A Zanesville, OH dental office can pay for a panoramic X-ray or new chairs with a dental equipment loan, a dealer lease, or a term loan that also covers installation and training. The loan gives the office the unit from the first payment; a lease can bundle service. Rushstead passes the quote and the practice figures to funding partners, and each partner reaches its own decision.
An imaging and chair upgrade for a Muskingum County, OH practice, priced with invented figures, a loan and a lease compared from rounded payments, and dental office counts from County Business Patterns 2023.
Panoramic X-ray, sensors and chairs: pricing an upgrade
An imaging upgrade is seldom one machine. A practice replacing an old panoramic unit may add digital sensors at the same time so the whole office reads images in one software package, and the chairs in the busiest operatories may be due as well. Pricing the upgrade as a package, with installation on its own line, gives the funding request one honest number.
Illustration only, invented figures: a Zanesville, OH general dentist gathers dealer quotes for the items below. The equipment comes to $87,800; with $3,200 for installation and setup, the package is $91,000.
| Item | Invented quote |
|---|---|
| Panoramic X-ray unit with cephalometric arm | $41,500 |
| Two intraoral sensors | $13,800 |
| Two patient chairs with delivery units | $27,600 |
| Operatory lights and stools | $4,900 |
| Installation and setup | $3,200 |
| Package total | $91,000 |
Dealer quotes can differ on what is included: software licenses, the sensor holders, removal of the old unit, and how long the dealer’s own service covers parts. Line those up before comparing prices, because a lower quote that leaves out software is not the lower cost.
In Muskingum County, OH, County Business Patterns counted 32 offices of dentists with paid staff in 2023, and 239 paid employees between them, roughly seven or eight people per office on our arithmetic. With a staff that size, an operatory that sits idle for want of a working chair costs payroll hours as well as production.
Equipment loan vs a dealer lease for imaging
An equipment loan makes the practice the owner of the unit from the start; the X-ray itself can serve as collateral. A dealer lease keeps ownership with the leasing company until the end, when a $1 buyout lease hands it over and a fair-market-value lease asks for a price set then. Some dealer leases fold a service plan into the payment.
Illustration only, invented figures: the $91,000 package financed for five years at a 9.25% annual rate costs $1,900.07 a month, which totals $114,004.20. Put the same package on a $1 buyout lease instead: sixty payments of $2,010.00 and the dollar at the end reach $120,601.00, which is $6,596.80 above the loan. If the lease included service worth $1,100 a year, that is $5,500 over five years, so in this example the loan still comes out ahead even after the practice buys service separately.
| Option | Monthly payment | Payments | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment loan, 9.25% a year | $1,900.07 | 60 | $114,004.20 |
| $1 buyout lease | $2,010.00 | 60 plus $1 | $120,601.00 |
A term loan is the other route when the package also includes a software conversion or training that a lender cannot take back as equipment. Whichever is chosen, the comparison should be made on the total paid over the full term, not on the monthly figure.
Installation, training and downtime costs
The invoice for a new panoramic unit is not the whole cost of putting it in service. A room may need electrical work or a wall opened for the mount, the old unit has to come out, and the staff needs training on new capture and viewing software. Ask the dealer in writing which of these the quote includes.
Illustration only, invented figures: the office closes one operatory for 2 days during installation. At $2,300 of production a chair-day, that is $4,600 of work moved or lost, plus a $650 training session for the team: $5,250 that the equipment loan does not pay for. A small amount of working capital, or cash set aside before the install date, keeps payroll whole that week.
- Book the install for days with the fewest scheduled patients.
- Move hygiene patients to the open operatories before the closed days.
- Keep the old sensors working until the new software is confirmed on every computer.
- Have the dealer check the image quality on the first day, while the installer is still on site.
Production reports a funder may ask for: notes for Zanesville, OH owners
A dental request is read through the practice’s own reports. A funding partner may ask for some or all of these, and having them ready shortens the back-and-forth:
- Monthly production and collections reports for the last 12 months from the practice software.
- Accounts receivable aging, with insurance and patient balances shown apart.
- The business checking statements for the most recent quarter or two.
- The dealer quote for each piece of equipment, with model numbers.
- The last two business tax returns, if the request is a larger one.
- A note on any associate, partner change or new location planned.
Owners can see how imaging, chairs and practice moves fit the funding types on the dental practice page for Zanesville, OH. Sending the request does not count as applying for credit; a partner that takes the file further can check credit during its own review. Open the request page to begin, or read other posts on the blog.
A dentist practicing alone can use the same process, and such offices exist locally: for 2024, Nonemployer Statistics shows 21 dental offices in Muskingum County, OH with no paid employees. Their reports are simply shorter.
By Rushstead Commercial Capital · Updated
