Dental Office Feasibility Study in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area

Dental offices in the Buffalo area

Dental offices place eighth among the 39 classes in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, and nationally the area is 58 of 562. The record holds 27 approved loans and $15.7 million over FY2017 to FY2026. A location quotient of 0.86x puts dental practices under their national weight in Buffalo's approvals, and the median loan of $319,700 is 0.63x what the typical dental loan is nationally, so the usual Buffalo-area loan is well below the national figure.

Range, brands and holder

From $118,500 to $522,500 runs the middle half of loans, which reads as practice purchases and chair fit-outs more than new buildings. Franchise brands are absent here, a share of 0.00%. The one lender printed under 7(a) is NBT Bank, National Association, credited with 7 loans worth $5.5 million together. The program split and county counts are withheld.

FY2017 shows 8 loans and $6.1 million. FY2020 and FY2023 both read 0 loans and $0, so no dental loan was approved in either year. The first year carries a lot of the dollars on the page. Years beyond these are unlisted: the counts behind them are too small to print. Buffalo dental gets neither floor on cancelled or charged-off loans, because a rate needs 30 loans in its base.

Testing a Buffalo dental project

Smaller loans than the national norm point to practice acquisitions and modest fit-outs, so a study should state which one the project is. It must test the patient base within a realistic reach, payer mix, chair count and the number of operatories the space can hold, plus staffing and supply cost. If a practice is being bought, the first year must show the debt payment met while patients move to the new owner. Lenders look at the continuity of the dentist and at the lease. They will also compare the loan with the practice's likely collections once the schedule fills, so the study should show how quickly new patients can be seen and what hygiene and treatment revenue each operatory is expected to produce. Buffalo's boundary is set by the July 2023 list, using the county of each financed office.