Key Terms & Definitions

Operating Profit (Margin %) - Gross revenue minus all overhead expenses (staffing, clinical, direct operating, and facility costs), expressed as a percentage of gross revenue. Reported before associate or owner compensation.

Avg Operating Profit ($) - The mean dollar value of operating profit across all practices within a given revenue benchmark group, after excluding outliers (see Basis of Preparation).

pp (Percentage Points) - The arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, a margin moving from 34.0% to 35.5% is a change of +1.50pp. This differs from a percentage change, which would express the same move as +4.4%.

Prior / Prior Year - Refers to the immediately preceding survey period used as the comparison baseline for year-over-year analysis.

Revenue - Total practice collections (Gross Revenue). This is actual money the practice collected during the period, less any adjustments or refunds. All overhead percentages in this survey are calculated as a percentage of Gross Revenue.

Partnerships - Multi-owner dental practices analyzed as a separate benchmark group due to their distinct operational and financial characteristics.

Revenue Benchmark Groups - Practices are categorized by annual gross revenue into four size tiers: < $800k, $800k-$1.2M, $1.2M-$2M, and > $2M. Partnerships are reported separately.

Basis of Preparation

Data Source - Financial data is derived from DG Accounting Professionals LLC client bookkeeping records and practice analysis groups covering 184 general dental practices and 77 specialty practices across Washington State, based on year-end 2025 financial records.

Averaging Methodology - All averages presented are arithmetic means calculated across practices within each revenue benchmark group. Where "weighted average" is noted (e.g., revenue growth), values are weighted by practice count within each size tier to reflect overall market performance.

Outlier Exclusions - To ensure benchmarks reflect typical practice performance, extreme statistical outliers have been removed from the dataset. This includes practices reporting values more than two standard deviations from the group mean in key categories (overhead %, profit margin, staffing costs).

Partial Year Exclusions - Practices with fewer than 12 months of financial data during the survey period (e.g., start-ups, acquisitions mid-year, or practices that closed) have been excluded to prevent skewing of annualized benchmarks.

Marketing Data Note - Marketing expense and new patient revenue figures exclude practices reporting 0% marketing expense, as these typically reflect data omission rather than actual zero spend.

Historical Trend Data - Operating profit and staffing cost trends (2007-2025) are compiled from annual surveys using consistent methodology across all periods. Prior to 2020, partnership data was not separately reported.