2026 metro dental report
Dental care in Salt Lake City, by the numbers
How many dentists the 1,300,762 people of the Salt Lake City 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
27th of 50
82.8 dentists per 100k residents (U.S.: 80.2)
Pediatric access
14th of 50
19.5 pediatric dentists per 100k children (U.S.: 14.9)
1,077
Registered dentists
968
Practice addresses
20.2%
Specialists
2
Counties
Key findings
- Salt Lake City has 1,077 registered dentists for 1,300,762 residents: 82.8 per 100,000 people, 3% above the national rate of 80.2. That ranks 27th of the 50 largest U.S. metros.
- Where you live inside the metro matters. Salt Lake County has 85.5 dentists per 100,000 residents; Tooele County has 43.8. That is a 2x gap within one metro area.
- There is one pediatric dentist for every 5,123 children here (19.5 per 100,000 kids, 31% above the national rate).
- 76 dentists now practicing here received their NPI in 2023 to 2025, 5.8 per 100,000 residents (national: 6).
- 12.5% of Salt Lake City's registered dentists are women, against 35.8% nationally.
- In 2025, 38.3% of the metro's dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company, $624,000 in total. For most it was small: 61% received nothing but meals, and the typical recipient got $85 for the year. The top 10% of recipients took 91% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake County | 1,216,274 | 1,040 | 85.5 | 21.2 |
| Tooele County | 84,488 | 37 | 43.8 | 0 |
Specialists
Dentists whose primary registered specialty is one of the six below, with the national rate for comparison.
| Specialty | Dentists | Salt Lake City rate | U.S. rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatric dentists | 62 | 19.5 per 100k children | 14.9 |
| Orthodontists | 69 | 5.3 per 100k residents | 4 |
| Oral surgeons | 30 | 2.3 per 100k residents | 2.7 |
| Periodontists | 19 | 1.5 per 100k residents | 1.9 |
| Endodontists | 30 | 2.3 per 100k residents | 2 |
| Prosthodontists | 8 | 0.6 per 100k residents | 1.1 |
Who is practicing
12.5%
Women (U.S.: 35.8%)
76
New NPIs, 2023 to 2025
7.1%
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 Salt Lake City ranks 37th 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, 412 Salt Lake City dentists (38.3%) received at least one payment, $624,186 in all. 61% of them received only meals; the top 10% of recipients took 91% 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 Salt Lake City dentists, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Tendyne Holdings | $166,334 |
| Ultradent Products | $145,677 |
| Patterson Companies | $115,818 |
| Dentsply Sirona | $51,832 |
| Envista Holdings | $27,004 |
Where Salt Lake City's dentists practice
The cities in the metro with the most registered dentists. Each links to the practices there.
- Salt Lake City413 dentists
- West Jordan88 dentists
- Sandy83 dentists
- South Jordan81 dentists
- Murray56 dentists
- Draper50 dentists
- Taylorsville47 dentists
- Riverton46 dentists
- West Valley City39 dentists
- Midvale34 dentists
Frequently asked questions
How many dentists are in the Salt Lake City area?
The Salt Lake City-Murray, UT metro area has 1,077 dentists registered in the federal NPI registry, about 82.8 per 100,000 residents, or one for every 1,208 people. The U.S. rate is 80.2 per 100,000.
Which part of Salt Lake City has the fewest dentists per person?
Among counties with at least 50,000 residents, Tooele County has the fewest: 43.8 dentists per 100,000 people. Salt Lake County has the most, at 85.5.
How many pediatric dentists does Salt Lake City have?
62 dentists in the metro register pediatric dentistry as their primary specialty, roughly one for every 5,123 children. Nationally the figure is one for every 6,705 children.
Do dentists in Salt Lake City get paid by dental companies?
Federal Open Payments data shows 38.3% of Salt Lake City's registered dentists received at least one payment from a drug, device or dental supply company in 2025, $624,000 in total. 61% of those recipients received only meals. You can look up any individual dentist at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
Metro = the Salt Lake City-Murray, UT 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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