Key Takeaways
- Dr. Smiles, a dentist in Washington state, posted his first Instagram video on July 9, 2026. Twelve weeks later the account has more than 125,000 followers and about 10.7 million views across eight posts.
- The median US dentist earned $176,110 in May 2025. The 50 highest-earning creators averaged about $20.4 million each, about 116 times that, but almost no creator is in the top 50.
- The videos drew about 10.7 million views, yet the fund they point to has 107 donations and $5,587. Attention did not turn into money at anything like the same rate.
Dr. Smiles is a dentist on Instagram who says he practices in Washington state and films himself offering dental care to people he meets. His profile shows more than 125,000 followers and eight posts, the earliest a video posted July 9, 2026 about a man named Brian. Twelve weeks on, those eight videos have drawn about 10.7 million views, the most-watched of them 3.2 million. He has not published his name.
That is a new kind of problem to have. Twelve weeks ago the account had no posts. Now he is a dentist with an audience, and the two roles ask different things of him. One helps the person in the chair. The other reaches people he will never meet. The new impact economy keeps producing this choice for anyone with a skill and a phone, and the public numbers say a good deal about what each path can do.
The format is simple, and the text on screen states it: he offers to fix people's teeth until someone says yes. A reel posted August 6, 2026 drew 355,000 likes. Its caption is about the person, not the procedure. Dr. Smiles wrote: "Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, no matter where they are in life or what they've been through."
What dentists earn and what the feed pays
- What the chair pays. The median annual wage for a US dentist was $176,110 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest tenth earned less than $89,100 and the highest tenth more than $337,210. About 161,400 people hold the job.
- What the feed pays. At the very top, far more. The 50 highest-earning creators made a combined $1.02 billion in the past year, as we reported from the Forbes Top Creators list. That is about $20.4 million each, roughly 116 times the median dentist's wage. It is also 50 people. The terms also move: X replaced its creator revenue sharing with original content rewards in August. Dr. Smiles' pages do not say whether the account earns anything at all.
- What the videos reached and raised. His eight videos have together drawn about 10.7 million views, the most-watched 3.2 million, far beyond his follower count. On August 10 he opened a GoFundMe called Changing Lives with Dr. Smiles' Fund, listed in Everett, Washington. It has raised $5,587 from 107 donations toward a $6,000 goal. Dr. Smiles wrote on the page: "None of this fund is intended as compensation for me." The page says the money goes to housing, food, transportation and other needs of the people he meets.
- How big the need is. About 63.7 million Americans live in areas designated as short of dental care, and it would take 10,744 more practitioners to remove those designations, according to federal data compiled by KFF as of December 31, 2025. Only about one-third of the need in those areas is met. One in five adults aged 20 to 64, or 21%, has at least one untreated cavity, the CDC reports.
Which reaches more people, the chair or the feed
A dentist treats one mouth at a time. However generous he is, the number of people Dr. Smiles can treat for nothing is limited by the hours in his week and by who pays for the materials and the lab work. Against a shortage measured at 10,744 practitioners, one chair is one chair.
An audience works differently. A reel cannot fill a cavity, but about 10.7 million views are a reach no single clinic has. If the videos move other dentists to do the same, or move donors and patients to pay for it, the effect is no longer limited to his own hands. That is the argument he makes himself. His Linktree page says he makes dental content "hoping to inspire others to give back to the community," and one caption puts it this way: "None of us can do everything, but together we can each do our part to help lift each other up."
The growth did not happen on its own. A verified account, @theguy, publicly celebrated the account's rapid early growth and named Dr. Smiles as someone it was proud of. Built with help or alone, the reach has a limit the view count makes plain. The measurable result so far is 107 donations and $5,587. Across about 10.7 million views, that is roughly one donation for every 100,000 views. Whether any other dentist has followed his example is not something his pages show.
What is not public yet
The questions that would settle this are ones only he can answer: who pays for the dental work, how many people he has treated, whether the account earns money, who helps run or grow it, and whether he intends to stay in the chair. WYDE Newsroom has sent Dr. Smiles written questions on each point and will update this article with his answers.
Why it matters
For most of the last century, a professional who wanted to give back had one option: do some of the work for free. The impact economy adds a second. The same person can now show the work to millions and let the showing do part of the job, sometimes with help to make the showing travel. The two are not rivals. The chair is what makes the videos true, and the videos are what could make the chair matter beyond one town. What nobody has measured yet, for Dr. Smiles or for anyone like him, is how many additional people get care because of the audience. That is the number this story turns on.
People Also Ask
Who is Dr. Smiles on Instagram?
Dr. Smiles is a dentist who posts on Instagram as @drsmiles and says he practices in Washington state. His account has more than 125,000 followers and about 10.7 million views across eight posts, and shows him offering dental care to people he meets. He has not published his name.
How much do dentists make in the United States?
The median annual wage for a US dentist was $176,110 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The highest-paid tenth of dentists earned more than $337,210.
Does a creator make more than a dentist?
Only at the very top. The 50 highest-earning creators averaged about $20.4 million each on the Forbes 2026 list, about 116 times the $176,110 median wage for a dentist. Dr. Smiles has not said whether his Instagram account earns money.
How many Americans live in dental shortage areas?
About 63.7 million people live in federally designated dental care shortage areas, and 10,744 more dental practitioners would be needed to remove those designations, according to federal data compiled by KFF as of December 31, 2025.
Sources: Dr. Smiles on Instagram, Dr. Smiles profile, @theguy, GoFundMe, Linktree, Bureau of Labor Statistics, KFF, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.