Aspenhollow Business Capital, based in Olympia, WA, arranges dental practice loans through funding partners: dental equipment financing, term loans for office build-outs, and practice acquisition financing. Thurston County, WA had 137 offices of dentists in 2023, and most were larger than five employees. This page covers equipment, acquisitions, payroll timing and partner review.
| Offices of dentists | 137 (CBP 2023, NAICS 6212) |
|---|---|
| Paid employees | 1,388 |
| Annual payroll | $89.9 million |
| Share under 5 employees | 21.9% |
| Dental businesses with no employees | 13 (NES 2024) |
A practice built on equipment
Dental offices carry a lot of equipment. Each operatory needs a chair, delivery unit, light and cabinetry; the practice needs digital X-ray or CBCT imaging, sterilization, compressors and vacuum systems, and practice software. Dental office financing can split between the equipment itself and the space it goes in.
Dental equipment financing
Dental equipment financing is secured by the equipment, which gives a partner an asset to review. Partners want an itemized quote from the dealer. Used chairs and refurbished imaging can be financed too, though terms may be shorter. See equipment financing.
Dental office build-outs and clinic expansion
Plumbing, electrical, nitrous and vacuum lines make a dental build-out costly per square foot. Dental clinic financing for a new location or added operatories is a project with a budget, suited to a term loan. Partners review the lease, the contractor's bid and the practice's current collections.
Dental practice acquisition loans
Buying an existing practice is one path. A dental practice purchase loan (or dental practice acquisition financing generally) funds the price of the patient base, equipment and goodwill. Partners look at the seller's collections history, patient counts, payer mix, equipment age and the lease. An acquisition can also need working capital for the first months after the sale, while collections transfer to the new owner.
There is no standard acquisition price, and partners decide what they will fund based on the practice's own records.
Payroll and collections timing
Hygienists, assistants and front-office employees are paid every pay period; insurance claims can take weeks. A practice adding a hygiene day or a new associate carries extra payroll before claims pay. Working capital or a line of credit covers that gap.
Illustrative example: two new operatories
A hypothetical example, for illustration only. A practice adds two operatories: $64,000 in chairs, delivery units and cabinetry, and $70,000 in build-out. It finances the equipment over its working life and the build-out with a term loan. A hygienist hired for the new rooms adds $7,500 a month; claims for her first patients arrive about five weeks later, so the practice also plans for roughly $9,000 of payroll ahead of collections.
Dental offices in Thurston County, WA
Offices of dentists (NAICS 6212) counted 137 employer establishments in Thurston County, WA in 2023, with 1,388 paid employees and $89.9 million in annual payroll (County Business Patterns 2023). Only 30 of them (21.9%) had fewer than five employees, far below the county-wide 54.1% for all employers; most dental offices had five or more employees (our arithmetic). ZIP 98501 held 27 dental offices (ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023).
The separate Nonemployer Statistics program counted 13 dental businesses with no employees in 2024; it is not compared with the employer counts.
Four answers that shape a dental request
- How many operatories are in use now, and how many will the project add?
- What is the age of the existing imaging and chairs?
- How long do insurance claims take to pay?
- For an acquisition, how many active patients does the seller have, and how long have they stayed?
These are questions a partner may ask for a dental request. A practice that answers them with its own reports gives the partner something concrete to review.
Startups versus acquisitions
A new dental office starts from zero patients and full build-out costs; an acquisition starts with patients and equipment but carries goodwill in the price. A partner may view them differently. Startup requests may lean on the dentist's own credit and investment; acquisitions may lean on the selling practice's history.
What partners commonly review
- Collections and production reports
- Equipment quotes, itemized
- The lease and build-out bid
- For acquisitions: the seller's records and purchase agreement
- Dental license status
- Owner credit; existing debt
Partners do not publish thresholds.
Related pages
See medical practices and chiropractic, therapy and optometry practices. County context is on the Olympia, WA page; all industries are grouped on the hub.
By Aspenhollow Business Capital · Updated