CPA & financial advisory for dentists · National practice
Strategic Financial Advisory for Dental Practice Owners
Pagac & Company, P.C. is a CPA, tax, accounting and strategic business advisory firm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan that helps dental practice owners use their numbers. The firm's dental practice moves beyond tax preparation into advanced tax strategy, CFO-level advisory, profitability analysis, practice real estate strategy, retirement and wealth coordination, and exit planning. Serving business owners since 1975, Pagac works with general and specialty dentists, multi-location practice owners and dentists preparing to buy, sell or transition a practice, nationally from its Bloomfield Hills office. The practice pathway for owners: the Financially Intelligent Dentist™.
The standard
The Financially Intelligent Dentist™
The Pagac Dental Financial Funnel™
Where Practice Revenue Actually Goes
Every stage between production and planning opportunities can influence the outcome. The funnel is the map the practice's financial work follows.
- 01
Production
The value of the dentistry produced in the period. Production sets the ceiling, but it is not what the owner keeps.
- 02
Adjustments
Reductions from insurance contracts, write-offs and fee adjustments. Contract terms and write-off policy shape how much production survives.
- 03
Collections
Cash actually received. Collection discipline and timing turn produced value into money the practice can use.
- 04
Variable Costs
Costs that move with production: supplies, lab and production-linked labor. Visibility here exposes waste that fixed analysis hides.
- 05
Fixed Overhead
Facility, staffing and standing costs. Structure matters as much as level, because fixed costs decide the break-even.
- 06
Compensation Strategy
How the owner and team are paid: salaries, distributions, bonuses and benefits, designed with tax and motivation in view.
- 07
Taxable Income
What remains for tax purposes after the structure, deductions and elections, on the practice's own facts and current law.
- 08
Planning Opportunities
The decisions that follow: entity changes, retirement contributions, real estate moves and transition timing.
Financial blind spots
Where Most Practices Lose Financial Ground
Eight blind spots Pagac sees again and again in dental practices, each addressable once it is visible.
Wrong Entity Structure
A structure that mismatches how the practice actually earns and distributes income.
Overpaying Self-Employment Tax
Owner-compensation structures that expose service income unnecessarily.
Poor Overhead Visibility
Costs that rise under the radar because nobody reviews the funnel by category.
Reactive Tax Planning
Year-end scrambles instead of decisions made before the deadline.
Inefficient Retirement Structures
Plans that leave contribution capacity on the table, year after year.
Unoptimized Real Estate Ownership
Practice buildings held in ways that cost tax efficiency or transition flexibility.
Lack of Advisor Coordination
Tax, investment and practice advisors working in separate silos.
Missed Advanced Deductions
Eligible planning such as cost segregation left unexamined.
How Financially Intelligent Is Your Practice?
Take the assessment and see where your practice stands across structure, taxes, profitability, real estate and retirement.
Take the AssessmentThe dental library
Dental Advisory, Page by Page
Dental Tax Planning
Tax planning for dentists: entity structure, owner compensation, retirement design and practice and personal coordination, built around each practice's facts.
Virtual CFO for Dental Practices
CFO-level financial perspective for dental practices: overhead visibility, provider contribution, collections, staffing productivity and capital planning.
Dental Practice Profitability
Analyzing dental practice profitability: the funnel from production to collections to overhead, provider contribution and the metrics that drive owner income.
Dental Practice Real Estate
Practice real estate strategy for dentists: owning versus leasing, separate entities for the building, rent arrangements and transitions, analyzed on the facts.
Cost Segregation for Dental Buildings
Cost segregation for dental office buildings: reclassifying build-out and equipment-related components to shorter depreciation lives, subject to an engineering study.
Retirement Planning for Dentists
Retirement architecture for dentists: qualified plan design, contribution capacity, practice equity as a retirement asset and advisor coordination.
Buying a Dental Practice
Financial analysis for dentists buying a practice: multi-year financials, valuation, financing, entity structure and tax consequences, before signing.
Selling a Dental Practice
Preparing a dental practice for sale: clean financials, transferable goodwill, buyer options from associates to DSOs, and the structure of the transition.
Dental Exit Planning
Exit planning for dentists: value, successor development, real estate, retirement architecture and DSO readiness, planned from the end backward.
Dental case study
A Specialty Practice Relocation, Real Estate and Long-Term Succession
Financial modeling, tax strategy, cost segregation, Roth conversions, QBI analysis and retirement restructuring, coordinated around a relocation and a family transition.
Read the case studyQuestions dentists ask
Answers for Practice Owners
Honest answers, with the caveats the questions deserve. Where answers depend on individual facts, tax law or jurisdiction, the pages say so.
Take the AssessmentWhat does a dental CPA do?
A dental CPA helps practice owners with the financial side of dentistry: entity structure, tax planning, owner compensation, retirement architecture, practice real estate, profitability analysis and transitions such as buying, selling or succession. The focus is the owner's wealth, not just the practice's books.
Do dentists need a specialized CPA?
Practice owners face tax, real estate and retirement questions that general preparation rarely covers: entity choice, self-employment tax, qualified business income considerations, building ownership and sale timing. A practice-focused CPA brings those questions into one coordinated plan. Whether a particular strategy applies depends on the dentist's facts and applicable law.
How can a dentist reduce unnecessary tax exposure?
The usual levers are structure, compensation, retirement contributions and timing, each reviewed before the deadline and under current law. Because every dentist's situation differs, Pagac analyzes the practice's own numbers rather than promising savings.
What financial KPIs should dental practice owners track?
Collections relative to production, adjustments and write-offs, overhead by category, provider contribution and cash position. ADA Health Policy Institute data have commonly placed average general-practice overhead near 60 percent of gross billings, but the right comparison is the practice's own history and structure.
Should a dentist own the practice building?
It depends on capital, timeline and goals. Ownership can build equity and control the largest fixed cost; leasing preserves flexibility. When a dentist does own, holding the building in a separate entity leased to the practice is a common structure that must be supported by reasonable, defensible rent.
How should a dentist prepare to sell a practice?
Prepare years ahead: clean, consistent financials; a stable, transferable patient base; settled real estate; and a transition plan. Buyers range from associates to DSOs, each valuing the practice differently, and the sale structure carries its own tax consequences.
For practice owners
Owning a practice should build wealth, not just a schedule.
From Bloomfield Hills, Pagac advises dental practice owners across the country on the financial architecture behind their practices.