Financial Strategy
Dental Practice Overhead by State 2026
Dental Practice Overhead by State 2026: ADA HPI benchmark data and what it means for your practice.
Scheduling
Summer Slowdown in Dental Practices: What Causes It and How to Fix It
Summer Slowdown in Dental Practices: What Causes It and How to Fix It: ADA HPI seasonal benchmark data and what top practices do differently.
Practice Management
Dental Associate Non-Compete Clauses: Enforceability by State in 2026
Whether the non-compete in your associate contract actually holds up depends almost entirely on which state you're in. The clause itself reads the same everywhere. The enforcement doesn't. The three buckets A few states void non-competes outright for most employees: California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma have
Practice Management
Dental Practice Net Promoter Score: What a Good NPS Is and How to Use It
Net Promoter Score is one question: "How likely are you to recommend this practice to a friend, 0 to 10?" Score it by taking the percentage who answer 9 or 10 (promoters) and subtracting the percentage who answer 0 through 6 (detractors). The 7s and 8s don'
Practice Management
Dental Practice Revenue Per Operatory: What Each Chair Should Generate
A productive dental operatory generates $200,000 to $350,000 in collected revenue per year, averaged across every equipped chair in the practice, hygiene included. Below $150,000 per chair, something specific is broken: scheduling, fees, or write-offs. The math Annual collections divided by equipped operatories. A $1M practice with
Financial Strategy
Dental Practice Collections Percentage of Production: The Benchmark
The benchmark: a well-run practice collects 98% or more of net production. Between 96% and 98% you're leaving real money on the table. Below 96%, you have a systems problem, not a patient problem. Measure against net, not gross Collections divided by gross production is a nearly useless
Practice Management
Dental Practice New Patient Cost Per Acquisition: What the Benchmark Is
A sustainable new patient acquisition cost for a general dental practice is $150 to $300. Referral-heavy practices get under $100. Practices buying most of their growth through Google Ads in a crowded metro often pay $400 to $600 per patient, and above $500 the return usually goes negative. How to
Financial Strategy
Dental Associate Buy-In: How Equity Deal Structures Actually Work
Most associate buy-ins sell a 20% to 49% stake in the first tranche, with a path to 50/50 or full succession written into the agreement. The structure matters more than the headline percentage. Here's how the pieces usually fit. Valuation basis Two common methods: a percentage of
Practice Management
Dental Receptionist to Patient Ratio: The Optimal Staffing Benchmark
Most staffing questions in a dental office get argued by feel. Front desk staffing shouldn't be one of them, because the math is simple: it's a ratio of admin capacity to patient flow, and when it's off you can see it in your recall
Practice Management
Dental Patient Communication Software: Cost vs. ROI Benchmark
Patient communication software runs $300 to $600 a month for a single location. Weave and Solutionreach sit at the top of that range, NexHealth and RevenueWell land in the middle, and stripped-down reminder tools can come in under $250. Most vendors add a setup fee of $250 to $1,000
Practice Management
Dental AI Diagnostic Software: Revenue Impact Per Operatory
Pearl, Overjet, and Denti.AI all sell the same core promise: the software flags decay, calculus, and bone loss on radiographs, the patient sees the overlay, and case acceptance goes up. Vendors report 15-30% lifts in diagnosed treatment. Here's what the math looks like per operatory, and where
Practice Management
Dental Practice Seller Financing: Terms and What to Expect in 2026
Most dental practice sales in 2026 are bank-funded. Practice lenders will finance 100% of a healthy practice's purchase price, which is why full seller financing is rare. Where seller financing actually shows up is as a partial note: the seller carries 10% to 30% of the price, and