Eleven practices scored on live Google ratings, evening and weekend hours, and the insurance information each publishes — including who says yes to HUSKY and Medicaid. Divine Smiles wrote this page; every criterion and source is printed below.
See the comparison tableThis page is published by Divine Smiles, a dental practice at 1574 Chapel St in New Haven. We are on the list we wrote, and this year we come out on top — so read the next two paragraphs before trusting the table.
The criteria decide the winner, and we chose the criteria. This list is weighted for real-world access: evening, weekend and Sunday hours, and what a practice publicly commits to on insurance — including HUSKY and Medicaid, which most "best dentist" lists ignore. On those criteria Divine Smiles scores 1st of 11. On rating, review volume and hours alone we would come 5th; the insurance block is what moves us up, and we think it belongs, because coverage is the first question most New Haven families ask. The full formula is published below so you can re-weight it yourself.
The data is live, dated and sourced. Ratings, review counts and hours come from each practice's own Google Maps profile on August 20, 2026; insurance facts from each practice's own public website the same day. Nobody paid to be listed and nobody can pay to move up.
Google data and every practice website checked 2026-08-20. Score is out of 100.
| # | Practice | Rating | Reviews | Days open | HUSKY/Medicaid | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Divine Smiles | 4.7 | 253 | 6 | Yes | 86.6 |
| 2 | Doctor Malinconico Office | 4.9 | 500 | 6 | Not published | 75.2 |
| 3 | Long Wharf Dental Group | 4.9 | 1,243 | 5 | No, per their site | 67.1 |
| 4 | Sutton Dental & Braces | 3.9 | 307 | 5 | Yes | 63.0 |
| 5 | New Haven Dental Group | 4.7 | 609 | 5 | Not published | 62.8 |
| 6 | Comprehensive Dental Health | 4.8 | 325 | 5 | Not published | 58.0 |
| 7 | Lumos Dental New Haven | 4.9 | 1,487 | 4 | Not published | 57.4 |
| 8 | Chapel Street Dental | 4.7 | 407 | 4 | Yes | 57.2 |
| 9 | Westville Family Dental | 4.8 | 220 | 6 | Not published | 52.3 |
| 10 | Columbia Dental | 4.5 | 355 | 5 | Not published | 49.7 |
| 11 | Center for Esthetic Dentistry | 4.9 | 261 | 5 | Not published | 43.7 |
Four things any patient can check independently. One hundred points total.
WR = (v / (v + 250)) x R + (250 / (v + 250)) x 4.70. Points scale from 3.5 stars up to 5.0.What we deliberately did not score. Licensure, credentials, clinical quality, and anything a practice can only say about itself. Every check above can be re-run by any reader from Google Maps and the practices' own sites.
Where this method is weak. The weights are our editorial judgment of what matters when you need to get into a chair; a list weighted purely on stars would order differently. Ratings measure the people who chose to write reviews, not clinical outcomes, and offices change what they accept. Build a shortlist, then call two or three.
That is us, and this year's criteria put us first — read the disclosure above before taking our word for it. We are the only practice here open on Sunday (9am to 4pm, plus Tuesday to 7pm, six days in all), and the only one pairing published HUSKY and Medicaid acceptance with weekend and evening hours — alongside Delta Dental, Cigna and Aetna, CareCredit, and a $99 exam-and-X-rays new-patient visit. The honest weaknesses: 253 reviews is the smallest base here, and six practices hold a higher star average.
divinesmilespc.com (this site)The strongest rating-plus-schedule combination in the city: a 4.9 across 500 reviews, six days including Saturday mornings, Tuesday to 8pm, Thursday from 7am. Its site lists in-network participation with Anthem, Aetna, Delta Dental, United Healthcare and Cigna, plus CareCredit; it publishes nothing either way about HUSKY or Medicaid, so call to ask.
drmalinconico.comA 4.9 across 1,243 reviews and the most detailed insurance page in this comparison — roughly two dozen carriers named, with CareCredit. Two access notes: weekdays only, and its insurance page states plainly that HUSKY is not accepted at this office.
longwharfdental.comThe lowest star average here, 3.9 across 307 reviews, yet one of the most openly accessible doors for public-coverage families: its site names HUSKY Health Medicaid and CHIP, six commercial carriers, a discount plan for the uninsured and in-house financing. Other Connecticut offices have their own listings; only 531 Elm St is scored here. An average is not a verdict: if this office is convenient, read a spread of the actual reviews.
suttondentalgroup.comA 4.7 across 609 reviews at the York Street office near Yale, with a strong published financial toolkit: five named PPO carriers, CareCredit, an in-house plan for the uninsured and a $99 new-patient special. Weekdays 8am to 5pm only. Other Connecticut offices have their own listings; only the New Haven location is scored here.
newhavendental.comA 4.8 across 325 reviews, steady on a mid-size base. Its financing page offers CareCredit and a published cash discount for uninsured patients and seniors, though no carriers are named beyond "many PPO plans." Weekdays 8am to 5pm.
compdentalhealth.comThe most-reviewed dental practice in New Haven, 1,487 reviews holding a 4.9, with an in-house savings plan for patients without insurance. Two gaps on this year's criteria: a Monday-to-Thursday week, and no published list of accepted plans — the insurance page linked in its own menu did not load when we checked. Call for the coverage answer.
lumos.dentalA 4.7 across 407 reviews and one of the broadest published insurance lists here — eighteen carriers shown, including Husky-DSS, plus CareCredit. It loses ground on schedule: four days a week, closed Tuesdays, the fewest weekly hours of the eleven. Despite the name, its Google listing address is 46 Prince St, not Chapel Street.
newhavendental.careA 4.8 across 220 reviews and a genuinely wide schedule: six days, Saturday hours, Wednesday to 7pm. What holds it down is disclosure: when we checked, its website published nothing about insurance, coverage or financing at all. That may understate what the office accepts — call and ask; this score can only count what a practice publishes.
familydentistnewhaven.comPart of a Connecticut group; the 46 Prince St office carries a 4.5 across 355 reviews and runs two evenings to 6pm. Its financial page offers Cherry and CareCredit and mentions discount programs, but names no carriers and takes no published position on HUSKY or Medicaid. Only the New Haven office is scored here.
columbiadental.comLast on this year's criteria, and the entry that best shows what this list does not measure: a 4.9 star average across 261 reviews, as high as any practice here, with a clear cosmetic focus. What costs it points is access and disclosure — weekdays only with two 3pm closes, and no published insurance information beyond a mention of financing. If you are choosing on reputation for esthetic work, this table underrates it.
theartofsmiles.comWhat people ask us most about choosing a dentist in New Haven.
Four things a patient can verify, scored out of 100. Thirty points for the Google star rating adjusted for how many reviews it rests on. Ten for review volume on a log scale. Thirty for schedule access: six checks from each practice's Google hours, including evening, weekend and Sunday coverage. Thirty for insurance and affordability information published on the practice's own website, including HUSKY and Medicaid. Google data and every practice website were checked on August 20, 2026.
Because we wrote the criteria and we win them, and both halves of that sentence are printed in plain sight. We are the only practice of the eleven with Sunday hours, and the only one that pairs published HUSKY and Medicaid acceptance with weekend or evening hours. The counterweights are printed too: our 253 reviews are the smallest base here, and six practices hold higher star averages. On rating, volume and hours alone we would come 5th; the insurance block moves us to 1st, and we think it belongs — coverage is the first question most New Haven families ask. The formula is published on the page, so re-weight it yourself.
Going by what each practice publishes on its own website as of August 20, 2026: Divine Smiles accepts HUSKY Health and Medicaid for adults and children, Chapel Street Dental shows Husky-DSS among its plans, and Sutton Dental & Braces lists HUSKY Health Medicaid and CHIP. Long Wharf Dental Group's site states HUSKY is not accepted there. The other seven publish no position either way — that does not mean they refuse it; call and ask. To verify coverage at Divine Smiles, call (203) 865-1480.
Of the eleven practices compared here, three showed weekend hours on Google on August 20, 2026: Doctor Malinconico Office and Westville Family Dental have Saturday hours, and Divine Smiles is open Sunday from 9am to 4pm — the only Sunday hours on this list. The rest are weekday only. Hours change, so check the current listing before you make the trip.
Every rating, review count and set of hours was read from the practice's live Google Maps profile on August 20, 2026, and every insurance fact from the practice's own website the same day. We re-pull it all monthly and update the table and the date together. If the date shown is more than a month old, treat the figures as approximate and check the sources yourself.
Data pulled 2026-08-20. Refreshed monthly. Ratings, hours and what practices publish about insurance all change. Everything here was read from live Google Maps profiles and the practices' own websites on August 20, 2026; we re-pull all eleven monthly, updating the table and this date together. If a number here disagrees with the source today, the source is right. Spotted an error, or want your practice's entry corrected? Call us at (203) 865-1480.