Revenue per chair in a French dental practice
A ratio everyone quotes and no public statistic measures, and how to work it out.
No public source in France publishes average revenue per dental chair. Assurance Maladie, the national health insurer, reports fees per practitioner; UNASA, the federation of approved accounting bodies, reports accounts per practice; neither counts chairs. So you build the figure yourself. In 2025 a full-time active general dentist billed €302,480 in fees on average. Spread across 2 chairs that is €151,240 each; over 202.5 working days (4.5 days a week for 45 weeks) it is €1,494 a day, or €747 per chair per day. On the 4 chairs the calculator assumes by default, an orthodontist reaches €185,548 per chair on €742,190 of fees. These averages leave out non-reimbursable work such as implants, so real practice turnover can run higher. The small calculator below runs the same three divisions on your own figures.
What each chair brings in
Fees per chair
€150,000
| Per day worked | €1,481 |
| Per chair per day | €741 |
| Days worked in the year | 203 |
| France average per general dentist | €302,480 |
No public statistic gives a per-chair average: the official comparison is per practitioner.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Why there is no official figure
French statistics count people, not equipment. Assurance Maladie averages its figures over “actifs à part entière”, practitioners who worked the whole year under the national agreement and are under 65 (Ameli methodology). A practice with three partners and five chairs shows up as three dentists. UNASA accounts describe profit returns with no inventory of chairs. Any per-chair average you see quoted without a source is a private estimate.
The ratio still earns its keep inside your own practice, because it shows whether an extra chair is pulling its weight or standing idle. It takes three divisions, which the small calculator above runs for you: the year’s fees by chairs in use, by days worked, then by both.
The ratio applied to 2025 averages
The table divides each specialty’s average fees by a number of chairs. No real practice is described here; the numbers are yardsticks for your own result.
| Specialty | 2025 average fees | 1 chair | 2 chairs | 3 chairs | 4 chairs | Per day worked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General dentist | €302,480 | €302,480 | €151,240 | €100,827 | €75,620 | €1,494 |
| Orthodontist | €742,190 | €742,190 | €371,095 | €247,397 | €185,548 | €3,665 |
| Stomatologist | €528,366 | €528,366 | €264,183 | €176,122 | €132,092 | €2,609 |
An average general dentist on 2 chairs therefore generates €747 per chair per day. If your per-chair figure is well below that while total fees sit near the average, volume is not the issue; equipment is, since an under-used chair still costs lease payments, servicing and floor space. A high figure on a single chair may reflect a full diary; appointment waiting times will tell.
What keeps the chairs busy
The 2024 national health accounts (DREES, sheet 09) split 13,205 million euros of dental care delivered in practices: 42 % prosthetics, 23 % conservative care, 21 % orthodontics, 5 % imaging and consultations. Crowns and bridges therefore carry the largest share of what is billed in the chair, though part of each price goes straight to the dental laboratory.
The split between regulated tariff and extra-billing (dépassements) points the same way. Of a general dentist’s €302,480, €138,030 is extra-billing, 45.6 %; an orthodontist bills €496,218 of €742,190 that way, 66.9 %; a stomatologist €231,209 of €528,366. Patient lists differ as well: 837 distinct patients a year for a general dentist, 1,166 for an orthodontist, 1,144 for a stomatologist (Ameli patient data).
Running the numbers on your own practice
Four decisions shape the answer, and two practices that make them differently cannot be compared.
- What goes on top. To set yourself against Ameli averages, use reimbursable fees only. To manage the practice, use total takings, implant and periodontal work included. Both ratios are meaningful; they answer different questions.
- Which chairs count. A chair kept for Friday emergencies does not work like the others. Count the ones in use every week.
- Which days count. Take out holidays, training courses and admin days. The calculator starts from 4.5 days a week over 45 weeks; change both as soon as your diary disagrees.
- Who uses the chair. In a group practice one chair shared by two dentists carries two people’s fees. If you reason per piece of equipment, sums paid on to an associate dentist (rétrocessions) stay in the total.
Once those rules are set, rerun the figure every year the same way. The trend in your own ratio tells you more than any outside benchmark, especially one that nobody actually measures.
From revenue per day to profit per day
A chair that bills heavily does not automatically make the practice richer; it depends on the costs it drags in. UNASA’s 2024 accounts let you put receipts and profit over the same number of days.
| UNASA quarter | Net receipts | Per day worked | Profit | Profit per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | €121,826 | €602 | €41,608 | €205 |
| Quarter 2 | €236,480 | €1,168 | €77,889 | €385 |
| Quarter 3 | €337,668 | €1,667 | €111,642 | €551 |
| Quarter 4 | €542,562 | €2,679 | €198,678 | €981 |
Profit per day climbs faster than receipts in the top quarter, where the cost ratio is lowest. The line-by-line breakdown is on the cost ratio page, while the page on dental nurse pay prices the staff needed to run a second chair. To set your total fees against your area, the département ranking lists every local average (Assurance Maladie).