Dental offices in Annapolis, MD usually finance CBCT scanners, chairs, delivery units and sterilization rooms on equipment loans or leases, secured by the equipment, and often bundle several purchases into one request. This article covers each, with one illustrated scanner-and-operatories request.
Ivymead Credit in Annapolis, Maryland passes dental equipment requests to funding partners, who decide the amount and terms.
CBCT scanners and imaging upgrades
A cone-beam CT scanner lets an office plan implants and endodontic work in-house instead of referring patients out for imaging. It is a large purchase with installation, shielding and software costs beside the unit itself. Intraoral scanners and sensor upgrades are smaller imaging purchases that often come at the same time. All fit equipment financing.
Dental offices with employees numbered 209 in the county in 2023, with 1,698 people on their payrolls (County Business Patterns).
The scanner's software license, training for the team and any service contract can add to the purchase. An office should ask the vendor which of those are one-time costs that can be financed with the unit and which are ongoing subscriptions that belong in the monthly budget.
Chairs, delivery units and sterilization rooms
Chairs, delivery units, lights and cabinetry are replaced operatory by operatory, so the office keeps seeing patients in the other rooms. A sterilization room upgrade adds ultrasonic cleaners, autoclaves and the plumbing and electrical work behind them. The equipment is financed as equipment; the plumbing and cabinetry installation may ride on the same agreement or on a term loan.
Phasing matters for a busy office. Replacing one operatory at a time keeps the schedule full, and a partner can finance each room as it is done or approve the whole plan at once with draws as rooms are finished.
Equipment loan vs lease for dental technology
A loan leaves the office owning the scanner; a fair market value lease keeps the payment lower and gives a choice at the end to return, renew or buy; a $1 buyout lease works much like a loan. Technology that the office expects to replace on a cycle can suit a lease. Tax treatment differs, and the office should ask its accountant how each would be reported.
A lease may also bundle service and upgrades, which can be useful for imaging equipment whose software changes. The office should compare the lease payment with a loan payment plus a separate service contract, so the comparison is like for like.
Bundling several purchases into one request
Bundling a scanner, two operatories and a sterilization upgrade into one request gives the partner one picture of the office's plans and one payment to approve. A partner can still split the pieces across funding types. A practice purchase or associate buy-in in the same year belongs on a term loan, and the dental office page covers both.
- Vendor quotes for each item.
- Installation and shielding quotes.
- Production and collections for two years.
- Tax returns and the lease.
When purchases are bundled, the request should still list each item with its own quote and expected life. A sterilization center lasts longer than an intraoral sensor, and a partner may set the term from the longest-lived items.
A CBCT scanner and two operatories: one illustrated Annapolis, MD request
Illustration only, invented figures: an office buys a CBCT scanner at $98,000 and fits out 2 operatories at $36,000 each, $170,000 in all (our arithmetic).
On one equipment loan, borrowed for 84 months at 9.25% a year, the money would cost about $2,757 a month and about $61,568 in interest, with about $231,568 paid in all. The office would weigh that payment against the imaging it no longer refers out and the patients the new operatories can see.
Only 60 of the 209 dental offices in the county had fewer than five employees in 2023, 28.7% (County Business Patterns), so most offices carry staff whose schedules depend on how the operatories are phased.
If the scanner brings imaging in-house, the office can estimate the referrals it no longer sends out and the treatment it can now plan itself. That estimate is not a promise of revenue, but it shows the partner why the purchase makes sense.
Questions Annapolis, MD dentists ask about equipment funding
These come up when a dentist first plans equipment purchases.
- Can installation be financed? Many partners include it; ask.
- Can used imaging equipment be financed? Sometimes, with service records.
- Should the office lease or buy the scanner? Compare total cost and the replacement plan.
- Do partners read production or collections? Usually both.
Send the quotes through the request form or by phone.
Owners also ask about timing. Ordering equipment before the financing is approved can leave the office paying a deposit it cannot recover if the terms do not work, so many offices wait for an offer before signing the vendor contract, or ask the vendor how a deposit is handled.
By Ivymead Credit · Updated
