Dental Practice Production Potential (Part 4): What Production Variation Reveals About Potential for Growth
- Russ Ledbetter
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
Updated: May 2
Let’s Address the Elephant in the Room
When you hear words like:
Standard deviation
Variance
Your eyes probably glaze over.
Totally fair.
This is not going to be a statistics lecture.
We’ve included a simple calculator tool to help you measure your own production variation.
We’re going to keep this simple—and get to a very practical insight about your practice.
The Insight Most Dentists Miss
After analyzing hundreds of practices over more than 35 years, one pattern shows up over and over:
The more your production fluctuates, the more potential your practice has to grow.
Not less.
More.
Keep It Simple
You don’t need formulas.
Just think about it this way:
Low variation → your days all look the same (less opportunity)
High variation → some days are great, some are slow (more opportunity)
That’s it.
Most Practices Fall Into One of Two Patterns
Flat → consistent, predictable, likely limited growth potential
Roller coaster → highs and lows, indicates clear growth potential
The important part:
If you occasionally have highly productive days, your practice has already shown the ability to produce more.
The issue isn’t capability.
It’s consistency.
Want to See Where Your Practice Stands?
You don’t need to guess where your practice falls. Use our Production Variation Calculator (opens in a new tab).
The calculation tool takes less than a minute and will show you exactly where your practice stands for the purposes of this conversation.
What Your Variation Really Means for You
Once I have a practice's variation calculated, these are the benchmarks I'm looking for:
Below 10% → limited upside
10–20% → strong opportunity
Above 20% → significant untapped potential
Some perspective:
Most of our success stories started in the 10–20% range. Those practices achieved significant production increases (average increase $250K per year, per dentist).
The highest-growth practices I’ve worked with are often above a 20% variation. These offices averaged significantly higher increases.
Now You Know Your Variation. What's Causing It?
It usually comes down to a few key systems:
scheduling inconsistency
uneven case acceptance
lack of structure in the day
Most dentists don’t know:
how much potential they actually have
what’s holding them back
or how to fix it
These are exactly the problems we help practices solve. We would love to speak with you about what’s possible in your practice.
Related articles:
Dental Practice Production Potential (Part 1): How to Determine Your True Potential
Dental Practice Production Potential (Part 2): Capacity, Chairs & Fees
Dental Practice Production Potential (Part 4): What Production Variation Reveals About Potential for Growth (This Article)
About the Author
Russ Ledbetter is a dental practice management consultant with Dental Consulting Experts, The Ledbetter Group, helping dentists increase production, reduce stress, and improve teamwork and morale—without changing diagnosis or fees. Learn more about Russ and our Dental Consulting Services.
