SBA 7(a) Dental Office Feasibility Study in Georgia

Georgia dental offices: above-average loans from a Live Oak-led table

Dental offices are the twelfth-ranked class in Georgia, and the state places 11 among states under 7(a), with 181 approvals across FY2017 to FY2026 worth $176.1 million. The median loan of $620,500 is 1.26x the nationwide benchmark, the figure our test flags, and borrowers in the middle range take $350,000 up to $1.2 million. None of the loans is franchised at 0.00%, so these are independent practices, often buying or starting a practice with a large equipment package.

A national specialist leads

Live Oak Banking Company leads sharply, with 36 loans and a high average of $67.2 million in total. United Community Bank has 13 loans at $9.2 million, and three smaller holders follow: The Huntington National Bank (9 loans, $13.7 million), Newtek Bank, National Association (9, $3.1 million) and Citizens Bank (7, $9.3 million). These are SBA's holder entries only. Gwinnett County has 34 loans, Cobb 29, Fulton 26, DeKalb 21, Chatham and Douglas 6 each, Henry 5, and Bibb, Forsyth and Wilkes 4 each.

Floors

Cancellation took a floor of 12.4% of Georgia dental approvals made through FY2024, with an identical ceiling. The 90 loans funded early show a charge-off floor of 2.2% to date and 1.1% at the five-year mark. Loans remain open, so both are minimums.

Testing a Georgia dental practice

Patient base leads. A study should count households within reach, the dentists already serving them, and how many new patients the office needs each month to cover payroll, rent and debt. Operatory count, imaging and software are the main equipment lines, and their total must be reconciled with a ticket near $620,500. Where the money buys an existing practice, the work should test how patients transfer and what role the seller keeps in the transition. Show coverage with production below plan. The appraisal values an owned dental building on what another dentist could pay, so identify the second likely user.

Four counties, Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton and DeKalb, hold most of the listed volume, so a practice in Chatham, Bibb or a rural county has fewer local comparables. The study should say which market supplies its evidence, and it should show how a smaller town's patient base supports a ticket near the state median. Lenders will weigh that comparison closely, because dental offices vary widely in size, equipment and payer mix.