The Cut Team

dental practice management

The Dental Cut // March 10, 2026

The Dental Cut // March 10, 2026 Pop quiz: What's the average cost to replace one dental hygienist who quits? (Spoiler at the bottom. It's worse than you think.) PE firms just dropped $4.2 billion on dental practices. AI bots are answering your patients' phone

Q1 2026 M&A deal flow preview: mid-market is hot, solo practices aren't.

Q1 2026 M&A deal flow preview: mid-market is hot, solo practices aren't. Dental M&A pipeline for Q1 2026 shows consolidation appetite concentrated on three-to-five location DSOs and regional practice groups. Solo practices are being passed over unless they're in a major metro

dental practice management

Multi-Generational Workforce Management: Boomer-Millennial Friction

Multi-Generational Workforce Management: Boomer-Millennial Friction Pop quiz: What percentage of your practice team was born before 1980? (Answer at the bottom.) Your office has four generations working side-by-side. Boomers who built the practice. Gen X holding it together. Millennials who think Slack is a communication platform. Gen Z who don&

Dental Office Cleaning and Janitorial: The Hidden Cost

Five states expanded Medicaid dental in early 2026. Here's what it means.

Five states expanded Medicaid dental in early 2026. Here's what it means. Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, and Minnesota all expanded Medicaid dental coverage in January and February 2026. Coverage includes preventive, basic restorative, and emergency services. Some include limited ortho. If your patient base is 30% Medicaid,

Dental Practice

February production dip: it's not just the weather

February production typically dips 8 to 12 percent below the prior month. Every practice owner expects it. Most think it's patient behavior. It's not. It's your scheduling and insurance verification failure carrying forward from January and magnified by insurance claim rejections. Here's

Q1 Production Benchmarks: Are You On Track

AI-Generated Treatment Plans: Liability and Malpractice

Dental Practice

The solo practice premium: why independents are worth more per chair

Private equity firms are paying 9x EBITDA for group practices. That same metric for independent dental practices is 11x to 13x. Why are they paying 20 to 40 percent more for the thing they're supposed to consolidate? Two reasons. First, an independent practice runs at 35 to 42

Dental Practice

Dental benefit plan design is getting worse, not better

Insurance carriers raised premiums 6.8 percent for 2026. They didn't raise patient benefits. In fact, they narrowed them. Deductibles stayed flat. Annual maximums dropped. Waiting periods on major services extended from six months to twelve. Here's the math that matters to you. Ten years ago,

Dental Practice Working Capital: How Much Do You Actually Need

Practice Management System Migration: Survival Guide

Dental Practice

Your patient data is worth $250/record on the dark web

Healthcare data breaches hit 725 incidents in 2025. Dental practices accounted for 34 of them. When a breach happens, your patient records sell for between $200 and $300 each on underground markets. A practice with 2,000 active patients is sitting on $400K to $600K in black market inventory. You

Practice management AI features went mainstream in early 2026. Your PMS is learning about you.

Practice management AI features went mainstream in early 2026. Your PMS is learning about you. Dentrix, Eaglesoft, and the smaller PMSs all shipped AI modules in Q4 2025 and early 2026. Predictive patient no-show alerts. Automated insurance eligibility checks. AI-assisted coding and claim submission. Treatment plan recommendations based on your

Dental Office ADA Compliance Costs: What's Required

Employee Retention Tax Credits for Dental: Still Available

Dental practices got hacked 412 times in 2025. You're next.

Dental practices got hacked 412 times in 2025. You're next. Dental practices were the target of 412 documented security breaches in 2025, up 28% from 2024. Patient data was exposed. Ransomware locked down schedules. Practice management systems were held hostage. Why dental? Because dental practices don't

DSO associate turnover hit 34% in 2025. You're not hiring doctors, you're renting them.

DSO associate turnover hit 34% in 2025. You're not hiring doctors, you're renting them. DSO associate dentist turnover hit 34% last year. That's worse than restaurant management. For every ten associate doctors a DSO hires, three-plus are gone within a year. Some within months.

Dental Practice Marketing Attribution: Which Channels Actually Work

Insurance Credentialing for New Locations: The Timeline

Dental Practice

3D printing hit milling costs. In-office fabrication just became inevitable.

3D printing hit milling costs. In-office fabrication just became inevitable. In-office milling (Cerec, Dentsply) has owned the CAD/CAM crown market for years. Cost: $150 to $180 per unit, plus depreciation on a $40K machine. 3D printing moved into that space with comparable accuracy and just hit the same per-unit

Dental Practice Expansion: Second Location Economics

Dental Practice Debt-to-Income Ratios: The Real Numbers

Dental Practice

Dental AI companies raised $800M in 2025. Where did it go?

Forty-three dental AI startups closed funding last year. $800 million poured into the sector. Not one changed how most practices actually work. The companies are real. Dentech raised $80M for treatment planning AI. PatientFlow closed $65M for scheduling. DentAssist hit unicorn status with patient communication tech. But here's

Hygiene Recare Rate Benchmarks by Practice Size