Quarrymoor Financial, a small-business funding service in Kingman, Arizona, arranges dental practice funding through partners: acquisition and purchase loans, equipment financing for chairs, imaging and CAD/CAM, working capital and office expansions. Mohave County, AZ had 74 dental office employers with 622 employees in 2023 (CBP). Partners make credit decisions and set rates and terms.
| Dental office employer locations, Mohave County, AZ | 622 on payroll at 74 employer sites (CBP count, 2023) |
|---|---|
| Dental offices with fewer than five employees | 40.5% (CBP 2023) |
| Annual payroll, dental offices | $35.6 million of payroll across 2023 (CBP) |
| Dental businesses with no paid employees | 22 with no payroll at all (NES count, 2024) |
How a dental office's money moves
A dental practice collects from patients at the visit and from dental insurers later. An office may also offer in-house payment plans. The biggest costs are people (hygienists, assistants, front desk), supplies and lab fees, and equipment: a fully fitted operatory, digital imaging, a cone-beam scanner or a milling unit can each be a major purchase.
Dental offices in the county are larger than many small businesses: 40.5% had fewer than five employees in 2023, and the 74 offices employed 622 people (CBP).
Dental practice acquisition financing for a buyer taking over patients
Buying a practice can be the largest request a dentist ever makes. Dental practice acquisition loans are usually term loans, reviewed on the practice's collections and expenses, patient counts, the equipment's age, the lease and the buyer's own clinical and production history. A professional valuation and a clear purchase agreement make the request easier to review.
A dental practice purchase loan: what to prepare
- Three years of the practice's tax returns and profit-and-loss statements
- Collections by provider and procedure category
- Active patient count and recall data
- A list of equipment, its ages and any liens
- The lease, or the property details if the building is included
- The purchase agreement, plus any seller transition commitments
Dental equipment loans
Chairs and delivery units, digital sensors and panoramic or cone-beam imaging, intraoral scanners, milling units, sterilization and compressors are typical. Dental practice equipment financing options include loans, leases and equipment finance agreements. Imaging and technology that dates quickly are often leased; chairs and cabinetry are often financed.
Working capital for a dental practice
Working capital covers payroll and supplies when insurance payments slow, during an associate's ramp-up, or after a practice changes its billing software. A business loan for a dental office's everyday costs should be sized to the gap, not the practice's full revenue.
Expanding or relocating an office
Adding operatories or moving to a larger space combines construction, plumbing, electrical, equipment and a gap in production during the move. Partners review the build-out bids, equipment quotes, lease and the practice's production. The Mohave County, AZ permits and zoning checklist lists what to confirm before signing a lease for a clinical space.
An illustration with invented numbers
A two-operatory practice adds a third operatory. The chair, light and delivery unit cost $34,000, cabinetry and plumbing $15,500, and a sensor $8,200, about $57,700 in total. If a part-time hygienist in the new room produces $9,000 a month and collections arrive about 30 days later, the practice needs roughly a month of her wages before collections begin, on top of the equipment. These figures are invented to show how to break the request apart.
Questions a dentist should settle before signing
- Does the acquisition loan's payment fit the practice's collections after the seller's own pay is removed?
- If the seller stays on for a transition, who pays the seller during that time?
- Is the imaging equipment leased, and does that lease transfer with the practice?
- Does the equipment agreement allow an upgrade when a sensor or scanner dates?
- What is the payoff figure at year two and year five, in dollars?
Each answer changes the real cost of the deal. A partner will put the figures in writing on request, and an adviser who works with dental purchases can review the purchase agreement alongside the funding terms.
Dental office build-out loans: walls, plumbing and chairs
Adding operatories is part construction, part equipment. The construction side covers walls, cabinetry, plumbing to each chair, vacuum and compressed-air lines, and electrical for imaging. The equipment side covers chairs, delivery units, lights and sensors. Partners usually look at them separately: equipment can secure its own equipment financing deal, while the construction share has no resale value and fits a term loan sized to the contractor's bid.
Dental practice equipment financing options, side by side
| Option | Who owns the gear at the end | Often suits |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment finance agreement | The practice | Chairs and units kept for many years |
| Lease with a purchase option | The leasing company, unless bought out | Imaging that may be upgraded |
| Term loan for the whole project | The practice | Build-outs mixing construction and equipment |
County Business Patterns 2023, our arithmetic: Mohave County, AZ dental employers averaged about 8.4 employees per location and paid roughly $57,200 per employee. A request that adds chairs usually adds hygienists and assistants too, so show the hiring plan alongside the equipment quote.
Dental-office counts for Mohave County, AZ from the Census Bureau
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employer establishments | 74 | County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 6212 |
| Paid employees | 622 | CBP 2023, pay period including March 12 |
| Annual payroll | $35.6 million | CBP 2023 |
| Locations below five employees | 40.5% (30) | CBP 2023 |
| Establishments with a ZIP 86401 address | 12 | ZIP Business Patterns 2023 (USPS ZIP area, not city limits) |
| No-payroll businesses (counted separately) | 22, receipts $3.5 million | Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 6212 (separate program; not added to CBP) |
Twelve dental offices had a ZIP 86401 address in 2023 (ZIP Business Patterns). Physician and therapy practices have their own pages: medical practice loans and chiropractic and therapy practice loans. County-wide figures are on the page of Kingman, AZ business figures, and the industry list covers other health businesses.
By Quarrymoor Financial · Updated
