Dental Office Feasibility Study in Missouri

Missouri dentistry: average size, cancellations to plan for

Missouri's dental lending looks ordinary at first glance. The median of 127 SBA approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 was $434,000, which is 0.86x the national dental median, and loans between the quartiles ranged from $150,000 to $1.1 million, for $106.3 million in total. Neither the median nor either floor is an outlier in this cell. What Missouri does show is a cancellation floor a borrower has to plan around: at least 15.5% of Missouri dental approvals in FY2017 to FY2024 were cancelled, and 17.5% if undisbursed loans are added. For a dentist buying a practice, that is a reminder that approval is not closing.

Missouri ranks 20 of 54 for dental office loans, dentistry sits 8 of 39 in Missouri's own ranking, and its 0.91x location quotient sits a little under the national weight. No Missouri dental loan carried a franchise brand, a 0.00% share.

UMB Bank, National Association holds 26 Missouri dental loans worth $13.8 million, OakStar Bank 14 worth $15.8 million, and Live Oak Banking Company 8 worth $20.7 million, which makes Live Oak the holder of the largest individual loans. BayFirst National Bank holds 7 and The Huntington National Bank 6. SBA 7(a) carries 111 approvals and SBA 504 16, with Rural Missouri, Inc. holding 5 of the 504 loans. Approvals peaked at 21 in FY2017, reached 18 in FY2025 worth $18.1 million, and were 6 in FY2026.

Credit performance once funded

The loans that did fund have performed. Of 53 Missouri dental loans disbursed in FY2017 through FY2021, none has been charged off so far, which puts both the Missouri floor and its five-year rate at 0.00%. That Missouri cohort is small and still repaying, so it describes the past rather than guaranteeing the future, but it suggests that the main Missouri risk sits before closing rather than after it.

What a Missouri dental study has to test

A Missouri feasibility study should be built to survive the steps where Missouri deals have failed. For an acquisition, that means verifying collections, hygiene production, patient counts and the seller's transition terms before the commitment. For a startup, it means patient demand against the dentists already in the trade area and a credible ramp. Jackson County holds 22 approvals, Saint Louis County 18, Greene 17 and Clay 8. Equipment and build-out cost should be priced from current quotes, and the payment test should hold for a loan that may sit near $1.1 million at the upper quartile. If the Missouri deal also buys the building, the property's appraised value must hold without the practice's goodwill.