How does the math of twenty-four big cases compare to single-tooth volume practice?
It is not close. Twenty-four big cases at an average $30,000 each produces $720,000 in annual gross fees. To generate the same $720,000 in a routine general practice where the average crown produces $800 in revenue, the practice would need to prep nine hundred crowns. In a periodontal practice averaging $800 per surgery, that is nine hundred surgeries. In an oral surgery practice where extracting four wisdom teeth produces $800, that is nine hundred eighteen-year-olds passing through the chair. The labor, team load, schedule density, and total hours required to deliver nine hundred per-procedure cases is staggering compared to delivering twenty-four comprehensive cases over the same year. The clinical fatigue alone is substantial. The team burnout from constant high-volume operations builds up over months. The doctor’s per-hour return is dramatically lower despite the much higher absolute hours worked. The big-case path produces equivalent gross fees with a fraction of the throughput and exhaustion. The economics overwhelmingly favor it for any practice clinically capable of doing the work.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.
