Finance for Dentists: Practice Loans, Equipment, Fit-out and Buying a Dental Practice

Finance for dentists covers buying or starting a practice, the chairs and imaging inside it, the fit-out and the car. Through Emu Money that means dental practice loans from 7.59% for $2,000 to $2,000,000 (start-ups priced on application), equipment and fit-out finance from 6.59% for $5,000 to $2,000,000 and business car loans from 6.59%, compared across 50+ lenders.

This page is for dentists, dental specialists and practice owners. If you are a patient comparing finance for treatment, the dental loans page covers personal loans for patients paying for dental work.

What finance for dentists covers

Dentistry is a private-practice profession, so finance for dentists is practice finance first: a share of a practice or a start-up, the equipment in each surgery, the fit-out around it, and the working capital that carries wages, lab bills and consumables between the fees coming in. The table sets out the routes Emu Money compares across 50+ lenders, and the sections below say where the specialist medico lenders publicly offer something different.

How dentists are paid, and how a lender reads it

A dental practice is paid by its patients: fees at the time of treatment, part of them rebated by health funds for members with extras cover, with public dental clinics and the Child Dental Benefits Schedule the main exceptions. A dentist needs a Medicare provider number to bill, refer or request services that attract a Medicare benefit, including the CDBS, under which eligible children can be bulk billed or given an account. A different provider number is needed for every location you practise at.

Australia had around 21,000 registered dentists in 2024, according to the AIHW. In 2024 most worked in group private practices (around 10,400) or solo private practices (around 5,000), about 84% of all employed dentists, with around 800 (4.5%) in public clinics; 49% worked part-time and 9.5% were specialists. That private-practice profile produces three borrowers: an associate on a percentage of billings or collections, a principal buying in, and a specialist fitting out orthodontic or surgical rooms.

A lender reads each of them differently. An associate is usually a contractor, paid a percentage of their billings or collections or billing in their own right and paying the practice a service fee, so the file is BAS, tax returns and billing reports, while an employed dentist shows payslips. A practice owner shows the practice's financials, and lenders typically read two to three years of statements, the billing mix, the reliance on a departing principal and the lease before pricing a purchase.

Buying a dental practice

A dental practice is priced on its earnings as much as its patient base, chairs and equipment: valuers commonly capitalise future maintainable earnings, typically 3x to 5x normalised EBITDA in one published practice-sales guide and 2.5x to 7x owner earnings depending on size in another. A rule of thumb of 60% to 90% of annual gross fees still circulates as the simplest method, though the first guide calls a similar gross-revenue rule outdated. Both guides stress how much of the value sits with the departing principal, so the handover terms matter as much as the multiple.

Dental practice loans through Emu Money run from 7.59% for $2,000 to $2,000,000 over 3 months to 5 years, with secured term loans for a purchase from $50,000. Most lenders on Emu Money's panel finance 50 to 70% of the purchase price of an established practice with a clean trading history and verified financials, with the buyer contributing the rest, so an $800,000 practice means $400,000 to $560,000 of lending and $240,000 to $400,000 from you. Some specialist medico lenders publicly offer up to 100% of the purchase price of an existing practice or partnership share, secured against the practice's goodwill and equipment rather than your home, with terms as long as 15 years and interest-only periods with some lenders, subject to credit approval.

Goodwill is a capital asset for tax rather than something you depreciate, and the ATO will generally accept the split the vendor and purchaser allocate between goodwill, equipment and fit-out provided its requirements are met. The sale can be GST-free as a going concern if the conditions are met, and a buy-in structured as shares or a partnership interest rather than a purchase of the practice's assets is treated differently on both counts, so have your accountant and solicitor sign off the structure and the split before the finance is structured. The medical practice loans page covers goodwill lending and the documents, and the buying a dental practice guide covers valuation and due diligence.

Dental equipment finance: chairs, imaging and CAD/CAM

Equipment is where a dental budget concentrates: a 2025 industry guide puts the equipment and technology in a dental fit-out at roughly $100,000 to $300,000, with dental chairs and delivery systems at $10,000 to $50,000+ per unit, autoclaves at $5,000 to $15,000, digital X-ray systems at $20,000 to $50,000 and CAD/CAM and 3D printing at $30,000 to $100,000. A 2026 buying guide puts a new cone beam CT (CBCT) unit at roughly $35,000 to $120,000+ depending on the field of view and features, with room shielding of roughly $5,000 to $20,000 and installation of $2,000 to $8,000 on top, and refurbished units at $15,000 to $60,000.

Through Emu Money, dental equipment finance runs from 6.59% for $5,000 to $2,000,000 over 1 to 7 years, secured on the equipment, with same-day approvals available for straightforward applications. A chattel mortgage puts the chair on the practice's books from settlement, with the GST on the price generally claimable in the next BAS by a GST-registered practice; a lease keeps ownership with the lender and ends with a residual, and the medical professionals hub compares the two. Some specialist medico lenders publicly offer dental equipment finance from $2,000 with terms matched to the equipment's lifespan, low-start, upfront or stepped payments and all the practice's assets consolidated into a single agreement, subject to credit approval.

For tax, a $12,000 autoclave costs less than $20,000, so a practice with aggregated turnover under $10 million can generally deduct it in full in the year it is first used or installed ready for use. A $45,000 chair goes into the small business pool instead, at 15% in its first year, a $6,750 deduction, and 30% a year after that under simplified depreciation; ask your accountant which rules apply to your entity.

Fitting out a surgery

Published contractor and industry estimates put a 120 to 180 square metre dental clinic at roughly $250,000 to $600,000 in 2026, above a general practice of similar size in the same estimates. In a dental surgery the difference is the services and compliance work: chair plumbing, suction and compressed-air lines, radiation shielding and the sterilisation room. One industry guide allows 3 to 9 months from planning to opening, so start the finance conversation while the lease is being negotiated, not after it is signed.

Through Emu Money a fit-out is financed in three layers: the loose equipment on equipment finance from 6.59%, the fixed works on a practice term loan from 7.59% or on fit-out finance, which may require additional security for items that become fixtures, and the soft costs from working capital. The fit-out finance page covers the layers, the draw-down facilities with terms up to 10 years that some specialist medico lenders publicly offer, subject to credit approval, and why structural works are generally claimed as capital works at a statutory 2.5% or 4% a year rather than depreciated; your accountant confirms the split.

Starting a practice from scratch

A start-up practice has no trading history, so a lender assesses you: registration, a business plan, projected billings, the chair count and a fit-out budget, with the finance priced on the application rather than at the product floors. The fit-out finance page covers start-up pricing and the practice build loans some specialist medico lenders publicly advertise.

Line the steps up in the order the build needs them: registration, the lease and the landlord's consent to the works, fit-out quotes itemised by layer, then, if you will bill the CDBS or refer patients for services that attract a Medicare benefit, the provider number for the new location. The setting up a medical practice checklist runs through the order, and most of it applies to a dental start-up.

Cars, working capital and personal borrowing

A practice, or a dentist on an ABN with a business use to claim, buys a car on a business car loan through Emu Money from 6.59% for $10,000 to $500,000+ over 1 to 7 years, usually as a chattel mortgage. An employed dentist without an ABN compares a personal car loan through Emu Money from 5.67% for $5,000 to $200,000 over 1 to 7 years, or a novated lease where the employer offers packaging, and the car loans page works through the tax treatment for each.

Working capital covers wages, rent, lab bills and consumables through quiet months and the lag between a treatment plan being accepted and paid for. Through Emu Money that is an unsecured business loan from 9.95% for $5,000 to $500,000 over 3 months to 5 years, with a personal guarantee standard, or a line of credit from 7.99% for $5,000 to $500,000 that you draw as needed. A tax debt is one use, and the ATO's general interest charge incurred on or after 1 July 2025 is no longer deductible, whatever year the debt relates to, so refinancing one is a conversation to have with your accountant first.

For an associate or a new graduate, a personal loan through Emu Money runs from 6.3% for $2,000 to $75,000+ over 1 to 7 years, secured or unsecured, assessed on payslips or, for a contractor, typically on 6 to 12 months of ABN registration and BAS. The finance for doctors page covers personal and professional loans for practitioners in more detail, and most of it applies to dentists.

Tax on dental practice finance

Interest on practice finance is generally deductible for the share used in the practice, and borrowing costs such as establishment and valuation fees are generally spread over five years or the loan term, whichever is shorter. Equipment is depreciated or written off as above, structural fit-out works are generally claimed as capital works at a statutory 2.5% or 4% a year, and plant inside the fit-out, even when attached, is generally a depreciating asset instead. This page is general information, not tax advice; your accountant confirms the treatment for your entity.

How to compare finance for dentists

1. Split the purchase price. Goodwill, equipment, fit-out and stock are financed and taxed differently, and the split decides the security.
2. Match each asset to its facility. Chairs and imaging on equipment finance, fixed works on a term loan, the practice itself on a practice loan.
3. Count the chairs and the years. The chair count sets the equipment budget, and a lender will usually want the finance to end before the lease and the equipment's useful life do.
4. Line up the documents. Registration, two to three years of the practice's financials or your own billing reports, the lease and the quotes.
5. Compare dental practice loan rates on total cost. Establishment fees, residuals and the term can matter more than the headline rate.

Emu Money compares commercial finance for dentists across 50+ lenders, dental practice loans from 7.59%, equipment and fit-out finance from 6.59%, business car loans from 6.59% and unsecured business loans from 9.95%, with no impact on your credit score at the comparison stage. Our finance specialists help you match each layer of a practice to a facility, and the medical professionals hub covers doctors, vets and the rest of the section. Subject to lender approval, terms, and conditions apply.

This page is general information only and is not financial advice.