Dental Supply Cost
Dental supply cost refers to the expenses a dental practice incurs on clinical supplies, meaning materials used directly in patient care such as composites, bonding agents, gloves, masks, burs, impression materials, and preventive products. This is typically expressed as a percentage of production or collections.
Types
Consumable Supplies
Single-use items consumed in patient care such as gloves, masks, disposables, impression materials, and composites.
Lab Fees
Costs paid to dental labs for crowns, bridges, dentures, and other prosthetics. Often tracked separately from supplies but counted in total COGS.
Why it matters
Industry benchmarks suggest dental supply costs should run 5–7% of collections. When supply costs creep above 8 to 9%, it signals vendor price increases, over-ordering, waste, or theft that are eroding practice profitability. Tracking supply cost as a percentage of production in real time rather than waiting until year-end is how high-performing practices stay profitable.
Real-world example
A single-doctor practice collects $120,000 per month. Supply costs are $9,600, which is an 8% supply cost ratio, slightly above the 5 to 7% benchmark. After reviewing the SupplyIQ data, the owner identifies a 12% price increase from their primary distributor that had gone unnoticed for three months.
Ask FREM about your data
CentsOf.AI's SupplyIQ automatically parses vendor invoices from Benco, Patterson, Henry Schein, Net32, and Amazon Business, tracking supply costs in real time. Ask FREM: "What is my supply cost ratio this month?"
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