Summer has a way of flying by. Between a full schedule, staffing coverage, and the day-to-day demands of running a practice, it's easy to reach August without ever pausing to look at the bigger picture. But this time of year is one of the best opportunities to do exactly that: check your numbers, compare them against benchmarks, and make focused adjustments before Q4 arrives.
You don't need a formal review process or an outside consultant. You need a handful of key metrics, the right benchmarks to compare them against, and an honest look at where you stand.
Start with production and collections
Gross production is the total value of services your practice has delivered so far this year, before adjustments and write-offs. Pull your year-to-date figure in CAD and compare it against your annual target. Are you running ahead, behind, or roughly on pace?
From there, look at your collections rate. As Oral Health Group's 2026 data-driven dentistry analysis highlights, production means little if dentistry is not completed and collected. A healthy collections rate runs at 98% or higher of adjusted production. Anything below 95% typically points to unresolved claim delays (including CDCP preauthorization issues), excessive write-offs, or accounts receivable follow-through gaps at the front desk.
New patient volume is the third metric worth reviewing now. Rather than focusing on an absolute monthly count, track the trend: is your practice seeing more new patients year over year? A 10% to 15% growth rate year-over-year is a healthy target for a practice in a growth phase.
Check overhead by category
Once you have a production and collections baseline, layer in your overhead. According to Oral Health Group's 2026 business of dentistry analysis, a healthy overhead for a general practice falls between 55% and 65% of collections. Practices above 68% are experiencing margin compression that warrants a category-by-category diagnosis.
Break it down by category and compare each against its benchmark. According to Dental Practice Insider's 2026 overhead benchmarks, which draw from ADA Health Policy Institute data and are widely used as reference points by Canadian dental practice advisors, healthy category ranges for a general practice are:
- Staff costs: 25% to 28% of collections, the largest single category and the most common reason overhead drifts high
- Dental supplies: 5% to 7% of collections, one of the most controllable categories when tracked consistently
- Lab fees: 6% to 8% of collections, worth reviewing annually; high remake rates often signal a workflow issue worth fixing
- Rent and facility: 5% to 7% of collections, largely fixed, but space utilization is worth reviewing if you have unused operatories
- Marketing: 2% to 4% of collections for established practices
Factor in your CDCP patient mix
If your practice participates in the CDCP, your mid-year review should include an honest look at your blended reimbursement rate across private, insured, and CDCP patients. As the CDA has noted, CDCP reimbursement rates for many procedures sit below suggested fee levels, meaning higher CDCP patient volumes can affect your effective collections rate even when your gross production looks healthy.
Understanding this blended picture is essential for accurate overhead tracking and planning for the second half of the year.
Look at case acceptance
Case acceptance is one of the highest-leverage metrics in the practice and one of the most under reviewed. The industry average case acceptance rate sits at around 58%, while the CDA recommends that 75% to 80% of presented treatment plans should be accepted.
If your case acceptance is below 60%, mid-year is the right time to look at how treatment plans are being presented, whether financial options are being discussed clearly at chairside, and whether follow-up on unscheduled treatment is happening consistently.
Set two focused goals for Q4
A review is only useful if it leads to action. Once you've worked through your numbers, pick two specific, measurable goals for the second half of 2026.
A few that tend to move the needle:
- Bring supply spend back into the 5% to 7% benchmark range by consolidating to one supplier and setting a weekly ordering cadence
- Improve case acceptance by updating how treatment plans are presented at the chair
- Reactivate patients who haven't been seen in 18 or more months through a targeted recall campaign
The value of pausing
Most practices that struggle at year-end aren't dealing with problems that appeared suddenly in Q4. They're dealing with issues that were visible in August but never addressed. A collections rate that slipped, a supply spend that crept above benchmark, a case acceptance number that nobody looked at. These things compound quietly.
There's still a full quarter ahead. The practices that use this time of year to recalibrate are the ones that finish 2026 in a stronger position than they started it.
