How to start a dental practice from scratch
Tips from a dental CPA
You’re doing it! You’re starting your own dental practice from scratch. It’s an exciting time. A scary, daunting, and overwhelming time, but an exciting time nonetheless. If you’re wondering where to begin, we can help by outlining a few common problems and pitfalls, helping you understand the benefits of a dental CPA, and offering a few free resources to help you get started. Let’s do this!
Common problems you may face when starting a scratch dental practice
Establishing Good Credit
Your credit score can have a huge effect on your dental practice loan. From your interest rate to how much you’re qualified to borrow, it pays to have an outstanding credit history with the score to match.
Budgeting
Total costs often run upwards of $450,000. Working with a dental-specific lender will be crucial as they’ll have a solid understanding of the true cost of opening a dental practice from scratch.
Construction Delays
Contractors who are familiar with the dental industry will be essential. They’ll understand patient flow, know how to accommodate your equipment, and offer realistic construction timelines.
No Business Plan
Where do you see your practice in the next 5 to 10 years? Although creating a business plan may seem like a daunting task, it’s essential for achieving sustainable growth and hitting your financial goals.
Lack of Business Know-How
Dentists spend 15,000 hours learning how to be dentists and zero hours learning how to run a business. A huge part of that knowledge gap is understanding the business’s finances. Educate yourself and don’t get caught off-guard.
Hiring & Firing
A new business owner has to get comfortable with the hiring of new employees and the firing when things don’t work out. Remember, resumes don’t always tell a candidate’s whole story. So be diligent in your selection and always do what’s best for the business.
Business is complicated.
Tooth & Coin isn’t.
Why partner with a dental CPA?
Your CPA will be a principal advisor on all things financially related to your business. A CPA that works exclusively with dentists understands the nuances of dentistry. They can keep up with industry trends, the latest equipment and technology, and remain well-versed in current tax regulations and deductions that apply to dental practice owners.
The Tooth & Coin team works exclusively with dentists and specializes in scratch starts. We like to be there from the beginning so you can feel confident about the business side of your dental practice from day one.
How Tooth & Coin Helps Scratch Practices
Tax Preparation
When you’re trying to get a small business off the ground, every penny counts. We pride ourselves on our ability to navigate the financial and tax worlds, find the deductions that apply to your new dental practice, and unlock the incredible savings you’re entitled to.
Working together from the beginning allows the Tooth & Coin team to make the smartest decisions for your business long-term. With access to your tax history and accounting reports, along with the added security of knowing we prepared your tax documents, our team is better equipped to ensure your highest tax savings, accurately estimate your taxes throughout the year, and quickly resolve any issues, like an audit. Let us help you find the tax savings you deserve.
Accounting & Reports
From accurately measuring profitability to bookkeeping and payroll to simply getting more time back in your day, outsourcing your dental practice’s accounting can be one of the best business decisions you make when you’re starting your scratch practice.
Regular updates to our software allow us to pull real-time data on your practice, which you have access to whenever you want to check in. Your dedicated Account Manager can also provide deeper analysis of the practice’s financial health and answer key questions, like Are you hitting your financial goals? Is the business growing? What will the business look like in the future?
When Tooth & Coin is crunching the numbers from the beginning, we can help you plan and put you in the right position to achieve your goals. Running the books also makes tax returns a breeze.
Profit Advisory
We all know that setting goals will be essential to growing your budding business. Hitting them is another story. Many dentists who are starting a dental practice from scratch wonder Are my goals achievable? What’s too ambitious and what’s not enough? What can I afford with my loan? How do I get out of debt faster?
Tooth & Coin’s Profit Advisory service was built to help doctors set realistic goals and achieve them. At the beginning of each year, we have a conversation to determine what’s possible with your practice. We help you set your goals and our team checks in throughout the year to keep you on track.
Not growing fast enough? We can come up with a plan to catch you up. Spending too much? We’ll help you create a manageable budget. And when your business starts turning a reliable profit, we can help you figure out what to do with your earnings.
When you’re trying to get a small business off the ground, every penny counts. We pride ourselves on our ability to navigate the financial and tax worlds, find the deductions that apply to your new dental practice, and unlock the incredible savings you’re entitled to.
Working together from the beginning allows the Tooth & Coin team to make the smartest decisions for your business long-term. With access to your tax history and accounting reports, along with the added security of knowing we prepared your tax documents, our team is better equipped to ensure your highest tax savings, accurately estimate your taxes throughout the year, and quickly resolve any issues, like an audit. Let us help you find the tax savings you deserve.
From accurately measuring profitability to bookkeeping and payroll to simply getting more time back in your day, outsourcing your dental practice’s accounting can be one of the best business decisions you make when you’re starting your scratch practice.
Regular updates to our software allow us to pull real-time data on your practice, which you have access to whenever you want to check in. Your dedicated Account Manager can also provide deeper analysis of the practice’s financial health and answer key questions, like Are you hitting your financial goals? Is the business growing? What will the business look like in the future?
When Tooth & Coin is crunching the numbers from the beginning, we can help you plan and put you in the right position to achieve your goals. Running the books also makes tax returns a breeze.
We all know that setting goals will be essential to growing your budding business. Hitting them is another story. Many dentists who are starting a dental practice from scratch wonder Are my goals achievable? What’s too ambitious and what’s not enough? What can I afford with my loan? How do I get out of debt faster?
Tooth & Coin’s Profit Advisory service was built to help doctors set realistic goals and achieve them. At the beginning of each year, we have a conversation to determine what’s possible with your practice. We help you set your goals and our team checks in throughout the year to keep you on track.
Not growing fast enough? We can come up with a plan to catch you up. Spending too much? We’ll help you create a manageable budget. And when your business starts turning a reliable profit, we can help you figure out what to do with your earnings.
Free Resources for Scratch Starts
Starting from scratch can feel just as exciting as it does overwhelming. With a few key resources, you can ditch the overwhelming part.