SBA 7(a) Dental Office Feasibility Study in North Carolina

Large loans, clean losses

North Carolina dental offices took 177 SBA 7(a) loans worth $176.7 million between FY2017 and FY2026. Size is what sets the cell apart: a $720,000 median is 1.46x the 7(a) median dental borrowers receive elsewhere, and the central half stretches from $300,000 to $1.3 million. These loans look like practice purchases and office builds, more than the equipping of a single chair. The class holds 9 of 39 in North Carolina, the state is 12 for the program, and no loan is franchised.

Floors

Cancellation stood at 12.9% as a floor, with the same ceiling. In the cohort of 99 loans from FY2017 to FY2021, 1.0% stand charged off so far, against a printed 0.00% inside five years. That is a light record, though both are floors and the dental class carries large balances.

A dominant lender

Live Oak Banking Company holds 46 loans and $50.8 million, far ahead of Southern Bank and Trust Company with 11 and $3.2 million. Three lenders tie at 9 loans: United Midwest Savings Bank National Association ($10.5 million), Wells Fargo Bank National Association ($7.7 million) and Newtek Bank, National Association ($3.3 million). United Midwest's dollars per loan are high. SBA lists the current holder. Mecklenburg County has 33 loans, Wake 20, New Hanover 14, and Cabarrus and Guilford 10 each.

Years

Approvals fell from 33 in FY2017 to 6 in FY2022 and have recovered to 15 in each of FY2025 and FY2026, with $19.7 million in FY2025. The decline from the first year was steep, and the recovery has not restored it, so the pool of recent loans is thinner and younger than the early cohort the charge-off floor describes.

Testing a North Carolina dental practice

A study should test the patient base and payer mix, the number of operatories, the practice's collections if it is an acquisition, and the sponsor's ability to keep patients through a transition. Because the median beats the national level, the plan should itemise real estate, build-out, equipment and goodwill, and show coverage on the total. The appraisal should address each component, and the study should note that dental equipment is specialised and recovers little if the practice fails.