data shows 31.6% of Milwaukee's registered dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company in 2025, $206,000 in total. 65% of those recipients received only meals. You can look up any individual dentist at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Metro = the Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI 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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