Methodology
Dental Market Radar Editorial Team · Updated
How Dental Market Radar finds, checks, rates and publishes dental market figures.
Last updated:
Rules for every figure
- A figure is published only with a source URL that was fetched and read.
- Each figure keeps a verbatim quote from the source and a locator: the page, table, sheet or row where the number sits.
- Each figure has an as-of date (the date it describes) and an accessed date (the day we read the source).
- If a source states a figure, the method is "reported". If we calculated it, the method is "derived" and the formula is in the notes. If it is modelled or approximate, the method is "estimate".
Which sources we use
In order of preference:
- National statistics offices, ministries and regulator registers.
- Professional associations.
- Peer-reviewed papers.
- International bodies such as the WHO, the OECD and the World Bank.
- Industry reports and company filings. These are used only for tier-2 metrics, rated medium or low confidence.
We do not use Wikipedia, blogs, AI answers, or market-research press teasers that give no method.
How we fetch
We follow robots.txt. A page that robots.txt allows may still return an error to our fetcher. We treat robots.txt as the rule, not the server's filtering. We never bypass a challenge page or a block meant to stop automation. If a figure came from a path that robots.txt disallows, we remove it and replace it from an allowed source.
Confidence ratings
- High: an official statistic from a government or statutory body.
- Medium: an industry body, a company filing or a peer-reviewed survey.
- Low: an estimate, a vendor claim or a press report.
Comparability
Markets define the same thing in different ways. Each figure is rated against the metric definition:
- A: the same definition as the metric.
- B: close. The difference is noted.
- C: a different basis. Use with caution when comparing.
A proxy is labelled B or C with its basis stated. We never present a proxy as a count.
Headline records and bases
For dentist counts, cross-market tables lead with practising or active dentists where the market publishes them. Registered or licensed counts are shown beside them. The basis is shown next to every value.
Per-capita rates
Per-capita rates use one denominator: World Bank total population for the same year. The national statistics figure stays on the market page. Where a market cannot follow this rule, the note says so and the rating is lowered.
Money
Spending is stored in local currency. The headline value is US dollars at the market exchange rate for the same year, with the source stated. Purchasing-power-parity values are shown as a secondary, labelled value.
Revisions
We do not edit a published figure in place. A corrected figure becomes a new revision of the same record. The old revision stays on the same page as history. The URL of a fact never changes.
Missing figures
A missing figure is a null with a stated reason:
- gap: we searched and found nothing.
- structural: the thing does not exist or does not apply, for example a profession that is not licensed in that market.
- blocked_source: a source exists but we could not read it.
- not_published: the authorities do not publish it.
Series breaks
Sometimes a source changes how it counts. A jump across that change is not growth. We mark the break on the fact pages and on the market page, with the reason.
Coverage and stale data
The coverage matrix shows which cells are filled, null, stale or missing. A value is stale when it is more than three years older than the newest access date in the dataset.
Checks before a figure goes live
- A validation script checks every record: required fields, source present, allowed values, revision links.
- For new records with method "reported", the number must appear in the quote.
- A second desk re-checks a sample of records against their sources.
- The site build fails if a page shows a number that is not in its fact record.
Known limits
- Figures from different markets are not always measuring the same thing. Read the comparability rating.
- Some official sources publish late or not at all.
- Research is done with AI assistance, so errors are possible. The quote and locator let you check any figure.
Downloads
Per-market CSV and JSON files, plus all data (JSON) and all data (CSV). Records from sources with restricted terms are link-only in these files.