Is your dental marketing actually paying back?

Patient ROI compares lifetime value against acquisition cost: (LTV − acquisition cost) ÷ acquisition cost. If a new patient costs $250 to acquire and is worth $3,000 over their relationship, that is a 1,100% return. This calculator runs it instantly, plus your payback period and break-even spend. Most practices track cost-per-lead but never the lifetime return, which is the number that justifies the spend.

Est. $2,000-$8,000+ depending on your services, hygiene recall frequency, and retention. LTV = revenue per visit × visits per year × years retained. A patient who comes twice a year for cleanings plus occasional restorative work compounds fast. Cosmetic and implant practices run far higher. Run your real numbers above rather than guessing.

Est. $150-$400 per new patient is common, though it swings hard by market and channel. What matters is the ratio to lifetime value, not the raw number — a $400 patient who stays five years is a bargain, a $150 patient who never rebooks is a loss. This calculator shows your break-even acquisition cost so you know your ceiling.

Payback period = acquisition cost ÷ revenue per visit (then divided by visits per year for a time estimate). Many practices recover acquisition cost on the very first visit if it includes a cleaning, exam, and x-rays. The calculator shows your payback so you know whether you are funding growth from cash flow or waiting on the recall.

Retention is the single biggest lever on lifetime value. A patient retained five years instead of two can be worth 2-3x more with zero extra acquisition cost. Est. dental practices lose 15-25% of active patients a year to attrition. Fixing recall systems and patient experience raises ROI faster than buying more new patients — the calculator lets you test both.

Est. 3-7% of collections is a common range for established practices, higher for new or growth-mode ones. But percentage-of-revenue rules hide the real question: what is your cost per new patient versus their lifetime value? Spend aggressively where ROI is strong and cut where payback is slow. The math above tells you which is which.

Est. $40-$120 per new-patient lead from Google Ads versus often lower effective cost from local SEO once you rank, because organic and map-pack patients arrive without per-click spend. The cheapest sustainable acquisition almost always comes from ranking in local search for "dentist near me" intent — that is the channel I build. Local SEO from $1,000/mo, no contract.

Marketing fixes how many new patients arrive and what they cost — not whether they stay or accept treatment. If LTV is low, more new patients just leak out the same hole. Use this calculator to see your real LTV and retention first, then I lower your cost per new patient. The two compound: keep them longer and acquire them cheaper.

Mandeep Singh, founder of Sprout Sage Solutions. I build web design, SEO, and local marketing for dental practices and local service businesses — founder-led, transparent pricing, no contracts. I built this because most practice owners I talk to know their cost-per-lead but have never run the lifetime ROI that actually justifies the spend.

Book a free 30-minute audit. I review your website and local search presence live, show you where new-patient demand is leaking, and tell you the channel mix that lowers your cost per new patient. No pitch deck, no contract. Local SEO from $1,000/mo, sites from $500.