A dental practice manager runs one dental office day to day. They lead the morning huddle, the schedule, the front desk and the team. They also track production and collections, keep safety and privacy records current, and settle problems the front desk can't.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $54,200, middle half $66,560 to $105,930, 90th percentile $143,010. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Regional Operations Manager
Department
Operations
Schedule
Practice hours with early starts · In before the morning huddle and there to close the day sheet, with some evenings or Saturdays when the office is open
Also called
Dental office manager · Practice administrator · Office manager · Dental business manager
Dental practice manager job description template
This is our Role Blueprint, word for word. Replace the highlighted fields and adjust the example targets and pay to fit your company.
You'll run one of our dental practices day to day. You lead the front office and clinical team, run the morning huddle, and keep the schedule, collections and compliance on track. You're the first stop for patient complaints and team problems, and you report results to your regional operations manager.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Lead the morning huddle: the day's production goal, open time, patients with balances and unscheduled treatment.
Build team schedules so each dentist and hygienist has the assistant and front office support they need.
Track daily production and collections, and coach the front desk on filling openings and collecting at checkout.
Hire, train, coach and review the practice team with help from the HR Manager and your regional operations manager.
Keep OSHA, infection control and HIPAA records current: training logs, safety data sheets, spore test logs and emergency kit checks.
Order clinical and office supplies within budget, and track lab cases and equipment repairs.
Resolve patient complaints and billing disputes the front desk can't settle.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Open the practice, check staffing and cover call-outs.
Run the morning huddle with the dentists, hygienists, assistants and front office.
Check tomorrow's schedule for holes, unconfirmed patients and missing insurance checks.
Approve timecards and answer team questions.
Review the day sheet and deposit before closing.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Practice production against goal: [your target].
Practice collections against production: [your target].
New patients seen: [your target].
Hygiene reappointment rate: [your target].
Team turnover: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years in a dental office, including [1+] years leading a team.
Knows dental scheduling, insurance, treatment presentation and collections.
Skilled with [your practice management software], including schedules, day sheets and aging reports.
Knows OSHA and HIPAA rules for a dental office, or can learn them quickly.
Stays calm and fair with an upset patient or a team conflict.
6. Preferred Experience
AADOM Fellowship (FAADOM) from the American Association of Dental Office Management, or similar training.
Started at the front desk, in insurance or as a dental assistant.
Experience in a multi-practice dental group.
Current CPR or BLS certification.
7. Physical Requirements
Move around the practice most of the day, between the front desk, clinical areas and the office.
Lift boxes of supplies up to [25] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
On site at [practice name and location].
Practice hours [Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.], with some early mornings, evenings or [Saturdays].
Dental office with time in clinical areas, where PPE and infection control rules apply.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new practice manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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Any office manager handles staff, schedules and money. A dental office adds a clinical team you schedule but don't direct, federal safety and privacy rules with deadlines, and a day built around one short meeting before the first patient.
The huddle sets the day
The morning huddle is a short stand-up before the first patient. The practice manager brings the numbers: the day's production goal against what's booked, open slots, patients who owe a balance, and patients due for hygiene or with treatment not yet scheduled. Everyone leaves knowing which openings to fill and which patients to ask. Without that prep, the huddle turns into small talk.
Lab cases decide tomorrow's schedule
A crown seat booked before the case is back from the lab wastes dentist time and a patient's trip. The practice manager tracks each lab case's due date against its appointment. Before the huddle, check that every case for the next day has arrived, and call the lab or move the patient while there's still time to fill the slot.
New supplies bring new safety sheets
OSHA's guide for medical and dental offices names disinfectants, sterilants and alcohol among the hazardous chemicals an office may keep. Under the hazard communication standard, each one needs its safety data sheet where staff can reach it during every shift. Train staff when they start, and again whenever a product brings a kind of hazard they haven't learned about yet. When you switch brands or add a product, file its sheet and tell the team before anyone uses it. Source: OSHA: Hazard communication standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200.
The spore test log is the manager's to keep
CDC's dental guidance calls for a spore test in every sterilizer no less than once a week, with the records kept as long as state and local rules require. The sterilization technician or an assistant runs the test. The practice manager checks that each week's result is in the log, and that a failed test sets off the steps your Clinical Director has written. A blank week is easy to spot on a regional audit. Source: CDC: Best practices for sterilization monitoring in dental settings.
Records requests have a deadline
Patients who move or switch dentists often ask for their X-rays and charts. Under HIPAA, the office has 30 days to act on a patient's request for their own records. It can take one extension of up to 30 more days, but only if it tells the patient in writing why and by when, before the first 30 days run out. Any fee must be reasonable and based on cost. Source: 45 CFR 164.524: Access of individuals to protected health information.
How much dental practice managers make
The closest BLS group for dental practice managers is medical and health services managers. Medical and health services managers who work for dental offices earned a median of $78,050 a year ($37.53 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $123,860 median for medical and health services managers in all industries. About 9,240 of the 597,080 medical and health services managers in that survey work for dental offices.
Most groups pay a salary with an office bonus for hitting collections or production goals, and some pay hourly with overtime. Whether a salaried manager is owed overtime depends on the job's actual duties, not the salary alone, so have your HR Manager review them.
Dental offices
$78,050$78,050 median Middle half $66,560–$105,930 10th–90th $54,200–$143,010
All industries
$123,860$123,860 median Middle half $94,700–$166,100 10th–90th $73,390–$224,340
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Dental offices
$54,200
$66,560
$78,050
$105,930
$143,010
All industries
$73,390
$94,700
$123,860
$166,100
$224,340
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has worked a dental front desk, insurance desk or chair, and knows how a schedule fills
Reads a day sheet, an aging report and a production report without help
Builds a staff schedule that gives every dentist and hygienist the support they need
Settles a billing dispute at the counter without giving away money or the patient's goodwill
Keeps compliance tasks on a calendar and doesn't let them slide in a busy month
Coaches the front desk to collect at checkout and fill openings the same day
Teach these on the job
Your practice management software's reports and end-of-day close
Group policies on refunds, payment plans and write-offs
Where your OSHA and infection control logs live and who signs them
The group's huddle format and daily goal sheet
How the call center books new patients into your schedule
The day runs on the practice management software, such as Dentrix, Eaglesoft or Open Dental, for schedules, day sheets, ledgers and aging. Add the phone system, a timecard and payroll app, the dental supplier's ordering portal, and the binders or software where safety and infection control logs are kept.
Dental practice manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
The targets are blank in the template so you can fill them in from this office's own history. A new associate dentist, a lost hygienist or a remodel are all reasons to reset them.
Practice production against goal
Booked and completed production by provider, compared with the daily and monthly goal. Check it at every huddle, while there's still time to fill the gap.
Practice collections against production
Collections divided by production for the same month, after write-offs. Watch how much is collected at checkout versus later from insurance, and whether the oldest balances are shrinking.
New patients seen
First visits completed, not just booked, each month. Compare with what the call center booked to see how many new patients cancel or don't show.
Hygiene reappointment rate
Of the patients seen in hygiene, how many left with their next visit booked. Pull it daily and go over the misses at the next huddle.
Team turnover
Team members who left during the period against the average head count, split by role. Note each reason, since losing assistants and losing front desk staff point to different fixes.
Does a dental practice manager need a certification?
The template asks for dental office experience, not a credential. One designation made for this job is the Fellowship from the American Association of Dental Office Management, shown as FAADOM after a name. Members who work full time in a dental office can enroll. They finish its practice management modules and apply with a resume and a letter of recommendation.
How much does a dental practice manager make?
Medical and health services managers who work for dental offices earned a median of $78,050 a year ($37.53 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $66,560 and $105,930 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Who does a dental practice manager report to, and who do the dentists report to?
Here, the practice manager reports to a regional operations manager. The dentists report to the Clinical Director. So the practice manager plans the dentists' days and supports them, but doesn't manage their clinical work. If a dentist and the front desk disagree about the schedule, the practice manager settles it using the group's template. If they disagree about care, it goes to the Clinical Director.
What is the difference between a dental practice manager and a front desk coordinator?
The front desk coordinator works the counter and the schedule: check-in, checkout, insurance checks and payments. The practice manager leads the whole office, including the clinical team's schedules, hiring, reviews, supplies, compliance records and the numbers. A small solo office may combine the two. In a group with a call center and central billing, they are separate jobs.
Should you promote a front desk lead to practice manager?
Often, yes. They already know the patients, the schedule and the software. The hard part is leading people who were their peers last month, plus a clinical team. Give a new internal manager a written list of what they now own. Plan weekly visits from the regional manager at first, and the group's management training before their first staff review.
What should a dental practice manager do when a patient disputes a bill?
Before you call back, pull the signed treatment plan and payment agreement, the insurance explanation of benefits, and the ledger. Many disputes start with an estimate that didn't match what insurance paid. Explain the gap in plain words. Offer a payment plan within group policy. Send any question about the care itself to the dentist.
