The $1 Million Sitting in Your Dental Practice (And How to Find It)

If your goal for 2026 is to scale your dental practice, the smartest place to start isn’t with more patients, longer hours, or new procedures, it’s with found money. Revenue that already exists inside your practice but isn’t being fully captured.

Most practices don’t realize how much opportunity is hiding in plain sight. Schedules are full, the team is busy, and production looks strong. Yet profitability feels harder to improve. When that happens, instinct is almost always the same: work harder. See more patients. Add services. Invest in technology.

But activity doesn’t always equal performance and being productive doesn’t mean your practice is optimized.

Growth Comes from Insight

The Revenue Analysis Consultation (RAC) is built on a simple idea: real growth comes from insight, not more effort. Instead of asking your team to do more, the RAC takes a step back and analyzes the data your practice already generates every day.

By reviewing fee schedules, collections, production mix, treatment acceptance, patient retention, and coding accuracy, the RAC identifies where revenue is quietly being left on the table, often in areas that feel routine and therefore go unnoticed.

On average, Benco identifies more than $1 million in uncaptured revenue per practice. Not because offices are failing—but because systems drift, fees fall behind local benchmarks, codes go underutilized, and small inefficiencies compound over time.

Most practices believe they’re “doing fine.” The data often tells a very different story.

This Isn’t Just About Fee Increases

This isn’t theoretical, and it isn’t driven by fee increases alone. In many practices, the largest gains come from tightening systems and capturing revenue that’s already being earned.

“Your practice is capable of more, and the RAC proves it. One practice owner came to us frustrated—working harder every year, yet profitability wasn’t improving. The RAC uncovered $850,000 in hidden opportunity, and only $242,000 came from fee increases. The rest was buried in unscheduled treatment, misused and underutilized codes, and systems that were long overdue for a check-up. After putting the RAC recommendations in place, production grew by $424,000 in six months and more than $674,000 within a year. It gave them the insight they needed and a clear path forward.”
Amanda VanBeek, Benco Solutions Specialist Midwest

That’s what “found money” looks like when insight replaces assumptions.

“Doing Fine” Is the Most Dangerous Place

In most busy practices, lost revenue doesn’t come from one big mistake, but rather from small gaps that compound over time.

Fees quietly fall behind local zip-code benchmarks. Treatment plans are presented but not fully scheduled. Hygiene and Periodontal systems weaken as schedules stay full. Codes that should be used consistently are applied inconsistently, or not at all. Staffing and workflows no longer match the size or pace of the practice.

None of these issues trigger alarms. The practice stays busy. Production remains steady. But over months and years, these gaps create a widening disconnect between how hard the team is working and how much revenue the practice is capturing.

A Simple Example with a Big Impact

In one large practice, a Revenue Analysis Consultation uncovered a single fee misalignment that had gone unnoticed for years. Fluoride treatments were billed to insurance at $15, when the appropriate fee for that zip code was $42.

With approximately 18,000 patients, that one discrepancy translated to nearly $800,000 in lost annual revenue—without adding a single appointment, procedure, or hour to the schedule.

When fees, codes, and systems are aligned, revenue finally reflects the effort already being put in.

What the Revenue Analysis Consultation Actually Shows You

The RAC provides dentists and office managers with clear, actionable insight into the drivers of profitability, including:

  • Patient retention rates
  • Production per dentist
  • Treatment plan acceptance
  • Active patient count
  • Fee alignment by zip code
  • Underutilized or misused codes

More importantly, it shows you where to focus first, not everything that could be improved, but what should be improved to have the biggest financial impact.

The First 30–60 Days

Time is a real concern for every practice, and the RAC is designed with that in mind. In the first 30 days, a Benco coach pulls data directly from your practice management software and completes a comprehensive revenue review. You’re not asked to build reports or chase numbers, the work is done for you.

Each of the three RAC tiers comes with NDAS fee schedules per practice zip code and a 6-week progress checkup. The second tier comes with a 6-month comparative analysis. The third tier includes everything in the first two tiers, along with a 12-month comparative analysis and two one-hour virtual coaching sessions with your team.

The findings are then delivered live by the coach, along with a prioritized list of opportunities. Rather than overwhelming the practice with changes, the focus is narrowed to three high-impact action items aligned with your goals.

Over the next 30–60 days, the coach follows up to help remove roadblocks, answer questions, and maintain momentum. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s progress. Small, focused changes made consistently are what drive the largest financial gains.

Practices that complete the Revenue Analysis Consultation and implement the recommendations see, on average, a 38% increase in collections year over year.

The Smartest Way to Scale in 2026

Dental practices don’t go stagnant because dentists aren’t working hard enough, but because effort isn’t aligned with insight. Adding patients, technology, or procedures before understanding where revenue is already being missed only increases complexity.

The Revenue Analysis Consultation flips that model. It creates clarity first. When fees are aligned, codes are used correctly, systems support behavior, and the team understands the “why,” growth becomes easier, not harder.

That’s why this approach works so well heading into 2026. It strengthens the foundation before asking the practice to grow and assures the revenue you’re already earning makes it to the bottom line.

For less than the cost of a crown, the Revenue Analysis Consultation can uncover hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed revenue.

If you’re producing more but taking home less, the question isn’t whether there’s opportunity, but rather how much are you missing.

Ready to Find Out How Much Found Money is Sitting Inside Your Practice?

Benco offers free discovery calls to walk through what a Revenue Analysis Consultation could mean for your practice specifically. No obligation, just insight.

Schedule your free discovery call here, to find the revenue hiding inside your practice.

If you’ll be attending the Chicago Midwinter Meeting (February 19–21, 2026), let’s meet in person at the Benco booth #4806. I’ll be there along with Amanda VanBeek and other coaches from Benco to discuss how the RAC could impact your practice.

Call or text 773-680-5576, email jason.dempsey@benco.com, to book time to meet at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting.

Let’s uncover what your data already knows.

Jason D. Dempsey
5% Dental Supply Guy

A Tale of Two Sales People: My Recent Purchase Experience

For the past five years I’ve been pulling my kids in a trailer and occasionally riding for myself on a bike I bought over twenty years ago.

My sons are growing up, learning to ride their own bikes, and finding their own fun on two wheels, so I decided it was time for me to rediscover the long-distance riding I enjoyed.

I wanted to buy a new bike, but I wasn’t ready to walk into a store and speak with a salesperson. Bikes had become so much more technologically advanced and expensive since I last purchased one.

As I started to research all of the new advancements and possibilities, I was reminded of the steps my customers take when they’re looking to purchase new equipment or technology. They do a ton of research, speak with friends and colleagues, and are about 80% ready to buy when I’m brought in as one of the salespeople to compete for the deal.

My online research and readings had me about 60% ready to buy, but I needed to speak with someone who was knowledgeable about bikes and had made a similar and more recent purchase, so I immediately called my friend Dominic.

For years Dominic has been riding competitively, leading tour groups and gravel rides, and even organizes a one-day ride across Illinois from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan, which I did in the summer of 2023. It was 150 miles in one day and is the most challenging ride of ever done.

Dominic asked me about the riding I like to do, my research, and what was important to me. Our conversation led me to start looking for an aluminum bike that sat up higher in front with higher-end components to help with my long-distance rides.

Now I was ready to walk into a bike store and start my buying process.

I told the first salesperson about the two different bikes I was interested in, the level of components, and that I wanted it in aluminum. He immediately took me to the more expensive carbon fiber bikes and explained why I should consider these instead. They did have some cool features that the aluminum bikes didn’t, but it would cost me more than I budgeted for or really needed. I reminded him that I didn’t want carbon fiber, but he immediately doubled down on why it was so important and shouldn’t consider anything else. I thanked him for his time and walked out of the store.

The salesperson at the second store had a completely different approach. I mentioned the bikes I was interested in and wasn’t shown any bikes at all. Instead, like my friend Dominic, he started asking questions about my current bike, the riding I like to do, how often I ride, and where I like to ride.

He agreed the bikes I wanted to see would work well and then pointed out that there were some awesome gravel trails where I liked to ride and asked if I did any gravel riding.

I told him that I’d always wanted to but thought I needed a different type of bike for gravel. He brought me over to one of the bikes and explained how this one had everything I was looking for in a road bike, but also had the capability to ride on gravel because of the carbon fork and wider wheelbase that allowed for gravel tires.

My world just doubled in size. I could do all of the long-distance road rides, and then switch out the tires to explore all the gravel and dirt trails I used to just pass by.

Then to top it all off, he explained how to get used to the new disc brakes, their generous return policy, and how I’d receive two complimentary tune-ups. This reminded me of the level of service that Benco Dental and our manufacturing partners work to offer our customers so they’re happy and comfortable with their big purchases for years to come.

The exact bike I purchased was available for the same price at both stores I visited. Which store do you think I bought it from?

Buying my new bike turned out to be such an awesome experience. I was provided with incredible service, an amazing product that exceeded my expectations, an opportunity to reflect on my customer’s purchasing process, and a spark to want to write more stories like this.

I strive to run my customer meetings by focusing on the customer’s point of view, asking the best questions, truly listening to their needs, and always working to show them their gravel roads.

If you’re looking for a dental sales representative and full-service distributor who puts the customer first and will work to get you what you want, please reach out to me or your local Benco Dental representative.