How to Raise Your Dental Office Profit Margins

Do you know how well your dental practice is doing compared to your competitors?

If not—no worries. We did the homework, and here are the numbers.

(Or, if you want to skip ahead and find out how Nadapayments can help boost your clinic’s profit margins, click below…)

Boost My Profit Margins

Profit Margins in the Dental Industry

Here’s the breakdown of average profit margins (and incomes) across the U.S. dental industry:

• The average profit margin for a general dental practice is 30–40% of revenue. 

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average dentist salary is $180,830.

• According to the American Dental Association (ADA), the average net income for dental specialists is $323,776.

Typical Dental Office Expenses

The average expense ratio for a dental practice in the U.S. is around 62% of revenue:

• The average annual revenue for all 65,327 sole proprietorship dental offices in the U.S. was $343,584, based on 2019 IRS data for the ‘Dental Office’ category. 

• Meanwhile, average annual expenses for sole proprietorship dental offices in the U.S. added up to $246,550 per year.

It’s important to keep in mind that most of these costs are based on sole-proprietor dental clinics with only one location. 

• It costs up to $840,000 per year to run a 2-dentist practice with 6 chairs in the U.S. 

Factors That Impact Dental Profit Margins

Several factors influence the profit margins in a dental practice:

• The location of your office plays a significant role. Urban areas have higher overhead costs, like rent and insurance, which can lower profits.

• The size of your practice and # of patients you see daily. A larger practice with a higher patient volume has the potential for higher profit margins.

• The services you offer and the fees you charge. Specialized procedures tend to have higher profit margins compared to routine dental check-ups.

Of course, there is a fourth major factor that’s often overlooked:

• How high your expenses are. Do they have to be that high? Can you lower them? (Hint: Yes, you 100% can.) 

How to Lower Expenses And Boost Your Profit Margins

Now that we understand the typical profit margins in the dental industry, let's take a look at the simplest, easiest, fastest way to cut your clinic costs and boost your profit margins by up to 10% or more:

• Cut your credit card processing fees to zero. With Nadapayments, you can do that basically overnight.

We help hundreds of dentists and orthodontists around the country lower their expenses and take home more of their hard-earned money. Like Dr. Lee, age 45, who made $1.1 million in revenue from his dental practice last year.

• His credit card processing fee is 3.5%, and 82% of his clients paid with credit cards.

• This means Dr. Lee paid $31,570 in card processing fees on $902,000 in sales.

Aside from the fact that that’s probably as much as he’s paying his scheduler...by the time Dr. Lee retires 20 years from now, he’ll have paid $631,400 in credit card processing fees.

With that money, Dr. Lee could have bought a home, condo, cars, boats, his kids’ college tuition—you name it!

(Instead, he paid processing fees to a multi-billion-dollar credit card issuer like Visa.)

Put Your Hard-Earned Money Back Into Your Bank Account

If this sounds like a terrible injustice to you, it’s because it is.

That’s why Nadapayments helps our dental clients cut their credit card processing fees to zero using surcharge programs that are legal in 48 of the 50 states.

Not only do we help you set up your new zero-fee card processing program, Nadapayments is also a fully integrated payment solution:

Integrated Payment Solution

• Combines various payment functions into a unified system
• Automatically logs payments, reducing manual entry errors
• Enables secure, PCI-compliant storage of credit card information
• Provides options for automated payment plans via email or text
• Offers a wireless, contactless handheld solution for convenience

Unintegrated Solution

• Doesn’t offer any of the cool stuff above…

That’s not all — Nadapayments is also your one-stop shop for card processing and practice management software. We’re fully integrated with:

• Dentrix
• Opendental
• Eaglesoft
• DSN
• and many more...

Integrated systems like Nadapayments offer a comprehensive solution for dental practices, streamlining operations and ensuring compliance with industry standards.

Interested? Reach out for a free savings analysis today and we can show you exactly how much money you could be saving by getting rid of those pesky credit card transaction fees.

Boost My Profit Margins