Dental Office Feasibility Study in Michigan

Michigan dentistry: a large, unremarkable book

Michigan is a major dental market for SBA, ranking 8 of 54 states with 249 approvals worth $212.6 million from FY2017 to FY2026, though the location quotient of 0.79x shows dentistry claiming less of Michigan's SBA lending than its national weight, and the class ranks 9 of 39 inside the state. The typical Michigan dental loan, $460,400, is 0.91x the national dental median, and the quartiles bracket it between $184,700 and $1.0 million. None of the three gauges is flagged against Michigan lending overall or dental offices nationally; what the cell shows best is who holds the loans and how deals end.

Its biggest holders differ in how many loans they hold and how much. The Huntington National Bank has the most Michigan dental loans, 54, but they total $24.4 million. Live Oak Banking Company holds 40 worth $78.0 million. United Midwest Savings Bank National Association holds 19 worth $22.6 million, Fifth Third Bank 14 worth $13.0 million and PNC Bank, National Association 10. SBA 7(a) accounts for 216 approvals; SBA 504 for 33, led by Michigan Certified Development Corporation with 22 and Great Lakes Commercial Finance with 7. The franchise share is 0.00%.

No losses yet, some deals undone

Every one of the 132 Michigan dental loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021 is still free of charge-off: the floor is 0.00%, and 0.00% inside five years, though both can rise as the loans age. Cancellation is where Michigan dental deals fail. Of approvals dated FY2017 through FY2024, 12.3% were cancelled, and treating undisbursed loans as cancelled lifts that to 13.2%. Volume has not returned to the 42 and 40 approvals of FY2017 and FY2018; it ran at 22, 26 and 19 in FY2024 through FY2026.

Testing a Michigan dental practice plan

Oakland County leads with 53 approvals, then Wayne with 27, Kent with 24, Macomb with 21 and Genesee with 17. A feasibility study for a Michigan practice has to test the patient base itself: active patients, recall rates and payer mix, and how much of collections depends on the selling dentist. For a new office, the study must show the draw area can support another office against the dentists already there. Vendor quotes should set the cost of equipment, technology and any build-out. The first-year coverage ratio should use collections the buyer can keep, after associate pay. When SBA 504 finances the Michigan building, the appraiser values that medical office property on its own, apart from goodwill. SBA's coding for dental offices carries no caveat and no shared code, so nothing from another industry is mixed into these Michigan counts.