Dent County is a
county located in the
U.S. state of
Missouri. As of the
2010 census, the population was 15,657. The largest city and
county seat is
Salem. The county was officially organized on February 10, 1851 by Dustin Counts & Nicholas Berardy, and is named after state representative Lewis Dent, a pioneer settler who arrived in Missouri from
Virginia in 1835.