Hazelgrove Lending Group helps dental offices in Redding, CA and Shasta County compare dental practice loans: equipment financing for chairs and imaging, term loans for an office build-out or a practice purchase, and working capital for payroll. Shasta County counted 64 dental offices in 2023, most with five or more employees. This page covers acquisitions, equipment and partner review.
| Dental offices, Shasta County, CA (2023) | 64 |
|---|---|
| Under five employees | 17.2% |
| In ZIP 96001 | 21 |
| Nonemployer dental offices (2024) | 23 |
| Needs this page covers | Operatory equipment, acquisitions, build-outs |
| Structures to compare | Equipment agreements, then term loans |
Why dental offices borrow differently from medical offices
In Shasta County only 11 of 64 dental offices (17.2%) had fewer than five employees in 2023, compared with 57.7% of physician offices. A larger share of dental offices have five or more employees, which can make equipment and space central funding questions, with payroll close behind.
Revenue can be a mix of insurance and patient payments, with treatment plans spread over several visits. Large cases can leave lab bills due before the final payment.
Dental equipment financing
Dental equipment financing covers chairs and delivery units, digital sensors and panoramic or cone-beam imaging, intraoral scanners, milling units, sterilization and compressors. Partners weigh a piece of equipment's resale value, and a new operatory can be quoted and considered as a package.
Where the office plans to replace imaging every few years, compare a lease with an equipment finance agreement. The differences are laid out on the equipment financing page.
Dental practice acquisition and purchase loans
Dental practice acquisition financing pays for buying an existing office: the patient base, equipment, records and goodwill. A dental practice purchase loan is usually a term loan, sometimes paired with working capital for the first months after the transition.
Dental practice acquisition loans are reviewed on the seller's numbers as much as the buyer's: collections, production by provider, hygiene revenue, active patient counts and the equipment list. Expect partners to ask how many patients are likely to stay after the selling dentist leaves.
Dental office financing for a build-out
Dental office financing for a new or expanded suite includes plumbing, vacuum and air lines to each chair, cabinetry and imaging rooms. That is a one-time project with a long life, which suits a term loan, with the chairs and imaging financed separately against the equipment.
Illustrative example: equipping two new operatories
Hypothetical figures, not an offer. Two operatories cost $120,000 for chairs, delivery units, lights, sensors and cabinetry. Financed over 84 months at an assumed annual rate of 9 percent, the payment works out to about $1,931 a month. The question to answer from your own production reports is simple: will the two added chairs bring in enough collections to cover about $1,931 a month plus the added hygienist or assistant's wages, within a few months of opening?
Run that test with your own production numbers before asking for a term. A longer term lowers the payment but raises total interest, and it should never outlast the equipment's working life.
Questions to put to a seller before an acquisition
- How many active patients have been seen in the last eighteen months?
- What share of collections comes from hygiene, and will the hygienists stay?
- How old is each chair, sensor and imaging unit, and what is under service contract?
- How long does the lease run, and can it be assigned?
- Will the selling dentist stay for a transition period, and for how long?
Partners reviewing a dental practice purchase loan may ask many of the same questions. Having the answers in writing before you apply helps show where the purchase price comes from.
Specialists and second locations
Orthodontists, oral surgeons and endodontists can carry heavier equipment per chair, and orthodontic offices may collect treatment fees over many months. A general dentist opening a second location faces both an equipment package and the payroll of new hires before the schedule fills. Each case changes which structure carries the most weight, so describe the practice type clearly in the request.
Dental offices in Shasta County, CA
County Business Patterns counted 64 offices of dentists (NAICS 6212) among Shasta County employer establishments in 2023, 21 of them with a ZIP 96001 address. Nonemployer Statistics separately counted 23 dental offices with no paid employees in 2024. The two figures come from different programs and years and are reported side by side, not added.
What partners usually review for a dental office
- Collections and production reports
- Recent bank statements and tax returns
- Quotes for new chairs, or the seller's equipment inventory
- For acquisitions, the purchase agreement and seller financials
- Leases and loans already open on chairs or imaging
Compare with medical practices and chiropractic, therapy and optometry offices, browse all industries, use working capital for payroll gaps, or see the Redding, CA data page.
