SBA 504 loans for Dental Practices
Over the last decade, dentists have used SBA 504 financing to fund more than $2.4 billion in real estate, build-outs, and equipment. We help you secure the same financing — with 10% down, 25-year fixed rates, and a team that knows the 504 program inside out.
The dental practice SBA 504 market, by the numbers
What ten years of dental practice SBA 504 loans — pulled directly from the SBA's own data — tell us about how operators finance this business.
Source: SBA 504 loan approvals for NAICS 621210 , FY2016–FY2025. Data via FOIA request, updated quarterly.
What an SBA 504 loan covers for a dental practice
SBA 504 financing is built for long-term assets — the real estate, infrastructure, and major equipment that anchor a dental practice business.
Property purchase & land
Own the space you practice in instead of renting it. Whether it's a condo in a medical building or a standalone lot, 504 lets you buy with 10% down and stop paying your landlord's mortgage.
- Medical office condo units
- Standalone office buildings
- Retail or strip-center suites
- Land for a future office
- Buying out your current lease
Ground-up construction
Build a practice from the ground up, exactly how you want it. 504 covers the shell and the build-out — the operatories, the plumbing for every chair, and the finishes that make patients comfortable the day you open.
- New standalone office builds
- Full interior build-outs
- Operatory plumbing and wiring
- HVAC and sterilization infrastructure
- Signage, parking, and landscaping
Expansion & second locations
Outgrowing your chairs? Use 504 to add operatories, take over the suite next door, or open a second location — without draining the cash flow that keeps the practice humming day to day.
- Second and third practice locations
- Adding operatories to your current office
- Acquiring a retiring dentist's practice
- Expanding into an adjacent suite
- Renovating a space you've acquired
Equipment with long lives
The big-ticket technology that defines a modern practice — and lasts long enough to finance. 504 is built for equipment with a long useful life, so you spread the cost over the years it'll actually serve your patients.
- Dental chairs and full operatories
- CBCT and panoramic imaging
- CAD/CAM mills and 3D printers
- Sterilization systems
- Practice-management IT and networking
How SBA 504 financing is structured
Three pieces of capital come together so you only put 10% down on a project that might cost millions.
First lien (50%)
APC funds this directly — we're a private direct lender, not a broker. Term and rate quoted upfront.
SBA 504 / CDC (40%)
Second lien, fixed for 25 years through a Certified Development Company. Rates locked at funding.
Borrower equity (10%)
Cash down, retained equity in existing real estate, or seller carry-back in some cases.
What a 504 project for a dental practice looks like
Three illustrative examples showing typical deal structures, financing splits, and project scopes.
After years as an associate, a dentist built a ground-up office designed around six operatories from day one. As a brand-new practice it came together at 15% down, and one 504 loan covered the land, the building, and the equipment at a long fixed rate — leaving working capital to hire staff and grow the patient base.
An associate stepped up to buy the practice they'd worked in for years — the patient base, the equipment, and the building it sat in — as the founding dentist retired. Because it was an established, cash-flowing practice, the purchase penciled at just 10% down. The 25-year fixed 504 rate locked the payment and made the move from associate to owner predictable.
A busy single-location practice opened a second office across the metro to cut wait times and reach a growing neighborhood. Rather than pulling equity from the flagship, the owner used a 504 loan at 10% down to buy and outfit the new suite. The long fixed term protected cash flow while the second office built up its schedule.
Owning your dental practice property beats leasing — here's the math
Slide the inputs to match your situation. The equity number on the right is what you'd have in 10 years if you owned instead of leased.
Where dental practice SBA 504 money is going
Geography, deal sizes, top CDCs, and the banks making it happen — all pulled from a decade of SBA data.
Top 10 states by loan volume
| State | Loans | Total funded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 386 | $326M |
| 2 | Florida | 113 | $81M |
| 3 | Utah | 91 | $62M |
| 4 | Minnesota | 57 | $45M |
| 5 | Washington | 51 | $44M |
| 6 | New York | 48 | $40M |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 39 | $17M |
| 8 | Idaho | 39 | $25M |
| 9 | Texas | 38 | $39M |
| 10 | Michigan | 37 | $19M |
Deal size distribution
Top CDCs financing Dental Practices
These Certified Development Companies have funded the most dental practice SBA 504 deals over the past decade. Click any CDC for their full profile.
Top 10 third-party lenders for dental practice deals
| # | Lender | Loans | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JPMorgan Chase Bank | 100 | $96M |
| 2 | PNC Bank | 53 | $29M |
| 3 | Wells Fargo Bank | 42 | $57M |
| 4 | Zions bank | 36 | $29M |
| 5 | California Bank of Commerce, NA | 35 | $31M |
| 6 | First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | 27 | $31M |
| 7 | Bank of America | 26 | $27M |
| 8 | Heritage Bank | 24 | $23M |
| 9 | Colombia Bank | 20 | $17M |
| 10 | City National Bank | 19 | $25M |
What it takes to qualify
SBA 504 has clear, objective criteria. Most dental practice operators we work with qualify.
Business requirements
- For-profit businessSBA 504 is for operating companies, not investors or holding companies.
- Owner-occupied useYou operate the dental practice — you're not just buying real estate to lease out.
- US-based and below SBA size limitsMost dental practice businesses qualify under SBA's small business size thresholds.
- Demonstrated ability to repayCash flow, credit, and business experience all matter — but no perfect score required.
Project requirements
- 51% owner-occupancyYour business must occupy at least 51% of the financed property.
- Eligible use of fundsReal estate, ground-up construction, major equipment, and certain refinances qualify.
- Long useful lifeEquipment financed under 504 must have a useful life over 10 years.
- 10% equity contributionCash, retained property equity, or seller carry — structured to fit your situation.
Most dental practice operators qualify. The fastest way to know is a 10-minute call. 1-855-504-LOAN
Built for dental practice financing
We're a direct lender that specializes in SBA 504 — not a broker, not a generalist.
Frequently asked questions
For an established practice buying general-purpose office space, plan on 10% down — a dental office isn’t special-purpose real estate the way a car wash or hotel is, so you get the standard low injection. A brand-new startup practice would be 15%. Either way it’s far below the 20–30% a conventional lender wants, and we’ll confirm which applies before you spend on due diligence.
The real estate, the full clinical build-out, and long-life equipment — operatories, chairs, CBCT and panoramic imaging, CAD/CAM mills, and sterilization systems. Essentially the space and the big-ticket technology that lasts. What it won’t cover is working capital, supplies, or payroll; those are a different loan, and if you need both we’ll structure them together.
Yes — whether you’re finishing raw space in a medical building or building a standalone office from the ground up, 504 wraps the property and the build-out into one long-term, fixed-rate loan. That matters for a practice, where the operatory plumbing, wiring, and finishes add up fast. A first, brand-new practice is treated as a startup, so expect 15% down rather than 10%.
Often, yes. The 504 program can refinance eligible commercial real estate debt on an owner-occupied dental office, and in many cases roll in eligible business expenses at the same time. If your current loan is ballooning or the rate’s about to reset, it’s worth a conversation — locking a long fixed rate on the building is exactly what 504 does best.
Explore SBA 504 loans by industry
A decade of loan data, case studies, and deal structures for each of the property types we finance most.
Ready to finance your dental practice project?
Schedule a 15-minute call. No application fee, no obligation.