# What is the best data for dental acquisitions? No single dataset is best for dental acquisitions; buyers combine five categories: listing marketplaces, licensed list data, public records, association workforce surveys and transition signals. The association layer is the one with a clear baseline, with 205,088 professionally active U.S. dentists in 2025 ([ADA Health Policy Institute](https://ddsintel.com/data/how-many-dentists-are-in-the-us)). By DDSIntel Editorial Team. Source: DDSIntel, https://ddsintel.com/deal-sourcing/dental-transition-data-providers-compared. Published 2026-10-26; data as of 2026-10-25. ## Key numbers - **205,088** professionally active U.S. dentists (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2025; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce) - **60** dentists per 100,000 U.S. residents (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2025; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce) - **16.1%** of U.S. dentists were affiliated with a dental support organization (ADA Health Policy Institute, The U.S. Dentist Workforce, 2025 update, 2024; https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/research/hpi/US_dentist_workforce_2025.pdf) - **15.2%** of professionally active U.S. dentists were 65 or older (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2025; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce) ## What categories of dental acquisition data exist? Five. Listing marketplaces show practices already for sale. Licensed list data supplies contact records. Public records show licenses, entities, permits and exclusions. Association and government surveys give workforce and shortage counts. Transition signals combine public records into early indicators. Each answers a different question, so none replaces the others. The [deal-sourcing guide](https://ddsintel.com/deal-sourcing) shows where each fits in the buy-side process. ## What are the strengths and limits of each? Listings are explicit but late and shared by every buyer. Licensed lists are broad, with variable accuracy and consent issues. Public records are authoritative but fragmented across agencies. Surveys are reliable but aggregate. Signals are early but ambiguous. See [listing data versus signal data](https://ddsintel.com/deal-sourcing/listing-data-vs-signal-data). A buyer should ask of any dataset: who published it, when, what it counts and whether it was consented. ## Which baseline numbers should a buyer start with? Start with association and government counts, which carry a publisher and a date. The ADA Health Policy Institute reports 205,088 dentists and 60.0 per 100,000 residents in 2025, and 16.1% of dentists affiliated with a DSO in 2024. They set context for any market before commercial data is added. See [dentists by state](https://ddsintel.com/data/dentists-by-state) and [how many dentists are in the US](https://ddsintel.com/data/how-many-dentists-are-in-the-us). ## How should a buyer evaluate a data source? Check four things: the original publisher, the date, whether individuals consented to being contacted, and whether the source says what it does not cover. Be wary of any claim of complete coverage. DDSIntel describes its own measures as published in aggregate by state and region once each release is signed off. The [methodology](https://ddsintel.com/methodology) names source categories; the [dental transition signals](https://ddsintel.com/signals) pillar defines each family. Territory use is in [territory planning](https://ddsintel.com/deal-sourcing/territory-planning). ## Frequently asked questions ### Is licensed list data allowed to be used for outreach? It depends on how it was collected and on the channel; counsel should review. ### Why not rely on one dataset? Each answers a different question, and each has blind spots. ### Does DDSIntel sell practice lists? No. Public pages show aggregates only and never name a practice or dentist. ### Where do the ADA numbers come from? The ADA Health Policy Institute workforce reports, cited on the [data pages](https://ddsintel.com/data). ## Sources 1. ADA Health Policy Institute. The dentist workforce. https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce 2. ADA Health Policy Institute. The U.S. Dentist Workforce, 2025 update. https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/research/hpi/US_dentist_workforce_2025.pdf 3. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NPPES data dissemination. https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/administrative-simplification/nationalprovidentstand/datadissemination --- DDSIntel is a dental transition intelligence platform that detects pre-market dental practice transition signals for brokers, DSOs, lenders and the firms that serve them.