Guide · Buying, expanding, opening
Your practice wants a fourth operatory or a CBCT unit. How does the equipment get financed, and what about the ramp?
By Alex Makowski Published
A dental practice is one of the easiest equipment files a lender sees: the chair, the delivery unit and the imaging secure the loan, collections are steady, and terms of five to seven years are normal, often through the manufacturer's finance arm. Compare that offer with an independent equipment lender's. Fund the months before the new operatory is booked — the hygienist's hours, the marketing, the reimbursement lag on the new production — on a line of credit, not out of collections.
In this guide
- 01Why the equipment side is easy
- 02The ramp is the part practices fund badly
- 03What to send
- 04Refurbished and the buyout
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Up to $500K
01
Why the equipment side is easy
A dental chair with its delivery unit, a panoramic or cone-beam imaging system, a sterilization center: each is a high-value asset with a serial number, a service history and a resale market, in a practice whose deposits arrive from payers on a schedule. Lenders like every part of that. Terms run five to seven years for major equipment, down payments are small or zero for an established practice, and the manufacturer's finance arm will often price aggressively to place its own machine.
Get two quotes: the manufacturer's finance offer and an independent equipment lender's on the same invoice. The difference is often in the fees and the buyout terms rather than the headline rate, and it is worth twenty minutes.
02
The ramp is the part practices fund badly
A fourth operatory does not open fully booked. The hygiene schedule expands over months, a new associate's column fills over 60 to 90 days, and every dollar of new production is reimbursed 30 to 90 days after it is delivered. Meanwhile the chair payment started the month it was installed. The practice is more productive and, for a quarter or two, shorter on cash — and the usual response is to let collections absorb it, which is where the year-end surprise comes from.
A business line of credit sized to three months of the new operatory's cost, drawn for the ramp and repaid as the reimbursements catch up, is the right shape. Practices qualify for lines readily. Apply for it at the same time as the equipment, on the same statements, rather than in month four when the numbers are thinner.
Cost of $50,000, by product
03
What to send
The equipment quote, six to twelve months of statements, a payer mix summary, and a production projection for the new operatory that is honest about the fill rate. A CBCT application is stronger with a sentence on the referral volume it keeps in-house — the implant and endo cases currently sent out — because the lender is reading whether the machine pays its own note, and that is the answer.
04
Refurbished and the buyout
Manufacturer-refurbished chairs and imaging units with a warranty finance nearly as easily as new and cost materially less. A private-sale unit without service records is the one a lender will inspect and shorten the term on. And read the buyout on any lease: a fair-market-value buyout on a chair you will run for fifteen years costs more than a loan or a dollar buyout.
Written by
Alex Makowski, Owner
Alex Makowski owns and runs Business Loans for America and has been placing funding for U.S. small businesses since 2021. Businesses he has worked with have secured $50M+ in financing across 1,200+ placements. He writes and reviews every guide on this site.
FAQ
Related questions.
- Does my personal credit matter for practice equipment?
- It sets the rate and the down payment more than the answer. Dentists' personal files are usually strong; where they are not, the equipment and the practice's deposits carry the underwriting and a down payment fills the gap.
- Can a practice under two years old finance a CBCT?
- Usually, because the unit secures the loan and new practices are a known lender category. Expect a down payment and a shorter term than an established practice would get. Six months of collections is a common floor.
- Does Section 179 apply to dental equipment?
- Generally, yes: new or used equipment placed in service in the year can be expensed up to the annual limit, financed or not. The IRS publication on depreciation is the authority; the deduction on a major purchase often covers a large share of the first year's payments.
Guides
More on buying, expanding, opening
Big PO, new machine
The machine over five years, the aluminum over ninety days. One application for each.
Buying out a partner
Most buyouts are seller financing plus a bank. Fast money has a narrow, honest role here.
Hiring before the contract pays
Three salaries for two months is a known number with a dated repayment. That is a term loan.
HVAC pre-season buy
Distributor terms first, working capital second, a line set up in August for next year.
Moving to a bigger space
Ask the landlord for the buildout money first. Fund the overlap and the closed week second.
Buying a competitor's assets
The equipment finances as equipment. The list is paid for with seller financing and deposits.
Sources
- IRS Publication 946 — How to Depreciate PropertyThe Section 179 deduction and depreciation limits, from the authority that sets them.
- U.S. Small Business Administration — LoansFederal loan programmes, eligibility and what the SBA does and does not guarantee.
One application, every lender we work with
Find out what you qualify for before you need it.
Eleven questions, about two minutes. You see offers side by side and take one, or none.
- Won't affect your credit
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