What Should Dental Practice Overhead Be? Benchmark Data Across All Six Cost Categories practice finance practice operations Jun 26, 2026

Every dollar a dental practice spends that isn't doctor compensation falls into one of six overhead categories. Most practice owners know their overhead is "too high" — but they don't know which category is the problem, or how their specific mix compares to practices like theirs.

That's the gap the...

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Dental AR Days and Collections Rate: What the Benchmark Data Says and How to Fix Both practice finance practice operations Jun 24, 2026

Most dental practices have an AR problem they don't fully see.

Not because they're not looking — but because the numbers on the AR aging report are accepted as fixed, when they're actually a signal. High AR days, a bloated 90+ bucket, a climbing denial rate: these aren't just administrative annoyan...

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What Is a Good PPO Write-Off Rate? Dental Benchmark Data and the Drop-Plan Analysis insurance & ppo practice operations Jun 19, 2026

Most dentists know their PPO write-off rate is high. Few know exactly which plans are the worst offenders, what it's actually costing them in annual dollars, and what would realistically happen to their revenue if they dropped one.

That's not a knowledge problem — it's a data problem. The analysis ...

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Hygiene Capacity Utilization: What the Benchmark Data Says and How to Close the Gap hygiene practice operations Jun 17, 2026

The hygienist shortage is the most discussed operational problem in dentistry right now. But the conversation almost always focuses on hiring — finding hygienists, paying them more, offering better schedules.

What gets talked about less is the math of what unfilled hygiene capacity actually costs y...

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What Is a Good Production Per Operatory Number? Dental Benchmarks Explained practice operations Jun 14, 2026

Every dental practice owner asks some version of the same question: How are we actually doing?

Not gut feeling. Not "we had a good month." Real numbers compared to real peers.

The problem is that until now, there hasn't been an independent, practice-level benchmark for dentistry. You've had your a...

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47% of Dental Assistants Are Thinking About Leaving. Here's What the 2026 Data Actually Says. practice operations staffing & hr Jun 07, 2026

By Dental Strategy Institute | June 2026 | 7-Minute Read


The 2026 Dentalpost Dental Salary Survey found something that should concern every practice owner and DSO operator reading this: dental assistants are the only dental professional group where satisfaction declined across every single measur...

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Dental Equipment Maintenance Schedules: What Gets Skipped and What It Costs dental equipment practice operations May 31, 2026

Every equipment manufacturer ships their product with a recommended maintenance schedule. It's in the manual. The manual lives in the filing cabinet. The filing cabinet hasn't been opened in three years.

That's not unusual. It's the default state of dental practice maintenance management — and it's...

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The Dental Office Equipment Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide for Practice Owners and DSO Operators dental equipment practice operations May 30, 2026

At some point in almost every dental practice sale, someone asks: can you give us a list of all the equipment?

The seller goes to the office manager. The office manager pulls up whatever they have — maybe a list from the last equipment finance application, maybe a service contract from a few years ...

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