Dental practice finance, explained
Six guides on the financial mechanics specific to dental practices, production versus collections, hygiene margin, membership plan deferrals, equipment capital, and what a DSO offer is actually worth.
Dental is a high-capital, insurance-capped, membership-driven business, and the accounting has to reflect all three.
A dental practice carries more equipment debt than almost any other practice type, collects from two sources with different behavior, runs hygiene as a distinct profit center, and increasingly sells in-house membership plans that are deferred revenue rather than income. Each of those breaks a generic chart of accounts in a different place, and the errors compound in the same direction: the practice looks healthier than it is.
Looking for how we work with dental practices rather than the underlying mechanics? Dental practices →
The guides
Dental revenue cycle
The collections-to-production ratio, unscheduled treatment, annual maximums, and where dental revenue actually leaks.
Cash FlowDental practice cash flow
Why loan principal never appears on your P&L, and the profit-to-cash bridge that ends the confusion.
ProfitabilityDental practice profitability
Isolating hygiene margin, reading overhead by component, and why scheduling density beats cost-cutting.
Deferred RevenueDental deferred revenue
How in-house plans should be recognized, and what a buyer does with the unearned balance.
Finance RolesDental bookkeeper, controller, or CFO
Bookkeeper, controller, or CFO, with the dental-specific questions each can and cannot answer.
Growth & Sale ReadinessWhat a dental practice is worth
4x to 6x SDE against 10x to 15x adjusted EBITDA, and what buyers normalize in between.
The dental toolkit
The checklists we actually use, what we ask for at intake, and what we check every month. Published in full, downloadable as Word files.
General information for practice owners, not accounting, tax, legal, valuation or investment advice for your situation. MedPraxis CFO is not a CPA firm, a registered investment adviser, or a business broker. Talk to your own CPA, attorney or adviser before acting on anything here.