Growth in the dental industry is splitting, with one-third of practices growing by more than 10% last year and nearly 14% declining by more than 10%, according to a new report from Planet DDS.
The dental software company’s “2026 Dental Industry Outlook: Deep Dive” analyzed performance from more than 8,500 dental practices that utilize the Planet DDS platform.
Here are 10 notes on DSO and dental practice growth and performance, according to the report:
- Dental practices that bring in 75 or more new patients per month grow at 9% on average. Adding at least 35 new patients monthly drives meaningful growth, with offices below that benchmark often stagnating.
- The most volatile 10% of practices are shrinking by 3.4%, and the most consistent practices are growing by 6.1%, demonstrating the importance of operational consistency.
- Consistent dental practices produce 28% more revenue each day.
- Efficiency is more important than size, as smaller practices with greater efficiency consistently outperform practices with more chairs but lower efficiency.
- Nearly 1,050 practices average 44 chairs but generate $56,000 in annual revenue per chair. Maximizing existing chairs is better than simply adding new ones.
- DSOs that have networks between 26 and 50 offices have a growth rate of 2.8%, less than one-third that of smaller DSOs. Organizations in this range have just 55% of their practices growing.
- The dental industry’s average case completion rate is 47%.
- Practices with 10 to 30 point gaps between acceptance and completion grow faster than peers because of their scheduling discipline.
- The dental practices with a gap of 50 or more have an average of 77.2% acceptance rate but a 19.7% completion rate.
- For a DSO that generates $10M in gross production, closing the average operational billing gap adds approximately $890,000 in annual EBITDA without touching the top line.
At the Becker's 5th Annual Future of Dentistry Roundtable, taking place September 14-15 in Chicago, dental leaders and executives will gain insights into emerging technologies, practice growth strategies and the evolving landscape of dental care delivery, with a focus on innovation, patient experience and operational excellence. Apply for complimentary registration now.
