How We Build
The Data.

The Dental Index uses publicly observable data only. No client data, no private analytics, no self-reported practice numbers. Every figure can be independently re-derived from the same public sources.

What Are the Primary Data Sources?

Search demand — DataForSEO. Patient search demand is sourced from live DataForSEO search-volume data for a fixed basket of 48 dental service keywords, grouped into 8 service categories (general & preventive, emergency, implants, orthodontics, cosmetic, pediatric, periodontics, and oral surgery). County-level demand scales these volumes to the county's population; national figures aggregate the same keyword basket across all US markets.

Supply and rankings — Google Maps. Practice supply is the count of distinct practices ranking on Google Maps for those keywords in a given market. Practice-level rankings are pulled live from Google Maps for each of the 48 keywords at the practice's location.

Demographics — U.S. Census and ADA HPI. Population, household income, and workforce context come from the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute.

AI search landscape. The national AI dental search estimate (432,000 monthly searches across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, and Apple Siri) is modeled from DataForSEO keyword volumes for AI-mediated dental queries combined with published AI-platform usage growth data. It is a modeled national estimate, not a platform-reported figure, and is updated as platform data improves.

How Is the AI & Maps Readiness Score Calculated?

Each audited practice receives a 0–100 score weighting five observable signals:

Maps top-3 rankings (40%) — the share of the 48 keywords where the practice appears in the Google Maps top 3.
Top-10 coverage (25%) — the share of keywords where it appears in the top 10.
Service breadth (20%) — how many of the 8 service categories the practice ranks for at all.
Review authority (10%) — review volume relative to the market leader.
Rating (5%) — average star rating.

AI engine visibility scores (per-engine estimates for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and others) are modeled estimates derived from Maps rank, review authority, and rating signals — the same signals AI engines demonstrably weight when recommending local businesses. They are not live AI engine queries, and every audit labels them as modeled.

How Are Patient and Revenue Figures Modeled?

Patient-gap and revenue-gap figures are modeled from position-based click-through-rate curves applied to keyword search volumes, with per-category conversion assumptions held deliberately conservative. Revenue conversions use midpoint US fee ranges per service category. These are directional estimates for sizing an opportunity — not forecasts — and are labeled as modeled estimates wherever they appear. Practices are always invited to substitute their own new-patient economics.

Where Do the National Benchmark Figures Come From?

The 2.3% average demand capture rate is the average share of county-level search demand captured by the #1-ranked practice across the markets audited by The Dental Index, using the CTR-based capture model described above.

The 70% AI-invisibility figure is the share of scored US practices falling below 40/100 on the AI readiness score.

The national practice dataset is built by running this same scoring pipeline across US dental practices' public Google Maps profiles, accumulated market by market. The dataset grows continuously; published figures reflect the dataset at the time each report is dated.

What Are the Limitations?

Four limits apply to everything we publish. Snapshots move: search volumes, rankings, and populations reflect live data at the time of analysis and shift over time — every report carries its analysis date. Models are models: CTR curves and conversion assumptions are industry-standard but cannot capture any single practice's actual conversion performance. AI scores are inferred: until AI platforms expose ranking data, per-engine scores remain signal-based estimates. Public data only: we see what patients and search engines see — not production numbers, payer mix, or internal financials.

Anonymization & Independence

Published practice audits are anonymized at the practice level; market context is reported at the county level. Audits are independent, current-state assessments built entirely from public data — they are not client engagements and do not represent produced results. The intelligence published on The Dental Index is free; implementation services are offered separately through GMB Dentist and are never a condition of coverage.

Corrections

If you believe a published figure is wrong, or you can produce data that contradicts a finding, email the founder directly via the contact link in the footer. Verified corrections are applied to the affected page with a dated note.