4 steps to determine how many patients you need each month

Many dental practices set goals, such as "30 new patients per month," without a clear understanding of where that number comes from, whether it aligns with the practice's actual needs, or how it will affect team operations. To set a smart, data-driven target, you must answer two questions: How many patients is the practice losing? How many new patients does the practice need to not just replace them, but to grow?

To help break it down, I spoke with Jody Arrowsmith, a former practice manager and the founder of Dynamic Dental Scheduling. She advises dental teams on how to optimize their schedule, increase production, and create smoother workdays in the process.

Step 1: Understand your patient attrition

Every dental practice loses patients for various reasons. Patients move, change insurance plans, or neglect treatment, to name a few. Knowing your attrition rate reveals whether your patient numbers support your current production, and whether you are growing, shrinking, or maintaining the same size.

To find your patient attrition numbers, pull a list of patients who were seen 12 to 24 months ago but not during the past 12 months. Many software systems (such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft, or Open Dental) allow for these filters.

Let's say your attrition calculations reveal that your practice is losing an average of 120 patients per year through regular attrition, which is 10 per month. Now you know how many patients you must replace to maintain a practice of the same size.

What’s a healthy rate of attrition?

Knowing how many patients you need to replace to stay the same size or grow creates a sense of urgency to get your marketing and recare systems in order to ensure you’re hitting your targets. 

According to Dynamic Dental Scheduling, an attrition rate of around 10% is normal, so if your attrition numbers are near this, there’s no cause to panic or drastically change how you’re doing things. However, if you find that your attrition rate far exceeds 10%, it could be an indicator of deep patient unhappiness and warrants investigating.

High rates of attrition are sometimes predictable. Attrition often grows around events like shifting insurance networks, transitioning to a fee-for-service model, or changes in practice ownership. If any of these are on the horizon, it makes sense to set more ambitious new-patient goals in advance of the change to insulate your business from the shifts.

Step 2: Replace what you lose, then aim higher

Once you have a handle on your attrition, you know the number of new patients needed to maintain your current active patient count. But if your goal is to grow, you'll need to exceed that baseline to add to your patient base.

But how much growth is the right amount? An industry benchmark currently used for general dentistry practices is $1.5 million in production for each full-time doctor. If you're falling below this benchmark, or if there's open time in your schedule that could be filled in order to exceed them, then you'll need to figure out how many new patients are needed to reach your goals.

How much revenue do you need to make up? What net patient increase would be required to do so? 

For the sake of simple math, let's say your practice has a $100,000 shortfall from hitting its production goals. What sort of net patient increase would close this gap?

Divide total production over the last 12 months by your number of active patients. This number will show you how much, on average, a single patient is worth to your practice.

Consider attrition in your revenue goals

The true number of new patients your practice needs to hit its growth goal is the number needed for your increased production plus the number needed to cover your attrition. If you determine you're losing 120 patients annually and you need a net increase of 100 patients to reach your financial goals, your actual new-patient target would need to be 120+100, which equals 220 new patients.

Step 3: Plan for future needs 

Calculating attrition and patient value helps you understand how to set goals for a practice your size, but if you have growth or investment plans on the horizon, you might want to spend more time planning. That's why we recommend using the new-patient goal created in the previous step as a "floor," or bottom range, for your new-patient goals, and then adjusting upward based on future plans.

Here are a few common things to consider:

Are you expanding your team? If you plan to add associates or expand hygiene capacity, you’ll need more new patients to support that growth. To understand how this changes your new-patient goals, divide the amount of new annual production needed to fill that capacity by your assigned patient value.

Are you preparing for capital or technology investments? Growth isn't just about people; it's also about infrastructure. If you're investing in expensive technology or equipment, factor in those revenue needs when determining your new-patient goals. The math may reveal a need to change your pricing structure, expand your hours, or increase your new-patient goals.

Step 4: Once you know the goal, make a plan to hit it

Knowing your new-patient target is just the beginning. The next step is to build a marketing plan designed to help you reach that number consistently and sustainably. Here are a few tactics every growth-oriented practice should consider:

● Update your website. Your website should be fast, beautifully branded, mobile-friendly, and should clearly communicate the services you offer and the problems you solve. Think of it as your digital front door—it needs to reflect your quality of care and provide information to potential patients around the clock, not just during office hours. Sixty-one percent of patients compare at least two practice websites before reaching out or booking an appointment, so it’s important for your website to make an excellent first impression.

● Appear in search results. Search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising are crucial for dental practices to appear in online searches for dentists and related services. Organic search presence is essential for visibility, as search is the top channel for patient acquisition, with over 77% of patients using it to find providers. Practices leveraging search have a significant growth opportunity.

● Collect and respond to reviews. Online reviews shape patient decisions, with 94% of patients using reviews in their decision-making process. A consistent flow of positive reviews builds credibility and helps you stand out. Equally important is actively managing your reputation by responding to both praise and feedback.

Whether you expect to delegate some marketing responsibilities to your team or bring in a marketing partner to help with growth, having a plan is the first step toward reaching your goal of a growing, thriving practice.

Editor's note: This article appeared in the September 2025 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.