NAICS code for a dental office: 621210, and the codes around it

This page is for dental practices, group practices and dental service organizations (DSOs) filling in a form that asks for an industry code (a practice loan, insurance, a vendor or government registration, a tax return), and for companies that sell to dentists and need to filter by code. For the market itself, how practices buy and the rules for emailing them, see the guide to dental practices.

The NAICS codes for dental businesses

How to choose

For a practice, it's simple: if licensed dentists provide the care, the code is 621210, whatever the specialty, the number of locations or the payer mix. The Census definition covers "private or group practices in their own offices (e.g., centers, clinics) or in the facilities of others." The hard cases are the businesses that sit next to the practice:

In a typical DSO structure, the dental practices stay 621210 and the management company that serves them is 561110. If one company both owns the practices and runs them centrally, its head office is 551114 and each practice is still 621210. The practice's code doesn't change when it signs with a DSO.

SIC code for dental offices

The SIC code for a dental office is 8021, Offices and Clinics of Dentists, and the Census concordance maps it to 621210 one to one. Dental laboratories are SIC 8072, which maps to 339116. That makes dentistry one of the easier industries to convert in either direction. The SEC's own SIC list has no 8021; the only dental companies on EDGAR are suppliers, under codes such as 5047 and 3843.

NPI taxonomy codes: the codes insurers use

Dental claims and the CMS NPI registry don't use NAICS. Each dentist and practice that bills insurers has a National Provider Identifier with a Health Care Provider Taxonomy code from the National Uniform Claim Committee. That's where the specialty is recorded:

So if you need orthodontists only, filter the NPI registry by 1223X0400X rather than looking for a NAICS code that doesn't exist.

How many dental offices there are

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, establishments with paid employees:

California has by far the most dental offices (22,757), followed by Texas (11,902), Florida (9,039), New York (8,001) and Illinois (5,781). The average office has about 7.6 employees and pays about $60,700 per employee (our calculation).

CBP counts locations with paid employees, so a 40-office DSO-affiliated group counts 40 times, and it leaves out practices with no employees. It uses NAICS 2017; 621210 didn't change in 2022.

SBA size standards

From the SBA's Table of Size Standards, effective March 17, 2023 (13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR shows no later change):

Receipts are averaged over the latest five fiscal years and include affiliates. For practices tied to a DSO, whether they count as affiliates depends on control under the SBA's affiliation rules, so check before you certify as small.

Where the code is used

• Practice loans. SBA lenders check 621210 against the $9.0 million standard, including affiliates.
• Tax returns. The IRS activity code is the same: 621210, Offices of dentists. A dental lab's sole owner uses 339110, Medical equipment and supplies mfg., and a management company 561110.
• Federal work. If you bid for federal dental contracts, register 621210 as your primary code in SAM.gov; the contracting officer sets one code per contract.
• Insurance. Tell your insurer about any lab or management company the group adds, since each is a different kind of business.

Finding dental offices by code

There are no listed dental practices on EDGAR. The public companies in dentistry are suppliers, which file under supply and manufacturing codes:

For practices, the NPI registry is the best free source: search organizations by taxonomy and state to get practice names, addresses and phone numbers, or download the full NPPES file. A Bebop search can describe the practices you want (multi-location orthodontic practices in Arizona with an office manager, say) and return the practices and decision makers with the reason each fits.

Worked example: coding a DSO-affiliated group

Illustrative example. The companies and figures are invented.

Brightline Dental Partners (brightline.example) is a management company serving 14 dental practices in Georgia. Each practice is owned by its dentists. Brightline also runs a small crown and bridge lab that serves the practices.

1. The practices. Each is 621210 (SIC 8021), with NPI taxonomy 1223G0001X for general practices and 1223X0400X for its two orthodontic offices.
2. Brightline. Its main business is billing, HR and marketing for the practices under contract, so it's 561110 (SIC 8741). The lab is a second code, 339116.
3. Size. A practice with $2.4 million in average receipts is far under $9.0 million on its own. Whether Brightline's revenue counts as an affiliate's depends on control, which is a question for counsel.
4. Lists. A seller of imaging equipment targets the 14 practices by NPI; a seller of payroll software targets Brightline, where the decision sits.

Next step: read the guide to dental practices for who decides in a practice and how to build a compliant list.