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

South Carolina dental loans track the national midpoint

Dental offices come 8 of 39 in the South Carolina class ranking and South Carolina holds 25th place nationally for 7(a) dental loans. SBA approved 85 of them from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $59.7 million. The median loan of $500,000 is 1.01x the nationwide 7(a) midpoint, which means the typical South Carolina practice borrows about what practices borrow everywhere. The central loans fall between $150,000 and $765,000, and no loan is franchised (0.00%). So the distinctive point here is a negative one: no metric of loan size marks the state out, and a South Carolina applicant cannot cite scale as a reason to be treated differently from a national peer.

The lenders and Charleston

Live Oak Banking Company holds 11 loans for $14.9 million. The Huntington National Bank has 8 for $4.6 million, and a trio sit at 5 loans apiece: SouthState Bank, National Association ($2.9 million), Wells Fargo Bank National Association ($1.5 million) and TD Bank, National Association ($891,100). SBA lists the holder today, so the rows imply nothing about practices of any bank. Charleston County dominates with 24 loans, ahead of Greenville with 12, Richland and York with 8 each and Beaufort with 7. Annual dollars range from $10.5 million in FY2017 and $9.0 million in FY2025 to $833,800 in FY2023.

Outcomes

Cancellations after approval are at least 12.9% and as many as 14.3% when undisbursed loans are counted. Among the 35 funded loans in the early cohort, the loss rate to date is 0.00%, matching a five-year rate of 0.00%. A small cohort and open loans mean that these readings are floors that could rise.

Testing a South Carolina dental practice

Say first whether the South Carolina dental project is a purchase, a start-up or an expansion. For a purchase, check collections history, the share of production tied to the seller, equipment age and payer mix. For a start-up in a growing coastal or Upstate market, count nearby practices, population growth in the actual drive-time area and the timeline for filling a schedule. Because the state's loans sit at the national midpoint, lenders can compare a South Carolina request directly with national peers, so the study should present costs per operatory and revenue per hygiene hour that stand up to that comparison. Show cash flow through a lean first year, itemise equipment, build-out and any real estate, and make clear how much the owner contributes in equity. A request toward the top of the central range, near $765,000, should explain whether it includes a building. The appraisal will treat dental-specific improvements cautiously, so alternative uses matter.