Dental KPI Dashboard: 12 Metrics and KPIs to Track to Measure Your Dental Office Performance

As a dental practice owner or manager, you’re constantly juggling multiple tasks – from managing staff and scheduling appointments to overseeing finances and marketing your services. With so much on your plate, it’s easy to overlook the critical metrics that can help you measure the success of your practice.

Many dental practices focus on tracking basic metrics like revenue and patient volume but fail to take into account more nuanced factors like patient satisfaction, staff productivity, and marketing ROI. This limited approach to KPI tracking can lead to missed opportunities for optimizing your practice’s performance and bottom line.

Conversely, some find that tracking their finances and raw numbers takes away valuable time they could use to take care of their practice and actually, run their business.

Fortunately, with the right tools and techniques, it’s possible to get a comprehensive view of your practice’s financial and operational performance. That’s where a dental KPI dashboard comes in—it’s a powerful tool for tracking and analyzing a wide range of metrics, from new patient acquisition and case acceptance rates to overhead costs and staff productivity.

To demystify this a bit, we’ve conducted a survey of dental businesses and agencies working for dental offices to find out which metrics they use to monitor dental office performance. We interviewed a total of eight companies, including six agencies or consultants working for dental offices and two dental offices themselves. We talked about which metrics they use to monitor dental office performance and why are the selected KPIs valued. 

So let’s dive in and see how a dental KPI dashboard can help your business.

What Are KPIs in Dental?
How Do You Calculate the Value of a Dental Practice?
How Can Dentists Use Data Analytics to Benefit Their Practice?
Top KPIs and Metrics to Include in a Dental Dashboard
Healthcare Benchmark Groups to Join [Free]
Build a Custom KPI Dashboard for Your Dental Practice

What Are KPIs in Dental?

Any organization can use Key Performance Indicators to measure its success. In dental practices, KPIs help to track the performance of various areas of the business, from finances to patient satisfaction. The specific KPIs used may vary depending on the practice’s goals and priorities.

While there are many KPIs that can be used in dental, some of the most common ones include new patient acquisition, case acceptance rate, average revenue per patient, overhead costs, staff productivity, and patient satisfaction. Each of these metrics provides insight into a different aspect of the practice’s performance.

By tracking these and other KPIs, dental practices can gain a comprehensive view of their performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize their operations and bottom line.

How Do You Calculate the Value of a Dental Practice?

Calculating the value of a dental practice is essential for understanding its financial performance and making informed business decisions. There are several metrics that can be used for that, including net income, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), and gross revenue.

While these metrics are important for measuring the value of a dental practice, it’s also essential to consider other factors that contribute to its success. In a survey of dental businesses and agencies working for dental offices we conducted, the majority of respondents identified practice management as the most important factor for their business success, followed by marketing and staff.

By taking a comprehensive approach to practice management, dental practices can optimize their performance and achieve long-term success.

How Can Dentists Use Data Analytics to Benefit Their Practice?

Data analytics is a powerful tool that can help dentists gain valuable insights into their practice’s performance. By leveraging data from a variety of sources, dentists can make data-driven decisions to optimize their operations and increase their bottom line.

One of the most valuable sources of data for dental practices is their practice management software. Most pieces of software of this type include a variety of reporting tools that can be used to track performance in areas such as patient volume, revenue, and staff productivity. By analyzing this data, dentists can identify areas where they can improve their operations and increase their profitability.

In addition to practice management software, dentists can also use other tools to gather and analyze data. For example, Google Analytics or other website analytics tools can provide valuable insights into how patients are finding and interacting with a practice’s website. Social media analytics tools can help dentists track the effectiveness of their social media marketing efforts.

Another valuable source of data is patient feedback. By collecting feedback from patients through surveys or online reviews, dentists can gain valuable insights into the patient experience and identify areas where they can improve their service.

Finally, business intelligence software like Databox can be highly beneficial for dental practices because it can collect and present data from disparate sources in a clear and easy-to-understand way. By integrating with various data sources such as Google Analytics, practice management software, and CRM, Databox can provide dental practices with a comprehensive view of their operations. This can help dentists make data-driven decisions and take action more quickly to optimize their business’ performance and bottom line.

In addition, BI software can make creating reports incredibly simple. It usually takes just a few clicks to create an eye-catching KPI dashboard for a dental practice that will feature all the necessary metrics.

Overall, by leveraging data analytics tools and techniques, dentists can gain a deeper understanding of their business is performing and identify opportunities for growth and improvement. A data-driven approach can allow dental practice owners to increase their bottom line and achieve long-term success.

Top KPIs and Metrics to Include in a Dental Dashboard

Creating a dental KPI dashboard is a great way to keep track of the most critical metrics for your dental practice. By regularly monitoring specific KPIs, you’ll be able to gain insight into different aspects of the business, from finances to patient satisfaction. A well-constructed dashboard allows you to make data-driven decisions to optimize the operations and the bottom line of your practice.

According to a survey we conducted, the top two valued KPIs in measuring dental office success are the number of new patients and profit. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many other important KPIs that can help give you a comprehensive view of your practice’s performance.

Here are some dental metrics and KPIs you might want to keep track of:

Production
Revenue
Profit
Overhead
Active Patients
New Patients
Patient Retention Rate
Average Production per Patient
Case Acceptance Rates
Percentage of Kept Appointments
Number of Hygiene Visits
Collections

Production

Production is one of the most critical KPIs for dental practices, as it measures the total amount of dentistry performed. This KPI provides insights into the practice’s ability to perform treatments, manage capacity, and utilize resources efficiently. Tracking this metric allows you to identify areas where you can increase productivity and efficiency, as well as assess your business’ overall financial wellbeing.

Revenue

Revenue is a crucial KPI that measures the total amount of money generated by the practice from providing dental services to patients. This KPI is essential for assessing the practice’s finances, including profitability and growth potential. By tracking revenue, you can identify trends, compare performance over time, and make informed decisions about business strategy.

Profit

Profit is the amount of money left over after all expenses have been paid. It’s a measure of the practice’s financial health and is essential for long-term sustainability. With this financial metric, you can determine if your dental practice is operating efficiently and make necessary adjustments to improve its bottom line.

Related: What’s a Good Profit Margin for a New Business?

Overhead

Overhead is a critical KPI that measures the total amount of expenses incurred by the practice to operate. This metric provides insights into the practice’s financial situation, efficiency, and profitability. Tracking overhead means you can identify areas where you can reduce expenses, optimize resource utilization, and enhance your practice’s overall financial situation.

Active Patients

Active patients are those who have scheduled appointments in the practice. The number of active patients is a critical KPI as it measures the practice’s ability to retain existing patients and attract new ones. By tracking this dental metric, you can identify trends and patterns that can help improve patient retention and loyalty.

New Patients

When it comes to dental practice metrics, the new patient acquisition is incredibly important. It measures the number of new patients the practice acquires each month. This metric provides insights into the practice’s marketing and advertising efforts, the effectiveness of its referral program, and overall patient satisfaction. This is a popular metric to track because it allows dental practices to identify areas where they can improve their marketing efforts and enhance patient engagement.

Patient Retention Rate

Patient retention rate measures the percentage of patients who return to the practice for a follow-up appointment or continued treatment. A high retention rate is indicative of patient satisfaction and loyalty. Tracking patient retention rate allows you to identify areas where you can improve patient satisfaction and loyalty. This usually includes working on communication, convenience, and quality of care.

Average Production per Patient

Average production per patient measures the average revenue generated by each patient seen in the practice. This dental KPI is essential for assessing the practice’s overall productivity and identifying opportunities for increasing revenue. By tracking this KPI, dental practices can improve their treatment planning, up-selling, and cross-selling strategies.

Case Acceptance Rates

Case acceptance rates measure the percentage of patients who accept recommended treatment plans. This KPI helps practices understand patient behavior and identify areas for improving communication and patient education to increase acceptance rates. With it, you can identify bottlenecks in the treatment planning process and take corrective action to enhance patient satisfaction and financial performance.

Percentage of Kept Appointments

The percentage of kept appointments measures the percentage of scheduled appointments that patients actually keep. This KPI provides insights into patient behavior, appointment scheduling processes, and overall patient engagement. If you track this metric, you can improve the scheduling processes of your dental practice, reduce no-shows, and enhance patient retention.

Number of Hygiene Visits

The number of hygiene visits per month is an important metric for dental practices, measuring the effectiveness of preventive care offerings. This KPI provides insights into patient engagement, practice productivity, and quality of hygiene services. By tracking this metric, you can identify opportunities for enhancing preventive care offerings, improving patient satisfaction, and increasing revenue.

Collections

Collections are the lifeblood of a dental practice, measuring the amount of money collected from patients and insurance companies. This KPI is essential for tracking the practice’s cash flow, monitoring payment trends, and ensuring the practice is paid for services rendered. Tracking collections allows dental practices to pinpoint issues with billing and collection processes and take corrective action to improve their finances.

Healthcare Benchmark Groups to Join [Free]

Benchmarking performance is an important way for dental practices to identify areas for improvement and track their progress over time. 

By comparing your KPIs to other practices, you can determine where your business stands in the market and where you need to focus your efforts to stay competitive. Benchmarking can also help you set realistic goals for your practice, allowing you to create strategies to achieve them.

Fortunately, Databox Benchmark Groups can help you do just that. There are several healthcare benchmark groups available for dental practices to join for free. They provide their own set of metrics and KPIs relevant to dental practices, making it easy to start tracking your business’ performance.

Here are 3 examples of such groups:

Google Analytics Benchmarks for Health & Wellness Companies

This benchmark group provides benchmarks for key metrics related to website traffic and engagement. Dental practices can compare their website’s performance in areas like users, sessions, bounce rate, average time on page, and page views to those of other health and wellness companies.

Facebook Ads Benchmarks for Health and Wellness

Dental practices using Facebook ads can compare their ad performance to other health and wellness companies thanks to this benchmark group. Metrics like reach, frequency, click-through rate (CTR), amount spent, cost per click (CPC), and purchases can be compared to industry benchmarks.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for Health Care Companies

This group provides benchmarks for website performance metrics specific to the healthcare industry, such as new users, sessions, events, and user engagement. By comparing their website’s performance to others in the healthcare industry, dental practices can gain valuable insights and make data-driven decisions.

We have many other benchmark groups you can join so make sure you check them out. In case you didn’t find what you were looking for, reach out to our Customer Success team in chat and let us know what metric you’re looking to compare. We might be able to build a new open group for you.

Build a Custom KPI Dashboard for Your Dental Practice

As a dental practice owner or manager, understanding the performance of your practice is essential for optimizing operations and achieving long-term success. By leveraging data analytics and tracking KPIs, you can gain a comprehensive view of your practice’s financial and operational performance.

Whether you choose to use an existing healthcare benchmark group or build your own custom dental KPI dashboard, tracking the right metrics can provide invaluable insights into your practice’s performance. By focusing on KPIs like patient satisfaction, staff productivity, and marketing ROI, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your practice’s performance.

One tool that can help you achieve this is Databox, which allows you to easily collect and present data from disparate data sources in an easy-to-understand way. Just create a free Databox account, and you’ll be able to build a custom dashboard that will allow you to track the KPIs that matter most to your practice.