Editorial & Data Policy

DentalSalary.com exists to be a figure you can trust. This policy describes how we decide what to publish, how we label it, and how we keep our data independent of any commercial relationship.

Source hierarchy

We publish figures in this order of preference, and we label each one:

• Verified · BLS — official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey values, transcribed directly.
• Modeled estimate — derived from verified national data using a documented method (for example, scaling by a state or metro labor-cost index). Clearly labeled and never presented as an official local survey value.
• Community aggregate — de-identified aggregates of reviewed user submissions, published only above a sample-size threshold (none are published yet).

If we cannot source a figure to one of these standards, we don't publish a number. See methodology and data sources for the details.

What we never do

• We never fabricate or guess a salary number.
• We never present a modeled estimate as a verified figure.
• We never publish an individual person's submitted salary.
• We never let an advertiser or sponsor change a salary figure.

Independence from advertising

Advertising and sponsorship help fund the Site, but they are kept strictly separate from our data. Sponsored content never influences our salary estimates, rankings, or labels.Any sponsored or advertising unit is visually distinct from editorial content and is never placed above a page's primary salary answer. See advertise.

Review & updates

Figures are refreshed when the BLS publishes a new OEWS reference period, and pages carry a “last updated” date. We review submitted corrections promptly.

Corrections

If you believe a figure is wrong, tell us — see corrections. We'd rather fix an error than defend it.