Have you ever wondered how long your dentist has been licensed or if they’ve ever had any public complaints?
Each state dental board provides certain public record information about dentists.
A lot of information about your dentist is available on the internet. In fact, as of late 2013 (Thanks Iowa!), all 50 states in the U.S. provide access to license information about all of their dentists online free of charge.
Some of the details that state dental boards allow you to view are:
- How long the dentist has been licensed
- If the dentist has ever had any disciplinary action taken against them
- If the dentist has a permit for sedation or general anesthesia
- What dental school and in what year the dentist graduated
- If they are board certified in one of the nine dental specialties
- Their main address where they engage in the practice of dentistry
All of these links work as of today! Over time, I am sure that some of the state dental boards will change the addresses of their license verification pages. If that happens, please send me an email or leave a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll update the broken link.
Here’s the list:
Dentist License Verification Information for Each State in the United States
Alabama
The Alabama Board of Dental Examiners provides an online directory of all practicing dentists in the state that tells you the address of every dentist in the state, when they first got licensed, when their license expires and from which dental school they graduated. It’s a Microsoft Excel file, if you have any trouble opening it, let me know and I can convert it.
The Alabama Dental Board states that “The directories posted on this website are not intended for license verification purposes.”
Interestingly, they don’t seem to provide any other way for the public to verify licenses. Although first in the alphabet, they’re near the bottom when it comes to information disclosure regarding practicing dentists. If you find a better way to verify dental licenses in Alabama, please leave a comment below!
Alaska
The Alaska Board of Dental Examiners allows you to download a .csv file (you can open it with Microsoft Excel) that contains the address of every dentist in the state, when they first got licensed and when their license expires. You need to go to this page and then click on “Dental” then click “Continue.” On the next page click on “Dentist” and then type in your email address and you will get a copy of the .csv file emailed to you with the information.
Arizona
The Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners makes this form available to allow you to search for your dentist and find out their address, license number, issue date, expiration date, their dental school, and graduation date.
Arkansas
The Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners has a form available that tells you the dentist’s address, phone number, when they first became licensed, and if they have ever had any disciplinary action taken.
California
The Dental Board of California provides this form you can use to search for your dentist.
Colorado
Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies provides this dental license verification tool. Select “Dental: Dentist (DEN)” from the list and then input the information you know to perform a search.
Connecticut
The Connecticut Department of Public Health provides a form to search for your dentist here. Be sure to select “Dentist” from the drop-down list.
Delaware
The Delaware State Board of Dentistry provides this form. Select “Dentistry” from the drop-down menu.
District of Columbia
Here is the link to the District of Columbia Dental License Search page. You have to choose “Dentistry” then “Dentist” from the top two drop-down boxes.
Florida
The Florida Department of Health provides this form. Select “Dental” from the “Profession” drop-down menu. Try this link if the top one doesn’t work.
Georgia
The Georgia Board of Dentistry has made this form available. Select “Dentistry” under the profession box.
Hawaii
The Hawaii Department of Professional and Vocational Licensing doesn’t appear to allow you to search online, but they do offer a telephone number for you to call to obtain information on licensed dentists and previous complaints filed against dentists. They provide two numbers: (808) 587-3295 or (808) 587-3222.
Idaho
The Idaho State Board of Dentistry provides this form to search for a licensed dentist.
Illinois
The Illinois Division of Professional Regulation provides this license lookup form.
Indiana
Indiana Online Licensing provides this form to search for dentists.
Iowa
The Iowa Dental Board provides this form for you to perform a dental license search.
Kansas
The Kansas Dental Board provides this license verification form. By using it, you agree to the Kansas Open Records Act.
Kentucky
The Kentucky Board of Dentistry provides this Dentist License Search form.
Louisiana
The Louisiana State Board of Dentistry provides this License verification page.
Maine
Maine provides this slightly confusing form. You need to select “All” under “Department”, “Dental Examiners” under “Agency” and “Regulator” then select “Dentists” under “Profession.” Then you can search!
Maryland
Maryland provides the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners License Verification Site which you can use to verify your dentist’s license.
Massachusetts
Go to the Massachusetts Division of Health Professions Licensure License Verification Site to verify your dentist’s license.
Michigan
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory affairs provides this online dental license verification page. Simply select “Dentist, Hygienist, Dental Assistant” category from the profession selection box.
Minnesota
The Minnesota Board of Dentistry provides this Licensee Search page.
Mississippi
The Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners provides this search page for licensed dentists.
Missouri
The Missouri Division of Professional Registration provides this licensee search page (scroll down in the drop-down box to the “Dentistry” category. Alternatively, you can download a complete listing of all dental professionals from this page.
Montana
Montana has a state-wide licensee look-up system. It requires a few steps and has a captcha form. I put in the name of a recent graduate of my dental school who went to Montana to practice dentistry, and it didn’t find him… Hopefully it works for you!
Nebraska
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services provides this license look-up page.
Nevada
The Nevada State Dental Board provides this licensee search page.
New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Board of Dental Examiners provides this license verification page.
New Jersey
The State of New Jersey provides this license verification service.
New Mexico
New Mexico provides this licensee search page. Click on “Dental” under profession, and then “Dentist” under license type.
New York
The New York Office of Professions has a license verification page here.
North Carolina
The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners provides this license verification database search page.
North Dakota
The North Dakota State Board of Dental Examiners provides this license verification page.
Ohio
The Ohio License Center provides this license search page.
Oklahoma
The Oklahoma State Dental Board provides this easy-to-use directory of licensed dentists. The link goes to dentists with last names starting with “A.” You can click on a different letter at the top of the page.
Oregon
The Oregon Board of Dentistry provides this licensee look-up page.
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of State provides this license verification site.
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Health provides this license look-up page.
South Carolina
South Carolina provides this dental license look-up page.
South Dakota
The South Dakota State Board of Dentistry provides this license verification page.
Tennessee
The Tennessee Department of Health provides this license verification page. I have to say it is one of the most in-depth license lookup systems out there! It gives you a LOT of information about the dental professional that you look up. For example, it will tell you if a dentist was fined for not renewing his license on time.
Texas
The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners provides this license verification page.
You can select dentists, hygienists, or registered dental assistants and then it will take you to the search page.
Utah
The state of Utah provides this licensee look-up and verification system.
Vermont
Vermont provides this state license look up page.
Virginia
The Virginia Department of Health Professions makes this license look-up page available to the public.
Washington
The Washington State Department of Health has this provider credential search page which will allow you to verify your dentist’s license.
West Virginia
The West Virginia Dental Board provides this page where you can search for a dentist and find their licensing information.
Wisconsin
The State of Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing provides this page for you to search for your dentist’s license details.
Wyoming
The Wyoming Board of Dental Examiners provides this licensee search page.
Questions or Broken Links
Do you have any questions about finding public records information about your dentist? Did you find that one of the links above didn’t work? Please leave a comment below and let me know about it and I’ll fix it right away!
Thanks for visiting Oral Answers!
The link to web side of the license verification page of Texas state does not work. Thanks
Thank you Tupemami. I got the link updated!
First Texas Rangers beat the Tigers and now they change their link… Hopefully Texas will be on my good side now.
Thanks for letting me know!
I updated the New Mexico link so it is working again! If you find any other states that don’t work, please leave a comment. Thanks!
Do you know of any links to check the District of Columbia (DC)?
Hi Corbs – Here is the link to the District of Columbia’s Dental License Search. You have to choose “Dentistry” then “Dentist” from the top two drop-down boxes. I hope that helps – Thanks for letting me know that I missed that one!
No problem. Thanks, you’re awesome! The District is often a forgotten place when listing states.
It’s not a big deal obviously, but I think you might care. Put DC on your list above Florida.
Got it fixed – Thanks, Corbs. I probably never would’ve caught that on my own!
this site was a godsend. thank you. thank you. and again i say thank you.
tom, hello. one more thing. when i was searching the dentist on my list, i noticed that some of the sites had a section indicating if they practice sedation dentistry or not. if they practice sedation dentistry there is a number in that column……….#358 / #366, etc. do you know what that number signifies?
Hi Regina – I’m not sure, since all states report licensing differently. My guess would be that this is their Dental Sedation Permit Number. I hope the helps – let me know if you find out otherwise. I’m glad the list helped you out, thanks for your comment!
State of Oklahoma is not working at this time.
Hi Deb – The whole site for the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry appears to be offline right now… I’ll keep an eye on it, hopefully it is temporary.
In the meantime, you can click here for their Facebook page with photos of all the licensed dentists in Oklahoma. It doesn’t look like it gives you any more details on whether or not they’ve had any complaints filed against them though. I hope that helps – Have a great day!
Hello Tom,
Thanks for your detailed list! I was able to look up a dentist and his assistant I was interested in going to. What does it mean if the dental registered assistant ‘s license was cancelled? And what if she is still working, yet the license verification site has no work address listed? Would it still be a safe idea for me to be seen by those dentists or should I look elsewhere? Thank you so much for your help!
Sincerely,
Danielle
Hi Danielle – Unfortunately, all of the state websites do things a little differently, and the laws that say what kind of registration/certification dental assistants need vary too much from state to state. As long as it doesn’t say “suspended” or “revoked” and have a link to additional information, I would think that you’d be fine. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Have a great day!
Massachusetts link is not working
Hi Sally – I got it fixed above. You can click here and then select “Dentist” from the License Type box. Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you!!! You have no idea how helpful this was to me!
Tom, I just want to thank you again. I wish I had realized how import it is to research dentists before we go. After having major problems with my dentist, I used the link you provided to find my dentist license status as “PROBATION”… So something significant must have gone wrong with someone else and not just me. If I had known there was any problems with her, I would have not gone to her… instead now I’m left with no teeth, and suing my dentist. My Attorney is also a dentist and says we have a pretty good case.
I wish we could make people more aware that they really need to research before going!
Greetings Tom,
The State of Georgia has taken “Dentistry” and “Medical” out of their list of professions. I am interested in verifying dental licenses. Any other place to look?
Thank you, Tiffany
Did you try this ? https://gadch.mylicense.com/verification/
Greetings Sally,
Thank you. This site gave me the license verification of GA dentists I was looking into.
Tiffany
Thanks Sally! I updated it in the post – I guess the dental site split off from the main Georgia Professions site.
You are both very welcome! I hope for whatever reason the info is needed it works out!
People need to keep themselves informed. I wish I had done research before I went to have my dental work done.
Best Wishes to all and have a Happy and Safe New Year!
You can see what happened me to me if you search Aspen Dental Nightmares on Facebook.. I just want people to research first and not end up like me and many others.
http://app.hpla.doh.dc.gov/weblookup/Search.aspx
DC link is down / dead link
[…] will need to contact your state dental board to verify a dentist’s license. Iowa didn’t provide this information online until 2013, but you can now access records on dentists in all 50 states at no charge. There are a number of […]
Wrong entry for North Carolina:
http://www.ncdentalboard.org/license_verification.htm
I hope you update with the directed graph version and organize it not by centrality but by time: influences being placed to the right of the influence. That would be a great resource to go along with books like Russell’s History of Western Philosophy.
Before booking a dentist in Mexico, it’s a must to verify your dentist’s licensure credentials to ensure your safety during a procedure. Here are 3 simple ways to verify your dentist’s license to practice dentistry without being too nosy. http://www.mexicoborderdentist.com/3-simple-ways-to-verify-your-dentists-license/
I live in Virginia and am trying to find out if a dentist is certified. How do I do that, when I go to the site under the state of Virginia I cannot seem to find it. The page it brings me to wants money. How do I look this up? Thank you.
Hi New Hampshire’s link doesn’t work.
The Alabama link does not work. I need to find out if my dentist graduated from UAB.
Hi Lynne,
Here’s the current roster:
Spreadsheet of 2016 Dentists – Alabama
Can you advise or recommend how someone can confirm the Board Cerification of a Peridontist. Thank You.
Hi D – You can go to this link at Perio.org to find a periodontist. I hope that helps!
https://www.perio.org/?q=locator-advanced
I’m in searching of a site like this and I finally found it.You really did a great job man..Aweome..
Hola intento checar a un supuesta dentista que consulta en mi área pero viene de california, he buscado su nombre en internet y no aparece nada de el, se me hace sospechoso que viaje de California a Arkansas para consultar 2 días al mes y no da dirección hasta que uno haya concertado una cita, intente checar lo aquí pero los links de California y Arkansas no me dejan ingresar el nombre, otra cosa es que no tengo numero de cédula más que el nombre. Se puede hacer algo con el puro nombre?
The link to Arkansas doesn’t work.
Thanks, Ashley. I will fix it now!
Hi Tom. I am in California and looking for more info on the dentist besides the licence#. I am looking for info like where their last place they practiced/worked at and any claims that might of been filed against them. The dentist I am researching have no reviews online anywhere, and I find it very odd. Any info is appreciated. Thanks!
Good morning Tom,
I tried to send this message below and not sure if it went thru. Trying again.
I would like to see if you can help me or lead me to the right direction to find more info on a particular doctor. INGUYEN, ANH LOAN THI – dentist # 43375. I found her licence but trying to research more on her previous places she practiced/worked for as well as her standing, she is accepting medi-cal/medicare. There is nothing I can find on internet about her reviews or any info. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! -EV
Hi Tom
The Minnesota link is not working.
It works now, thank you Gail!
Hi. I was so excited about this website! Only thing…. I cannot find information for North Carolina. Please help. Thank you so much!
It’s fixed now, Maureen. Sorry for the delay!
Thank you for your service. The reply when I tapped on WV said, “Oops, we’re sorry. Something went wrong.” Can you check that out?
That’s what I got too, Margie. I just found their updated page and fixed the link – sorry it took so long!
I was unable to access the Texas link.
Fixed it! Thank you, Catherine.
Hello Good Morning,
Florida’s Link is also not working. It is not showing anything.
Would you like to check it for me?
Hi San Sara – I just checked it and it appears to be working. Are you still having trouble?