Orthodontic Practice Consulting - from feasibility to full practice launch
Appointment-level capacity modeling built by the team who ran a practice.
A $4.3 billion industry running on gut feel - and a gap nobody else fills.
Orthodontic practices face a structural forecasting problem that general dental practices don't. Every new patient start creates a cascading appointment load that compounds over 12-36 months. The practice that adds 15 new starts this month won't feel the full chair impact for a year - and by the time the schedule is "too busy," the patients are already in the system with no capacity model to fall back on.
There are ~2,728 orthodontic practices in the U.S. serving 6.66 million active patients (AAO, IBISWorld). Most are independent - 96% report a non-DSO model, and 60% are solo practices. Average production per orthodontist: $1.57 million/year (Levin Group). 90% of owners are optimistic about growth, yet only 51% saw profit increase in 2025.
The gap: Zero orthodontic consultants offer appointment-level capacity modeling. Gaidge does benchmarking and KPI dashboards. Orthia does scheduling automation. Shimmin, CascadEffects, and Jill Allen coach systems and leadership. None take a practice's actual schedule data, model role-level constraints, and answer the question every doctor asks: "How many more patients can my schedule actually absorb?"
The competitive runway is estimated at 3-5 years before a funded PMS vendor builds chair-level capacity modeling. First-mover advantage matters, and the window starts now.
Targeted engagements for every stage of practice growth - from diagnostic to ongoing partnership.
| Tier | Price | What's Included | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth Diagnostic | $2,497 one-time | Schedule Builder mapping, Feasibility Tool 2-year projection, Growth Feasibility Report (PDF), 90-minute results walkthrough | Solo practice owner evaluating growth - add an associate, add chairs, add a location |
| Growth Partnership | $997/mo | Everything in Diagnostic plus quarterly schedule reviews, updated feasibility models, hiring timeline adjustments, priority access to Schedule Builder tool, annual re-diagnostic | Practices actively scaling - multi-provider, multi-location |
| Expansion Advisory | Custom ($3K-$8K/mo) | Everything in Partnership plus multi-location modeling, DSO preparation, acquisition target analysis, weekly strategy calls during expansion, on-site visit included | Multi-location or DSO-bound practices |
| Pilot Program | Free | Full diagnostic + capacity model + 3-month follow-up. Produces one quantified case study and testimonial. | 1 friendly practice (pre-launch - builds the case study that fuels the pipeline) |
Pricing rationale: The Growth Diagnostic is priced against the cost of one wrong hire ($50K+ in salary and training in 6 months). The Partnership costs less than a part-time office manager but delivers strategic capacity insight. Expansion Advisory reflects the 7-figure implications of multi-location decisions.
Two proprietary tools - built on real orthodontic data, not industry averages.
Every engagement is powered by the Schedule Builder and Feasibility Tool. These aren't generic spreadsheet templates - they're custom-built software that models orthodontic-specific constraints most consultants miss, validated against ~13,000+ annual appointments of actual practice data.
Service architecture - every engagement follows the same structure:
Domain expertise from inside the chair, technology from inside the stack.
ModelOrtho is a husband-wife team combining deep orthodontic operations experience with proven software infrastructure.
7+ years inside a high-volume orthodontic practice. Built the scheduling workflows, trained the team, and saw firsthand that no off-the-shelf tool answers the question every doctor asks: "How many more patients can I actually see?" The Schedule Builder and Feasibility Tool are the answer she built for the practice she ran.
20+ years in MSP infrastructure, AI operations, and software development. Built IT Pro Partner's entire toolchain - the same infrastructure that processes AI workloads for dozens of paying business clients. The Feasibility Tool runs on production-grade infrastructure, not a side project.
Competitive advantages that compound over time:
Lean economics, realistic pacing, and a clear path from zero to revenue.
Pricing summary (reconciled v1 + v2):
| Tier | Price | Revenue per Client |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot (pre-launch) | Free | Case study + testimonial |
| Growth Diagnostic | $2,497 one-time | $2,497 |
| Growth Partnership | $997/mo | $11,964/yr |
| Expansion Advisory | $3,000-$8,000/mo | $36,000-$96,000/yr |
Unit economics: Near-zero marginal cost per diagnostic. Monthly fixed burn estimate: $800-$1,100 (E&O insurance, accounting, software stack, marketing, domain/hosting). Break-even occurs on the first paid diagnostic client.
Launch timeline:
| Gate | Duration | Dependency |
|---|---|---|
| IP resolution (release from former practice) | 4-10 weeks | Critical path - determines launch date |
| Founder narrative + public profile alignment | Days to 2 weeks | Parallel with IP |
| Financial model + pricing finalization | 1-2 weeks | Parallel with IP |
| Pilot client signed + case study produced | 2-4 weeks | Starts after IP resolves |
| Rebrand (domain, materials, proposal) | 1-2 weeks | Parallel with pilot |
| E&O insurance + HIPAA BAA template | 3-5 days | Before pilot handles data |
Startup costs (one-time):
| Item | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Domain registration (modelortho.com) | $40-50/yr |
| Legal entity formation (LLC + operating agreement) | $500-$1,500 |
| Contract templates (client agreement, NDA, SOW, BAA) | $500-$1,000 |
| Marketing site (design + deploy) | $0 (built) |
| Professional photos + LinkedIn presence | $200-$500 |
| E&O insurance (annual) | $500-$800 |
Go-to-market phases:
Our commitment: Every diagnostic is backed by real practice data - not industry benchmarks, not generic coaching frameworks, but your actual schedule modeled against the constraints that matter. If the Feasibility Tool can't show you where growth fits and where it doesn't, the diagnostic isn't worth the paper it's printed on. We deliver specificity, not platitudes.
Related Documents
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Anita Brown Consulting (v1 original) | Solo practice consulting proposal - Schedule Builder + Feasibility Tool origin |
| Practice Axis v2 (v1 original) | Market analysis + capacity modeling - competitive landscape + TAM |
| VerdictTank Pipeline (AI review) | 5-agent cross-vendor pipeline - scored this proposal on viability, market, and execution |