1. Clarify Your Vision

√ Decide on type of practice: General Dentistry, Orthodontics, or both? Your choice will need to take into account your training and expertise, or the type of doctors that you wish to find to operate in your practice.

√ Define your target patient demographic (e.g., families, high-end cosmetic, pediatric). The more specific you can get about your target audience, the better as this target demographic should be considered in all aspects of your business. What is the median income of families or individuals? What is the median age? What motivates the customers you hope to serve? Will you be working with Medicaid or private insurance only? Will you treat children, adults, or both?

√ Choose between solo practice, partnership, or joining a group practice. This decision may be informed by your working style, goals, location, capital, and your personal training and certifications.

2. Conduct Market Research

√ Analyze demographics and competition in potential locations. The office location is a critical factor in the success and production of your office. Look for a city, town or area where your target demographic is located. You might consider local and state taxes. When looking for an actual building, do you want to purchase, rent or lease an existing structure, or build on a lot? Consider the visibility of your business. If your practice is located on a main drag where your sign is clearly visible to computers and passersby, that’s less you’ll have to spend on marketing. How easy is your business to access by car or public transportation? Is the building on a busy street or divided highway that will make it difficult to enter and exit the premises? Is the building or location attractive and desirable to your target demographic?

√ Look at population growth, insurance coverage, and dental/ortho needs. If you have a few areas in mind, how are they trending? Areas that are growing mean a growing pool of potential patients. If you’re looking at pediatric dentistry and the area you’re considering has a shrinking population because younger residents are moving away, you’ll have a limited number of potential patients. Similarly if the area is largely retired folks and you’re a pediatric dentist, the population doesn’t match your business.

√ Insurance is a consideration if you’re looking at a specific area or building. Is the lot or building in a flood plain or in an area that is at high-risk for fires? If so, you’ll have higher insurance premiums to add to your monthly costs. 

√ Visit existing practices to benchmark. If you have your eye on a certain city or area, visiting any nearby practices may help you decide if your practice can fit into the market. Seeing what is being offered gives you an idea of gaps in the market and how you might be able to fill them. 

3. Create a Business Plan

lYour business plan is crucial for guiding you on your new practice journey. It’s also often a critical step in securing business funding. Before a lender is prepared to back your business, they need to see what your business is and how you plan to make it profitable. Here are some crucial parts of your orthodontic business plan. For more details on creating a business plan for your orthodontic or dental practice, check out our Business Plan Checklist resource. 

PARTS OF YOUR BUSINESS PLAN: 

√ Executive summary: Your executive summary should include details like the business name, location, owner, and legal structure. Also be prepared to outline your mission statement, vision, and measurable goals.

√ Services offered: What orthodontic or dental (or both) services will your practice offer? Be specific. 

√  Market analysis: Further diving into target market, demographics, market trends, competition analysis, and your SWOT analysis

√  Operations plan: The building, materials, equipment, team members and training required for your practice to open and operate

√  Marketing plan: Defining your brand and marketing plan. Some doctors opt for handling as much of these items as they can at their practice’s inception. However, hiring branding and marketing professionals can help you develop a custom brand and a marketing plan catered to your practice and goals. In addition, experts can help guide you through more in-depth or niche tasks, like developing a multi-channel marketing plan for your office, establishing your KPIs and creating systems for tracking that data, handling your SEO, digital advertising, and more.

√  Financial projections (3–5 years): Estimating initial patient load, calculating revenue per patient, annual growth, etc. to forecast revenue, operating expenses and net profit and loss.

√  Startup cost breakdown: A detailed estimate of all costs to start the practice including lease or downpayment, equipment, software, inventory, supplies, marketing, furnishings and working capital. 

4. Choose a legal business structure and register the business  

√  Choose legal structure (e.g., LLC, S-Corp, PC)

√  Register business name and file with your state

√  Obtain EIN from IRS

√  Consult with healthcare/dental attorney and CPA

5. Secure Financing

√ Estimate startup costs ($250K–$750K estimated as typical for new dental practices)

√ Approach dental-specific lenders (e.g., BMO Harris, Bank of America Practice Solutions)

√ Prepare loan application with business plan, credit history, and resume

6. Find and Secure a Location

√ Choose between leasing vs buying

√ Hire a commercial real estate agent experienced with healthcare properties

√ Negotiate lease with clauses for build-out and signage

√ Check zoning laws and ADA compliance

7. Hire Key Professionals

You’re an orthodontic or dental professional. In order for you to do the best in your area of expertise, you’re going to need a team of experts that you can lean on. These professionals will keep your practice running smoothly, and safely. Depending on your individual situation, you may not need every person in this list. 

√ Dental CPA

√ Dental Attorney

√ Commercial Real Estate Broker

√ Architect/interior designer (consider someone with dental or orthodontic experience)

√ Dental equipment consultant 

8. Design the Office

√ If starting from scratch, create floor plan with workflow in mind 

√ Consider future expansion

√ Choose interior finishes

9. Order Equipment and Supplies

√ Dental chairs and delivery systems

√ Sterilization units

√ Digital x-rays, CBCT (especially for orthodontics)

√ Lab equipment, software, IT/networking

√ Instruments and materials

√ Work with vendors 

10. Get Insured and Licensed

√ Malpractice insurance

√ General liability, property, worker’s comp, disability, business interruption

√ State dental/ortho license

√ DEA registration

√ OSHA and HIPAA compliance setup

11. Hire and Train Your Team

When it’s time to hire your team, we have a resource for that too! Check out our New Hire Checklists to simplify and streamline your onboarding process. 

√  Front desk staff

√ Dental assistants, hygienists, treatment coordinator

√ Office manager

√ Conduct interviews and background checks

√ Train on software, workflows, OSHA/HIPAA.

√ Train on job-specific responsibilities. Check your country or state requirements for training, especially for orthodontic assistants and team members exposed to spray and splatter. Online training is available for many job positions within orthodontic offices at Trapezio.com. 

12. Implement Systems and Software

√ Practice management software (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, etc)

√ Imaging systems

√ Patient communication tools (e.g., Solutionreach, Lighthouse 360)

√ Billing and insurance setup

√ EHR and charting templates

13. Create a Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan is one of the items that can make or break your practice. Even with the nicest office, exceptionally trained staff, and a mission to help your community, your business will fail if prospective patients and leads can’t find you. Your marketing plan considers who you are, what you’re offering and who you’re offering it to to format an outreach plan. 

While marketing plans can be executed on your own or when your phones team has downtime, utilizing a professional marketer can save you lots in lost time and patients. Consider getting help from a professional before your marketing processes and procedures are in place. It’s much easier to structure your multi-channel marketing and all of your marketing platforms correctly the first time around, than it is to undo and redo them if they’re not serving you well. 

√  Build a website 

√  Optimize your website for your audience and for search engines

√  Create online business profiles

√  Develop an SEO and content management strategy

√  Social media presence and a plan for outreach

√  Direct mail campaigns, flyers, community outreach

√  Local business partnerships

√  Local business referral networks

√  Reputation management

14. Map Your Customer Journey and Automation Plan

Not everything has to, or should, be done manually in your practice. Serious consideration should be given to automating lead and customer journeys. Automation and email marketing are time-intensive processes to set-up initially, but they pay dividends. It’s estimated the automated customer processes can save the average business up to 25 hours per week. Consider consulting a professional customer automation and email marketing specialist, like Odd Marketing & Designs, to develop the custom workflows you will need in your practice. 

Here are some processes to consider: 

√ Appointment reminders

√ New patient welcome campaigns

√ Missed appointment follow-ups

√ No Start follow-ups

√ Lead nurture campaigns (following events, digital advertising, or website form captures) 

√ Monthly promo campaigns

√ Surveys

√ Review Acquisition

√ Reactivation

√ Observation Nurture Campaigns

15. Host a Soft Opening / Friends & Family Day

A soft launch of your dental or orthodontic practice is a great way to work out any kinks and make sure your team is ready to fully see patients.  

During your soft opening: 

√ Test systems and team workflows

√ Offer discounted services or free consultations

√ Gather feedback and make adjustments

16. Grand Opening and Promotion

√ Hold ribbon-cutting or launch event

√ Invite local business groups, press, community members, and your local Chamber of Commerce

√ Launch online reviews initiative (Google, Yelp)

17. Track KPIs and Finances

√  Monitor patient flow, production, collections, overhead

√  Adjust marketing and staff scheduling based on data

√  Hold regular team meetings and performance reviews

18. Continue Education and Improvement

√  Attend CE courses on clinical and business topics

√  Join dental associations (ADA, AAO)

√  Network with other practice owners