Choosing among dentists in Highlands Ranch is unusual among local service decisions, because dentistry is one of the few categories where the state keeps a primary record you can check yourself. Every dentist practising in Colorado holds a licence issued by the Colorado State Board of Dental Examiners, administered through the Division of Professions and Occupations at DORA, and that register records the licence number, the date it was first issued, and whether it is currently active, expired, retired, surrendered or subject to conditions. Almost no other trade on this site can be checked that precisely. So for this ranking we checked it — for every practitioner we name.
Two local complications shaped the screen. The first is geography. Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community in Douglas County with no municipal government of its own, and its ZIP codes bleed into Littleton, Lone Tree and Centennial addresses that market themselves as Highlands Ranch practices. We required a street address genuinely inside the community — the Town Center and Springer Drive area, the Highlands Ranch Parkway corridor, Ridgeline and Wildcat Reserve, or the University Boulevard and Broadway edges — and cut everything else regardless of how the practice describes its service area.
The second complication is language. In dentistry, "specialist" is a regulated term: the twelve specialties recognised by the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards each require a formal postgraduate residency, and a general dentist who places implants, straightens teeth with clear aligners or performs a root canal is practising general dentistry, not a recognised specialty. Every practice below is a general dental practice, and we have described each one's scope in those terms. We also disregarded "top dentist" and "best of" magazine awards entirely — they are peer-nomination or paid-listing programmes, not measures of clinical outcome.
How We Evaluated Highlands Ranch Dental Practices
The Top 5 Dental Practices in Highlands Ranch
2026 Rankings · Highlands Ranch, Douglas County
Highlands Ranch Dental Care
Dr. Lynelle Zabel holds the longest continuously active Colorado dental licence of any practitioner in this ranking. The state register lists her as Lynelle Janine Zabel, licence DEN.6840, first issued on 17 July 1991 and currently in active standing with no conditions attached — thirty-five years without a lapse, a surrender or a restriction. Her practice site states that she is a graduate of the UCLA dental school with more than thirty years of experience, which is consistent with the state record rather than merely asserted alongside it.
The practice is a general one covering preventive, restorative and cosmetic dentistry, and it describes two specific capabilities worth understanding correctly. CEREC and CAD-CAM equipment allows a crown to be milled chairside rather than sent to an outside laboratory, which changes the number of appointments a restoration takes. Digital Smile Design is a proprietary planning protocol for previewing cosmetic work against a patient's facial proportions — a treatment-planning method the practice has licensed, not a clinical credential and not a specialty. The practice also displays a "Top Colorado Dentist 2024" badge; we have disregarded it, as such programmes are peer-nomination or paid listings and say nothing about clinical outcomes.
Highlands Ranch Smiles
Highlands Ranch Smiles is the largest general practice we verified in the community, and it is the only one where a patient can reasonably expect same-week availability because more than one dentist is chairside. We matched three of its named dentists to active Colorado licences: Michelle Osif Haynes, DEN.9913, first issued in May 2009; Courtney Lundin McKeever, DEN.202095, first issued in September 2013; and Amanda Katherine McCabe, DEN.202815, first issued in April 2016. All three are in active standing with no conditions recorded. A fourth dentist is listed on the practice site; we could not resolve that name to a single unambiguous licence record and so have not named them here.
The practice states on its own site that it has more than 900 Google reviews, and third-party aggregation puts it at 4.9 stars across 579 collected reviews — by volume the deepest patient record in this ranking. It ranks second rather than first for a structural reason rather than a critical one: in a multi-dentist practice you are choosing the office's standards rather than one clinician's, and continuity with a specific dentist is harder to guarantee. Scope is general dentistry across preventive, restorative and cosmetic care, plus clear aligners and metal braces provided by general dentists — orthodontics as a recognised specialty requires a separate residency, and the practice does not claim it.
Highlands Dental
Highlands Dental is Dr. Anna Burger's practice, and the state register confirms it: Anna Maria Burger, Colorado licence DEN.7481, first issued on 16 October 1996 and currently active with no conditions. Thirty years of unbroken Colorado licensure in a practice that treats one dentist as the whole proposition — the site's own stated philosophy is "high quality work over large quantity of patients" — makes this the clearest choice on the list for a reader who wants the same clinician at every appointment rather than whoever is available.
Scope is general and cosmetic dentistry: crowns, bridges, inlays and onlays, root canal treatment, dentures, hygiene and periodontal care, implant restorations, veneers and clear aligners. The practice's site notes that it refers to outside specialists in periodontics, implant surgery and endodontics where a case calls for one, which is the correct arrangement and worth reading as a positive signal rather than a limitation. Aggregated patient reviews sit at 4.9 stars across 486 collected entries, with a further 113 on Healthgrades — a substantial record for a single-chair practice.
Highlands Ranch Family Dentistry
This is a two-dentist practice on the Highlands Ranch Parkway with a genuinely unusual arrangement, disclosed plainly on its own team page: Dr. Eric T. Rysner is Dr. Elizabeth McInerney's uncle. Both trained at Creighton University and both hold active Colorado licences — Eric Todd Rysner, DEN.8490, first issued 1 July 2002, and Elizabeth May McInerney, DEN.203625, first issued 12 June 2018. Neither record carries conditions. The pairing of a twenty-four-year practitioner with a newer one inside a single small office is a reasonable structure for a household that wants continuity without a solo practice's scheduling constraints.
The practice covers general family dentistry — preventive care, restorative work, endodontic and periodontal treatment, and implant restoration — and it does not participate in HMO plans, accepting traditional PPO coverage instead, which is worth checking against your policy before booking. It ranks fourth on the volume of independently checkable patient feedback rather than on any question of credentials: the review record we could verify runs to roughly nineteen entries on Healthgrades and ten on Yelp, an order of magnitude thinner than the three practices above.
Highlands Ranch Dental Spa
Highlands Ranch Dental Spa sits in the Springer Drive block at the edge of the Town Center, and it is owned by Dr. Sarira Martin, who states on her own site that she took her DDS at the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1999. The Colorado register lists her as Sarira M Martin, licence DEN.8568, first issued 10 December 2002 and currently active. A second dentist, Dr. Rosana T. Morris, is named on the practice site and also holds an active Colorado licence, DEN.7395, first issued 27 March 1996. Neither record carries conditions.
Scope is general and cosmetic dentistry with a stated emphasis on laser treatment, sedation options, implant restoration, clear aligners and full-mouth rehabilitation, plus cosmetic injectables offered alongside the dental work — a service line that sits outside dentistry proper and is worth asking about specifically if it matters to you either way. It ranks fifth on the thinnest independently checkable review record of the five, not on any credential question: the verifiable patient feedback we could find runs to about eleven entries on Healthgrades plus a small Yelp listing. Read that as an absence of evidence rather than evidence of a problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check whether a Highlands Ranch dentist holds an active Colorado licence?
Colorado licenses dentists through the State Board of Dental Examiners, administered by the Division of Professions and Occupations within the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). The public licence lookup lets you search by name and returns the licence type, number, issue date, expiry date and current status. Dentist licences carry the DEN prefix. Look at the status field specifically, not just the presence of a record: 'Active' is what you want, while 'Expired', 'Retired', 'Surrendered', 'Revoked' or 'Active - With Conditions' each mean something different, and the last of those indicates the board has placed restrictions on the licence. The same register is published as an open dataset on the Colorado Information Marketplace, which is how the licence numbers on this page were confirmed.
Is a general dentist who places implants or uses clear aligners a specialist?
No. In dentistry, 'specialist' is a defined term. The National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards recognises twelve specialties — including orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, periodontics, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, prosthodontics and pediatric dentistry — and each requires a formal postgraduate residency accredited for that discipline. A general dentist may lawfully place implants, provide clear-aligner treatment or perform root canal treatment, and many do so competently, but doing that work does not confer specialty status. Every practice on this page is a general dental practice. If a case genuinely calls for a specialist, ask which one the practice refers to and whether that clinician is certified by the relevant recognised board.
Are dental practices in Littleton or Lone Tree the same as Highlands Ranch?
Not for the purposes of this ranking. Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community in Douglas County with no city government, and its postal geography overlaps neighbouring addresses, so a great many practices in Littleton, Lone Tree, Centennial and south Denver market themselves as serving Highlands Ranch. That is a marketing claim about a service area, not a location. Every practice listed here has a street address physically inside Highlands Ranch. If a drive of ten or fifteen minutes is acceptable to you, the surrounding options widen considerably — but check the address on the practice's own contact page rather than the headline on its home page.
How often should adults see a dentist?
There is no single interval that applies to everyone. The American Dental Association's guidance is that the frequency of examinations and cleanings should be determined between a patient and their dentist based on individual risk — factors such as history of decay and gum disease, smoking, diabetes, medications that reduce saliva, and how well plaque is controlled at home. Some patients are well served by an annual visit; others with active periodontal disease may need care every three or four months. Treat 'every six months' as a common default rather than a clinical rule, and ask your dentist what interval your own risk profile actually supports.
What should I ask before choosing a new dental practice in Highlands Ranch?
Ask which named dentist will actually treat you, and confirm that person's licence in the state register yourself before the first appointment. Ask whether the practice is independently owned or part of a larger dental group, because that affects who sets treatment protocols. Ask how the practice handles work outside general dentistry — whether it refers to a recognised specialist and to whom. Ask for a written treatment plan before any significant restorative or cosmetic work begins, and ask which insurance networks the office participates in rather than which plans it will bill, since those are different things. A practice that answers all five without hesitation is telling you something useful.
Sources & References
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Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
Colorado Dental Board — Division of Professions and Occupations
The Colorado State Board of Dental Examiners is the licensing and disciplinary authority for every dentist named on this page. The site rejects automated requests (HTTP 403) — bot-blocking, not a dead link; it loads normally in a browser.
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Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
DORA Licensee Lookup — verify a Colorado professional licence
The public licence-verification portal readers should use. It rejects automated requests (HTTP 405) — that is bot-blocking, not a dead link; it works normally in a browser.
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Colorado Information Marketplace / DORA
Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado (dataset 7s5z-vewr)
DORA's own licence file, published as open data and refreshed nightly. Every DEN licence number, issue date and status cited on this page was read from this register.
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National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards (ADA)
Recognized Dental Specialties
Backs the definition of the twelve recognised specialties and the point that a general dentist placing implants or straightening teeth is not a specialist.
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National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards (ADA)
Recognized Certifying Boards
The list of boards whose certification is recognised — what to check if a practice refers you to a specialist.
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American Dental Association
Oral Health Topics — clinical guidance library
Backs the FAQ guidance that examination and cleaning intervals should be set by individual risk rather than a fixed six-month rule.
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National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, U.S. National Institutes of Health
Periodontal (Gum) Disease
Federal patient guidance backing the risk factors named in the recall-interval answer.
Our Recommendation
For a reader who wants one clinician, known by name, with the longest verifiable record in the community, Highlands Ranch Dental Care is the clearest choice — Dr. Zabel's Colorado licence has been continuously active since 1991 and the practice's patient review record is the deepest of any single-dentist office here. For a household that needs appointments to be easy to get, Highlands Ranch Smiles has three independently verified dentists on site and by some distance the largest body of patient feedback. Highlands Dental sits between the two: one dentist of thirty years' standing, with outside specialists brought in where a case warrants it.
Whichever you call, do the same check we did. Search the state licence register for the dentist's name before your first appointment, confirm the status reads Active rather than merely present, and ask for a written treatment plan before any significant work begins. Licensure is a floor, not a ranking — it tells you the state permits someone to practise, not that a particular treatment plan is right for you.
This page is editorial research, not medical or dental advice. Nothing here diagnoses a condition, recommends a treatment, or predicts an outcome. No practice on this list has promised a result, and none should. Discuss your own care with a licensed dentist, and verify every credential independently before you make a decision.
Denver Dean's List maintains editorial independence. We do not accept payment for rankings or accept advertising from the practices we evaluate. Rankings are based on state licensure records, publicly available patient reviews and editorial research, and reflect the record as of August 2026. Licence status can change; verify it yourself before making a decision.