Dentists in Towson, MD borrow for equipment and technology, for buying into or purchasing a practice, and for build-outs and second locations. Lenders look first at collections, the practice's debts, the owner's credit and the quote or agreement behind the request.
This article from Coveglen Loans in Towson, Maryland explains what dental practices borrow for, how each purpose maps to a funding type, which documents funders review first and an invented operatory addition, with Baltimore County dental counts.
Equipment and technology purchases
Chairs, delivery units, cone-beam and intraoral scanners, milling units, lasers, sterilization equipment, compressors and vacuums are the equipment side of a dental office. Each has a dealer quote and a working life, which fits equipment financing or a lease. Software that comes with a scanner may be bundled, or may be a subscription the funder does not finance.
Technology ages unevenly: a chair can last for many years, a scanner may be replaced sooner. Matching the loan term to the equipment's useful life keeps payments from outlasting the machine.
Ask the dealer for the full cost of ownership: installation, training, service contracts and any software fees after the first year. A financed scanner with an expensive annual subscription costs more than its quote suggests, and the subscription is a payment the practice carries on top of the loan.
Buying into or purchasing a practice
An associate buying into a practice pays for a share of it, usually over a set schedule and often with a term loan in the associate's name. A full purchase pays for the patient base, staff, equipment and lease. Funders read collections by provider, the payer mix, the equipment list and the seller's transition plan.
Offices of dentists counted 380 employer establishments in Baltimore County, MD in 2023 (County Business Patterns), so a buyer weighing purchase against building a new office has a market to compare.
A purchase also brings the seller's staff. Hygienists and front-desk staff who stay keep patients comfortable through the change, and a funder may ask whether key staff have agreed to stay on after closing.
Office build-outs and second locations
A build-out adds operatories, plumbing, cabinetry, imaging rooms and sometimes a new sterilization area. A second location adds a lease, a full equipment set and staff. Both suit a term loan for the improvements and an equipment loan for the chairs and imaging, each on its own schedule.
A credit line can cover the first months of payroll at a new location while its patient base grows and insurance payments begin.
Before signing a lease for a second location, check whether the space has been a dental office before. A former dental suite may already have plumbing, compressor space and an x-ray room, which shortens the build-out and lowers the amount to finance.
A second location also splits the dentist's time. Funders may ask who covers the first office on the days the owner works at the new one, and whether an associate is already on staff or still to be hired, since that hire is part of what makes the second office pay.
The documents lenders review first
- Business bank statements for recent months.
- Business and owner tax returns covering the last two or three filing years.
- This year's profit and loss statement, with a balance sheet dated the same month.
- Production and collections reports by provider.
- The accounts receivable aging and payer mix.
- The lease, equipment quotes, and any buy-in or purchase agreement.
A funder may read collections more closely than production, since collections show what the practice is actually paid. A practice that can explain the difference between the two answers the question before it is asked.
Bring the practice's debt schedule as well: each existing loan or lease, its lender, its monthly payment and when it ends. A funder adds the new payment to that list to see whether the practice can carry all of them in a slow month.
An invented Towson, MD operatory addition, by the month
Illustration only, invented figures: a Towson, MD dental office adds one operatory with a chair, delivery unit, light, cabinetry, sensors and plumbing for an invented $96,000, financed over 72 months at an invented annual rate of 8.7%. Each month that comes to roughly $1,716 a month, about $123,566 over the full term, with interest of about $27,566 (our arithmetic).
Set the monthly payment beside the production the added chair is expected to bring, after hygiene staff costs. If the operatory is used two days a week at first, the payment still runs every month.
Ask, too, whether the chair can be phased in: a practice that adds the cabinetry and plumbing now and the chair later spreads the cost, but pays for construction twice if the walls must be opened again.
Baltimore County, MD dental office counts and what they show
Dental offices with paid staff in Baltimore County, MD numbered 380 in 2023, employing 3,044 people, and 121 of them had fewer than five on payroll (County Business Patterns). Towson's ZIP 21204 was home to 41 of them (ZIP Business Patterns).
Owner-only dental practices with no payroll, 193 of them in 2024, show up in a separate count, Nonemployer Statistics. See dental office loans or call (443) 775-7995.
By Coveglen Loans · Updated
