The method

How the Peach Score is calculated

The Peach Score is a number from 0 to 100 that we work out ourselves. It is not a Google score, it is not an endorsement, and it is not a measure of clinical skill. It is a reading of how a practice looks in public, from data anyone can check.

The rule that matters most

We never fill in a number we do not have. If a practice has no Google rating, the rating component is not scored as a zero and it is not guessed at — it is dropped, and the remaining components are re-weighted to add up to 100. Every profile says how much of the 100 was actually measured. A practice is never punished for a fact we failed to collect.

The four components

1. Google star rating — 35 points

The practice's star rating on Google, straight from the Google Places API. A 5.0 scores full marks, a 3.0 scores zero, and everything between scales in a straight line. Anything below 3.0 also scores zero. We use 3.0 as the floor because a rating that low is already the story — dividing up the space beneath it adds nothing.

2. Google review volume — 25 points

How much weight sits behind those stars. Four-point-nine from twelve people is a weaker signal than 4.7 from nine hundred. The curve is logarithmic: no reviews scores 0, about 25 reviews scores roughly half marks, and 250 or more scores full marks. Beyond that, more reviews stop telling you much.

3. Findability and upkeep — 20 points

Three yes-or-no checks, each worth a third of this component: a website is on file, a phone number is on file, and the practice's federal NPPES record has been updated in the last five years. The third one is a proxy for a practice that keeps its paperwork current, and we say so rather than dressing it up as something more.

4. Reviews left on DentalPeach — 20 points

Our own moderated reviews, which only count once at least one exists. The average rating is scored the same way as the Google rating, then scaled by how many reviews there are: one review carries about a third of the component, five or more carry all of it. That stops a single review from swinging a score.

Putting it together

Each component gets a score out of 100. Those are multiplied by their weights, added up, and divided by the weights we could actually measure. The result is rounded to a whole number.

score = Σ(component points × weight) ÷ Σ(weight of measured components)

The bands on the profile pages are simply labels for ranges:

85–100 — Excellent
70–84 — Strong
55–69 — Solid
40–54 — Mixed
0–39 — Thin record

What the score cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether a dentist is any good at dentistry. Nothing in this formula touches clinical outcomes, training, complaint history, or board actions, because none of that is in the data we hold. A low score usually means a quiet online presence, not a bad dentist — plenty of excellent practices have never asked anyone for a review.

It also cannot tell you whether a practice is still open at the address shown. The federal record can lag a move or a retirement by years. Call before you go.

Where the data comes from

Provider records — the NPPES full-replacement file published monthly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Public domain. Names, credentials, specialty taxonomy, practice address, phone, and the dates the record was created and last updated.
Star ratings, review counts, hours and reviews — the Google Places API. Review text is shown with the reviewer's name and is never displayed more than 30 days after we pulled it, which is what Google's terms require.
Map positions — the practice address where it could be placed exactly, otherwise the centre of the ZIP code from the U.S. Census ZCTA gazetteer. Profiles say which one they are using.
Our own reviews — submitted through this site and read by a person before they appear.

Something wrong on your profile? Find it in the directory and claim it — corrections from the practice are treated as authoritative.