US Dental Insurance Acceptance by State 2026

A 51-jurisdiction open dataset measuring how well dental insurance actually works in each US state: share of dentists enrolled as Medicaid/CHIP providers (ADA HPI 2024), adult Medicaid dental benefit level and dollar caps (CareQuest/MACPAC classification, incl. the 2025 expansions), share of adults with dental insurance (CareQuest SOHEA 2024), past-year dental visits (CDC BRFSS 2024), and ACA marketplace stand-alone dental plan availability (CMS PY2026) — combined into a transparent composite Insurance Acceptance Index (100 = national average) and benchmarked against real state dental price levels.

Signature finding: dental prices and dental coverage are essentially uncorrelated across states (Pearson r = −0.04). Alabama has both the lowest dental prices in the country and one of the five weakest coverage profiles; Iowa combines below-average prices with the strongest coverage profile (index 131).

Methodology, data dictionary and limitations: see README.md. Companion price dataset: US Dental Cost Index by State 2026.

Companion consumer resources: dental insurance guides, Medicaid dental coverage by state, state-vs-state dental cost comparison tool, dental implant cost guide.

This dataset is pricing/coverage market research, not medical advice.