An analysis of over 2,500 orthodontic practices highlights case acceptance rates, daily production benchmarks, and key drivers for growth.
Planet DDS has released its 2026 Dental Industry Outlook: Deep Dive, a performance analysis based on data from more than 8,500 dental practices, including over 2,500 orthodontic practices operating on Cloud 9 software. The report identifies operational patterns separating the fastest-growing practices from the rest of the field.
Orthodontic Practice Benchmarks
According to the Cloud 9 analysis, the average orthodontic practice conducts 633.5 new patient exams annually and maintains a 68.3% case acceptance rate for treatment. The data notes that orthodontics represents the specialty with the highest upside for growth.
The report categorizes orthodontic practice performance into four bands based on daily production:
- Best Practice: $14,500 or more (elite throughput)
- Strong: $9,400 to $14,500 (healthy operations)
- At Risk: $5,900 to $9,400 (underperforming)
- High Opportunity: Less than $5,900 (major leakage)
Across all provider types, the average daily production for an orthodontist is $6,279.
Case Acceptance and Production Lift
The report details the production sensitivity related to case acceptance within the Cloud 9 network. A 5-point improvement in the average case acceptance rate—raising it to 73.3%—would result in an estimated daily production lift of $925,000 across the network, or an additional $942 per practice per day. A 10-point improvement to 78.3% case acceptance could yield a $409 million annual lift across the network.
General Industry Growth Drivers
Beyond specialty-specific data, the report outlines broader industry trends affecting all dental service organizations and solo practices. New patient acquisition is identified as the strongest growth predictor. Practices acquiring 75 or more new patients per month grow at 9.0%, nearly double the rate of mid-volume practices. Growth rates accelerate meaningfully once a practice reaches about 35 new patients per month.
Operational consistency is also a primary factor. The most consistent practices grow by 6.1% and produce 28% more revenue per day, whereas the most volatile 10% of practices shrink by 3.4%.
Additionally, the report indicates that case completion, rather than case acceptance, acts as the primary operational bottleneck. The industry average completion rate sits at 47%. Practices with a moderate 10-to-30-point gap between acceptance and completion grow the fastest due to strong scheduling discipline, while practices with a 50-point gap or more accept cases they ultimately do not complete.
“The industry is splitting. One-third of practices grew by more than 10% last year. Nearly 14% declined by more than 10%. The middle is getting squeezed. The practices that are winning figured out the fundamentals. That is what is making the difference,” says Eric Giesecke, chief executive officer of Planet DDS, in a release.
The data was collected consecutively throughout 2024 and 2025, covering $6.79 billion in gross production across 497 dental service organizations.
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