There are million dollar bills lying on the ground for those with eyes to see them.

I'm in Miami today, visiting a friend who is opening a dental practice. Chatting with someone very knowledgeable about a niche industry is an interesting experience because you get to learn about just how insane everything is behind the scenes. For example, dental practices benefit significantly from scale, yet the overwhelming majority of operations are small private practices.

My friend (let's call him Jeffrey for the purposes of this post), is likely going to be able to do a few million in revenue the first year his dentistry office is open. The facility is sized to reach $15 million in annual revenue, which they expect to be able to achieve in the next couple of years. The expected EBITA of this business (earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization) are 40-50%.

That means if [...]

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Outline:

(02:31) Why are loans for dentistry offices so cheap?

(03:12) The real money comes from oral surgeons.

(05:19) Why werent dental offices already set up this way?

(07:03) Is dentistry a venture scalable business?

(08:35) Additional tidbits

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First published:
November 1st, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xAYbPv33gvZZJZsgo/dentistry-oral-surgeons-and-the-inefficiency-of-small

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Dentistry, Oral Surgeons, and the Inefficiency of Small Markets” by GeneSmith

LessWrong (30+ Karma)