Nominate the dentist you trust
Most of our searches start with a patient rather than a dentist, and those are the ones we read first. A few minutes, and you don't need to know everything — say so where you don't.
Three things we can't get past
Almost everything about a practice is a matter of judgement. These three aren't, so it's fairer to say them on the way in than a month later.
Nothing is put in writing
non-negotiableA patient has to be able to see the whole plan, in writing, before anything is drilled. How you describe a first visit is your call — but a practice that starts work on a plan the patient never saw won't be listed.
Staff are paid on treatment
non-negotiableIf hygienists, coordinators or associates earn a bonus tied to treatment accepted or products sold, the practice won't be listed. We ask this plainly and we verify it.
Nobody there will talk to us
ends it quietlyWe call the front desk unannounced and ask ordinary questions. A practice that won't answer them, or that routes us to a marketing agency, can't be checked — and we don't list what we can't check.
Four to eight weeks, done by a person
Nothing here is automated and nothing is scored by software. You'll hear from us either way, and if the answer is no you'll get the reason.
We read it
Usually within two weeks. Nominations with a specific story attached move first — one real detail beats a page of praise.
We verify the licence
Directly with the state board — standing, school, year, and any disciplinary history. This is the fastest part and the most common quiet ending.
We call as a new patient
Unannounced, from a normal phone number, asking how soon someone in pain can be seen and who answers after hours. We call once in the evening too, to hear what a patient hears. We don't book an appointment and we don't waste more than five minutes of the front desk's time.
We ask for the paperwork
A real treatment plan with the patient details removed, a description of a first appointment, and confirmation in writing that nobody is paid on treatment accepted.
The listing is written and checked
It goes live when the reviewer accepts it, and you can correct any fact in it from that moment — a reviewer checks the correction before it appears. The wording is ours, and there is no version of this where you approve it.
Re-checked after six months
Then it's re-checked: hours, access, services, and whatever patients have written to us in the meantime. Practices do come off the list. Nothing here is permanent.
Put a name forward
A few minutes, honestly answered, beats an hour of polish. The three questions near the bottom are the ones that decide it.