Editorial independence
Ownership conclusions must follow the evidence, regardless of whether a practice claims, verifies, sponsors, or declines to participate.
Classification is not for sale
Payment, membership, advertising, or a reciprocal link cannot create, preserve, remove, or outrank an ownership classification.
Three separate workflows
- Factual correction: free evidence review for any public record or ownership fact.
- Practice claim: free validation that a person may manage contact and identity information.
- Documented verification: ownership evidence review under published criteria. The evidence determines the result.
Search ordering
Organic results use query relevance and approximate distance where available. A verified badge is information about evidence, not permission to silently replace a more relevant result. Any paid placement must be labeled Sponsored.
External links
Practice links are qualified so DoctorOwned does not sell search-ranking equity. A link is provided to help a human research or contact an office.
Conflicts and appeals
Material conflicts remain visible as unclear until evidence resolves them. A rejected correction or verification request may be resubmitted with new authoritative evidence.
Operator recusal
DoctorOwned is operated by the team behind Smile Science Dental Spa. The operator must recuse from ownership verification of Smile Science and any other operator-affiliated practice. Those records remain unclear unless an independent reviewer confirms identity and ownership from publishable evidence. The database rejects a verified classification without an active evidence review.