How to Compare Dental Practice Loan Rates

A successful first office provides repayment history; a second office adds commitments before new patients pay. Owner time may also move away from the original site. The useful comparison therefore has two parts: what borrowing costs and whether both offices can carry its payment schedule.

What the banks actually publish

These are primary bank product pages, not a lender ranking. Neither reviewed page supplies a numeric standard dental-loan APR. A bank's published maximum term is not a promise that your project qualifies for it.

Read the underlying Bank of America dental page and U.S. Bank dental page. Listing them does not establish an Ovesture affiliation, an available offer or a recommendation. This comparison reflects the pages inspected on October 15, 2026; request a dated offer for actual pricing.

SBA variable-rate ceilings are rules, not quotes

The SBA's 7(a) terms section says rates are negotiated subject to maximums pegged to the prime rate or an optional peg rate. It publishes the following variable-rate ceilings. The base is the applicable program base rate—not a number verified as current by this guide. Fixed-rate maximums are published separately through the SBA's FTA resource; do not apply this table to a fixed-rate proposal.

Source: SBA’s standard 7(a) terms, interest rates and fees. These are the published program limits inspected on October 15, 2026, not a forecast of future rules.

The 7.00% base is invented for illustration, not today's prime rate. For a hypothetical $500,000 variable loan priced at base + 2.5 points, that base would produce 9.50%, below the illustrated 10.00% ceiling. If the base rose to 8.00%, the same margin would produce 10.50%, against an 11.00% ceiling. Reset timing, floors and contractual terms still determine the actual payment path. The ceiling spread does not promise a fixed payment.

The SBA also distinguishes fees: an upfront guaranty fee may be passed to the borrower, but the lender's annual service fee cannot. Fee schedules are fiscal-year specific; request the applicable itemization instead of assuming a percentage. A 504 structure is a different fixed-asset program and does not fund working capital or inventory.

Three hypothetical offers: the same $500,000 usable cash

B costs $17,529.77 less than A over the scheduled term even after its fee; its monthly payment is $146.08 lower. C lowers the monthly commitment by $1,262.46 versus A but costs $152,785.28 more over its longer life. That may buy needed opening liquidity, but it is not a lower-cost loan. These are undiscounted dollar comparisons; they do not value the benefit of retaining cash or predict investment returns.

The formula is monthly payment M = P × r ÷ [1 − (1 + r)⁻ⁿ], with principal P, monthly rate r and number of payments n. Total payments = n × M; interest = total payments − principal. B's cost above usable funds = $232,524.88 interest + $10,000 fee. Do not add the financed fee to total payments again. Calculations use unrounded payments and round displayed outcomes to cents; a contract may adjust its final payment. None of these figures is an APR calculation.

What changes if you sell or refinance after three years?

Compare at the same exit date. Immediately after payment 36, the payoff balance is still substantial. The next table includes that balance, rather than mistaking the first three years of payments for the entire obligation.

Balance after k payments = P × (1 + r)^k − M × [(1 + r)^k − 1] ÷ r. Cash paid through exit = k × M + balance + any exit charge; subtract $500,000 usable cash to get the borrowing cost in the last row. B's three-year advantage over A is only $1,930.28. If B instead had a hypothetical 2% charge on its remaining balance at that date, the added $7,939.97 would reverse that advantage. This is a contract sensitivity, not a claim about either bank's prepayment policy.

C also leaves $51,953.48 more principal than A after three years. If a different contract used C's 15-year payment but required payoff after ten years, approximately $244,303.22 would remain after payment 120. That would be a balloon—not the fully amortizing 15-year offer in the first table. Amortization determines the payment calculation; maturity determines when the remaining debt comes due.

Interest-only relief moves the burden; it does not erase it

Change A to a separate hypothetical schedule: six months of interest-only at 9%, followed by full amortization over the remaining 114 months, still ending at month 120. The first six payments are $3,750, saving $15,502.73 of early cash versus A. Principal remains $500,000. The later payment becomes $6,540.42, and total payments become $768,107.64—$8,053.00 more than A. If instead the amortizing term starts after the interest-only period, the maturity and totals change again.

Temporary relief can bridge construction, but a month-seven jump can coincide with a slow collections ramp. Request the full schedule, including accrued interest, rather than entering the temporary payment as the permanent cost.

Choose the structure your two-site cash plan can carry

The shared Dental Second Location Decision Kit example uses A's assumed $500,000, 9%, 120-month loan. It combines $100,000 of owner project capital with the loan, pays $500,000 of opening uses and leaves $100,000 in project cash. Its retained first-site cash is separate. In the delayed-opening, lower-collections case, combined cash bottoms at $129,162.11 against a chosen $100,000 floor: only $29,162.11 of headroom. That is a modeled liquidity limit, not evidence of approval or a recommended reserve.

A lender quote should change that forecast, not just the rate field on a comparison sheet. Use a separate payment schedule for variable rates, interest-only periods, balloons or staged funding and draw conditions; the planner assumes a fixed, level-payment loan. Preserve the first site's revised contribution after coverage costs, without counting associate compensation twice.

1. Send one funding request: the same opening uses-of-funds budget, required usable cash, owner capital and expected funding dates.
2. Obtain a complete offer: dated rate and expiry, fixed or index-plus-margin basis, itemized fees, first payment, amortization, maturity and any balance due.
3. Price the likely exit: calculate payments plus payoff at your expected sale or refinance date, including the actual prepayment provision.
4. Read the constraints: security, guarantees, reporting, distribution limits and conditions that could delay access to funds. An indicative quote is not a funded commitment.
5. Compare cash before accepting: delayed opening, reduced first-site production and lower new-site collections in the two-site plan. A cheaper offer that leaves an unfunded opening gap does not solve the project.

Sources and methodology

The bank pages support only their stated product structures and the public-pricing comparison. The SBA terms page supports the variable ceilings and fee distinction; the 504 overview supports its use-of-funds boundary. All offer rates, fees, base-index values and repayment comparisons are hypothetical arithmetic, not current market observations. The planner case is also hypothetical. No named bank supplied these examples.

• Bank of America — dental practice financing
• U.S. Bank — dental loan structures and published terms
• SBA — 7(a) interest-rate limits and fee rules
• SBA — 504 loan program

General educational information, not a loan offer, credit decision or personalized financial advice. Review dated written terms, the full payment schedule and independent legal and financial advice before borrowing.