That is by far the largest concentration in the city, and the addresses explain most of it. This guide covers what the registry records, how to read a list this size, what is nearby, and what to check on cost and urgent care.
What is listed in the South End
General dentistry accounts for 350 of the listings. The specialist side is deep: 65 periodontics, 45 orthodontics, 42 prosthodontics, 31 oral and maxillofacial surgery, 30 endodontics, 14 pediatric dentistry, 4 oral pathology, 2 dental public health, and one each of orofacial pain and oral radiology, along with 4 dental clinics.
Two streets carry most of it. E Newton St has 225 listings and Albany St has 202, with a further 17 recorded as Albany Street. Tremont St has 18 and Harrison Ave has 11. Alongside that, 523 of the 555 listings are registered to individual practitioners and only 32 to organizations.
Individual practitioners recorded one by one at a small number of shared addresses is the pattern a large teaching and hospital campus produces in this registry. One hundred and forty two of the listings were registered before 2010 and the oldest dates to 2005.
- 555 practices, 350 of them general dentistry
- 225 listings on E Newton St, 202 on Albany St
- Five ZIP codes, including 02118 and 02116
- 523 individual practitioners, 32 organizations
- 142 registered before 2010
How to read a list of 555
Do not treat this as 555 places you can ring for an appointment. Most of these names share a handful of addresses, so a call may reach a central switchboard rather than the person listed. If that is the route you want, ask which clinics take patients from outside, how appointments are booked, how long visits run and who supervises the treatment.
If you would rather have an ordinary neighborhood practice, start with the listings on Tremont St and Harrison Ave and with the nearby areas below. Either way the practical questions are the same: how far ahead do appointments book, will you see the same dentist each time, and what happens if you call in pain.
No gaps here, and the neighbors
Every specialty the registry tracks has listings in the South End, most of them in numbers you would not find in a whole small city. There is no specialty you need to leave the neighborhood to find, which is worth knowing if a treatment plan turns out to need several different practitioners.
Nearby areas are useful for a conventional practice or a second opinion. Chinatown is 1.0 miles away with 475 listed practices and Back Bay is 1.0 miles away with 103. Frederick Douglass Square Historic District has 32 at 0.4 miles, Leather District has 29 at 1.2 miles, Bay Village has 26 at 0.9 miles and Roxbury Crossing has 3 at 0.9 miles.
Paying for treatment here
The registry holds addresses and registrations, nothing more. It carries no fees, no opening hours and no insurance information. Just one of the 555 South End listings publishes a website through it, none publishes hours, and none has been claimed by its owner. Claimed listings are how practices add that detail, which is why they matter to patients comparing options.
So ask directly. Confirm the practice is in network for your exact plan rather than for your insurer as a whole, since one insurer usually runs several networks. Ask for a written estimate before treatment, listing procedure codes, the fee, the expected plan payment and your share. At a teaching clinic, ask how the fee schedule works and how many appointments the treatment will take.
- Check the network for your specific plan
- Get a written estimate before treatment starts
- Ask how many visits a course of treatment needs
- Ask who to contact if a problem arises between visits
Urgent problems
For same day pain, call early and ask for an emergency appointment. Large institutional clinics do not always take urgent cases from the public, so try neighborhood practices too: Chinatown is 1.0 miles away with 475 listings and Back Bay has 103. To search by distance from wherever you are, use dentist directory.
Some symptoms need an emergency room rather than a dental office. Go straight there if swelling is spreading toward your eye or down into your neck, if breathing or swallowing is becoming difficult, if you have a fever with facial swelling, or if bleeding will not stop after an extraction. A knocked out adult tooth should be held by the crown, kept in milk or saliva, and seen within the hour.
Questions patients ask
Why does the South End have 555 dentists listed?
Because the registry records practitioners individually, and 225 of the listings share an E Newton St address while 202 more are on Albany St. That also explains why 523 of the 555 are individual practitioners and only 32 are organizations. It reflects a large concentration of registered dentists rather than 555 separate practices.
Which ZIP codes does the South End cover?
The listings here fall across five ZIP codes: 02118, 02116, 02115, 02111 and 02218. That is more than any other neighborhood in this batch of Boston listings, which is one reason the total is so large. Checking the ZIP code on a listing helps you tell which part of the area a practice sits in.
Can I find a specialist in the South End?
Every specialty the registry tracks is listed here, including 65 periodontics, 45 orthodontics, 42 prosthodontics, 31 oral and maxillofacial surgery and 30 endodontics practices. The difficulty is not availability but knowing which listings accept patients directly, so ask your general dentist to refer you rather than calling names at random.