How to achieve the goals you set for 2026

Goal-setting should always include a quantitative measurement. For example, people establish a "goal weight" when they are trying to shed a few pounds. This approach allows you to measure against the goal and determine where you stand along the way and whether you achieve it. The same exact concept is true for dental practices. A basic way of saying this is that the goal provides the destination and the measurement tells you when and if you've arrived.

Setting targets for 2026

One of the best ways to improve your practice performance is to set specific goals and targets. Targets are the quantitative measurement you can use to determine the best way to achieve your goals. This article focuses on the goals that you should consider setting to for a prosperous 2026.

Production is a key factor in determining practice performance. When production is high, profit and income are usually high as well. This is the real indicator for dental practice success. Dentists put in many years of money, time, and effort in education, buying or building a practice, and working to make that practice successful. Having the right level of income is a critical factor in getting a good return on their investment, so it should not be taken lightly. If income does not grow by at least 5% every year, the practice is not performing at a level that is acceptable.

Production-related targets for you to set goals

1. Yearly production: You should work to increase production by at least 15% in 2026. Since most practices did not work on production improvement strategies in 2025, there is significant opportunity for growth. Levin Group has found that most practices can easily increase production by 15% annually for at least three years by simply implementing basic production enhancement strategies.

2. Production per day: This is essentially the daily goal, and the entire practice can rally around this target. To determine the practice's daily goal, simply take the annual production goal and divide it up by the number of working days. Ultimately,you want to be within 90% of the daily goal for 90% of the days. There will always be fluctuation, but if you can achieve this, you will regularly hit the daily goals and the annual production goal.

3. Production per hour: This is one of the most revealing statistics about practice performance. You want to increase production per hour by 10-20% in order to achieve the 15% overall annual production goal. Focusing on production per hour gives insights to where the practice is inefficient so that improvements can be made to the hourly production. For example, we have found many practices that can almost immediately increase hygiene production by 25% simply by changing the approach, culture, and scripting of the dental hygienist.

4. Production per provider: Many practices believe that they are performing well, but when the practice revenue is divided by the number of providers, they are mostly average. It is important to determine the average production per provider and also the actual production per provider. This will allow you to identify opportunities for different providers to increase production using new efficiency methods that can be extremely beneficial to increasing total practice production and income.

5. Average production per patient: This is one category where many practices fall short, so the opportunity to increase the average production per patient is great. We routinely see increases in the average production for patient of 25% over the course of 12 months when practices properly diagnose all ideal dentistry, present all elective options, and improve case presentation and financial options.

6. Average production per new patient: New patients typically represent a 250% higher revenue than the average current active patient in the first 12 months. This would indicate that the more new patients you have, the higher production will be over a 12-month period. Using an internal marketing program, a practice should aim for at least a 10% increase in new patients using inexpensive customer service-based strategies that stimulate current patients to refer others. Adding more new patients is a major contributory factor for increasing practice production and income.

7. Overhead: Overhead must be established as a goal every year, and it is just as important as the production numbers. Every dollar that is not spent on overhead is one dollar that goes to income, so it is more important than ever to not just control overhead, but to lower it. Strategies for lowering overhead can include bidding out your largest expenses, evaluating different options for supplies and materials, investing in equipment and software maintenance to prevent breakdowns, and taking advantage of specials, discounts, and bulk purchasing. These strategies can help any practice lower overhead by 5%. Doing so increases your income by $5,000 for every $100,000 of production. If you have a $1 million practice, then you have just increased income by $50,000. Over 20 years, a $50,000 adds up to $1 million in extra income. Keep in mind that the same formula applies on a per-doctor basis, so if you have four doctors in the practice, that's $4 million of extra income based solely on controlling and streamlining overhead.

8. Staffing costs: Although staffing costs are a part of overhead, they are the single largest expense in every practice. Unfortunately, staffing costs have risen dramatically in recent years, putting financial pressure on practices. The key is to identify how to gain a better return on investment from the dental team. By expertly training a dental team, doctors can spend more time focusing specifically on increasing production, which increases income. If a team member is lost, the practice does not become less efficient during its recruiting and hiring process. Another effective strategy is to replace salary increases with a bonus system. Salaries are fixed expenses and must be paid regardless of performance. Bonuses are variable, which means team members only get paid based on specific performance measurements. Furthermore, bonuses tend to motivate and galvanize the entire team, provide higher production and income for practices, and control staff costs.

9. No-shows and cancellations: No-shows should be reduced to 2% or less in 2026. This necessitates a system based on creating practice value, educating patients that no-shows are unacceptable, and working to give patients appointments that are convenient. Understand that a last-minute cancellation is a no-show, which means they should also be reduced to under 2%. Some practices believe that this is next to impossible, but we have seen it happen many times when the right systems and strategies are applied.

Conclusion

Every practice should set targets for the following year and then design strategies and systems to achieve them. Production strategies are key because they drive the entire practice forward and increase practicing income, which is the critical target. By evaluating production strategies, controlling overhead, and identifying the most inefficient areas of the practice (e.g., no-shows or last-minute cancellations), practices will have a unique opportunity to perform better every year.

Editor's note: This article appeared in the January 2026 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.