Each profile is compiled from four sources, and every fact on every page names its source and date:
The federal National Provider Identifier registry: practice identity, addresses, taxonomy.
License number and status, disciplinary record, dental school, graduation year, and sedation permit levels — refreshed from the board's public licensee file. Practices whose records can't be matched are marked accordingly, never guessed. Dentists whose licenses are retired, cancelled, or expired are excluded from the directory.
Services, insurance plans as published, credentials, payment options. We record what the practice itself states — with the page it came from and the date we read it.
Ratings load live from Google, unedited. Our review analysis summarizes the 5 most relevant reviews per practice — and reports negative patterns exactly as faithfully as positive ones. Polarity comes from star ratings, not our judgment.
Evidence-based guide pages rank practices only by documented evidence: state-board records first, then the practice's own published services, then review-theme analysis (review concerns subtract from scores). A guide page is generated only when at least three practices have at least two independent kinds of evidence. No practice can pay to appear, move up, or be excluded — placement is not for sale, and never will be. Paid features, when offered, buy verified profile detail and tooling — never position.
When we can't verify something, the profile says "not published" rather than guessing. Blank is honest; wrong is harmful. Practices can answer the open questions on their profile free, any time.