Your report breaks down every major expense category as a percentage of net collections and compares each one against 2025–2026 dental industry benchmarks. You'll see exactly which categories are over target, by how much, and what that costs you annually in dollars. The report also includes an annualized impact table showing your total recoverable overhead, a "What Jumps Out" section with the biggest findings, a missed opportunities section, and a priority action plan ranked by timeline and impact. Think of it as a CPA-grade overhead audit delivered in under 60 seconds.

Your CPA is excellent at taxes, compliance, and general financials — but most CPAs don't specialize in dental. They won't know that dental supplies should be 5–6% of collections, that lab fees over 9% signal a case mix problem, or that marketing under 2% is quietly strangling your new patient growth. DentalPNL uses dental-specific benchmarks built from industry data, interpreted through the lens of a practicing dentist-owner. It's not a replacement for your CPA — it's the dental layer they can't provide.

Any standard Profit & Loss statement works — QuickBooks PDF exports are ideal. You can also upload a screenshot (PNG or JPG), a CSV export, or an Excel file. The analysis works best with a trailing 12-month or full annual P&L, but monthly P&Ls are also supported — the report will note when figures are annualized for benchmark comparison. If you don't have your P&L handy, you can also enter your key numbers manually using our simplified template.

Based on industry data, the average GP practice running 63–67% overhead has $40,000–$120,000 in recoverable overhead per year. The most common culprits are dental supplies running 2–4 points above benchmark (worth $24,000–$48,000/year on a $1.2M practice), staff costs that have crept above 30% due to gradual wage increases, and severely underinvested marketing budgets that constrain production growth. Even capturing half of the recoverable overhead identified in a typical report meaningfully changes owner take-home.

Yes. Your P&L data is processed in real time and never stored. The file you upload is used only to generate your report and is not retained after analysis. Your report is sent directly to the email address you provide — no data is saved to databases, shared with third parties, or used for any purpose other than generating your analysis. The entire process happens over an encrypted connection.

The benchmarks are sourced from 2025–2026 dental industry data and calibrated by a practicing dentist-owner. Key targets include: total overhead below 58% (best in class), staff payroll at 25–30%, dental supplies at 5–6%, lab fees at 6–9%, facility costs at 7–9%, and marketing at 3–5%. Doctor/owner compensation is tracked separately and excluded from the overhead calculation — because your draw is the result of good overhead management, not part of it. The analysis also accounts for state-specific items like Washington State B&O tax that don't appear in national benchmarks.

Under 60 seconds in most cases. You'll fill out a short practice information form, upload your P&L, hit submit, and your detailed report will arrive in your inbox before you've even closed the tab. The analysis is powered by AI trained specifically for dental financial benchmarking — it reads your P&L, calculates every percentage, compares against benchmarks, and writes a narrative report automatically.

Yes — the analysis supports GP, Ortho, Perio, Oral Surgery, Peds, and Endo practices. You'll select your practice type during intake and the benchmarks are adjusted accordingly. For example, an Ortho practice has a very different lab fee profile than a GP, and the analysis accounts for that. That said, the tool is most thoroughly calibrated for general dentistry and will note where specialty-specific nuances may affect the interpretation.

The report gives you a complete priority action plan you can implement yourself — most of the recommendations are straightforward operational changes like vendor renegotiation, scheduling optimization, or marketing reallocation. Each action is ranked by timeline and impact so you know exactly where to start. If you have questions after receiving your report, reach out at hello@dentalpnl.com and we'll do our best to point you in the right direction.

Quarterly is ideal for most practices — enough time for changes to show up in the numbers, but frequent enough to catch overhead creep before it compounds. At minimum, run an annual analysis using your full-year P&L. Many practice owners run a baseline report now, implement the top 2–3 recommendations, then re-run in 90 days to measure progress. The $149 cost is essentially free given the overhead it typically identifies.