Complete Guide: Key Formulas and Metrics for Dental Business Evaluation

Executive Summary

This documentation provides comprehensive coverage of all demographic calculation formulas found in the JavaScript codebase for dental market analysis. These functions evaluate market opportunities by comparing local demographics against regional and national benchmarks, identifying areas where population characteristics create favorable conditions for dental practice success.

The analysis framework uses consistent significance thresholds (20% higher or 10% lower than comparison values) to identify markets with unique characteristics that warrant business attention.

Core Demographic Analysis Functions

1. Comparative Analysis Function (oo function)

What it determines: Identifies demographic variables where the local area significantly differs from national averages, indicating market opportunities or challenges.

Purpose: Compares local area demographics against national patterns to highlight areas where the population characteristics deviate significantly from national norms.

Why it's essential: Demographic outliers often indicate unique market opportunities. Areas with disproportionately high education levels may support premium dental services, while areas with many young families might favor pediatric practices.

Key Calculations

Population Age Group Aggregations

// 65+ Population
n.populationAged65plus = n.populationAged65to74 + n.populationAged75to84 + n.populationAged85plus

// Higher Education Total
n.residentsWithA4YearDegreeOrHigherLevelOfEducation = 
    n.educationAttainmentBachelors + 
    n.educationAttainmentMasters + 
    n.educationAttainmentDoctorateDegree + 
    n.educationAttainmentProfessionalDegree

// Population Growth Rate
m.populationGrowth = (m.totalPopulation - m.population2010) / m.population2010 * 100

Comparative Threshold Analysis

function compareMetric(localValue, nationalValue, variableName) {
    const localPercentage = localValue / localPopulation * 100
    const nationalPercentage = nationalValue / nationalPopulation * 100
    
    // Significant difference thresholds
    if (localPercentage > nationalPercentage * 1.2 || 
        localPercentage < nationalPercentage * 0.9) {
        
        const percentageDifference = (localPercentage / nationalPercentage - 1) * 100
        
        return {
            variable: variableName,
            value: localPercentage,
            comparatorValue: nationalPercentage,
            comparison: localPercentage > nationalPercentage ? "higher" : "lower",
            percentageDifference: percentageDifference
        }
    }
}

Examples and Scenarios

2. Median Household Income Analysis (da function)

What it determines: Analyzes household income relative to state and MSA benchmarks to assess patient affordability and payment capacity.

Why it's essential: Household income is the strongest predictor of dental care utilization and willingness to pay for elective procedures.

Formula

function analyzeIncome(data) {
    const localIncome = parseFloat(data.median_household_income)
    const stateIncome = parseFloat(data.state_median_household_income)  
    const msaIncome = parseFloat(data.msa_household_income_median)
    
    const stateComparison = (localIncome - stateIncome) / stateIncome * 100
    const msaComparison = (localIncome - msaIncome) / msaIncome * 100
    
    // Significance thresholds
    const significantVsState = localIncome > stateIncome * 1.2 || localIncome < stateIncome * 0.9
    const significantVsMsa = localIncome > msaIncome * 1.2 || localIncome < msaIncome * 0.9
    
    return formatIncomeAnalysis(stateComparison, msaComparison, significantVsState, significantVsMsa)
}

3. Market Saturation Analysis (va function)

What it determines: Calculates residents per practice ratios with specialty-specific targeting to assess market competition.

Why it's essential: Market saturation is the most critical factor in practice viability. Even affluent populations won't support a practice with too many competitors.

Formula

function analyzeSaturation(data, specialty) {
    const totalPractices = parseFloat(data.total_practices)
    const totalPopulation = parseFloat(data.population)
    
    let targetPopulation = totalPopulation
    
    // Specialty-specific calculations
    switch(specialty) {
        case "PEO":
            targetPopulation = parseFloat(data.population_aged_0_to_5) + 
                              parseFloat(data.population_aged_6_to_11)
            break
        case "TST":  
            targetPopulation = parseFloat(data.population_aged_6_to_11) +
                              parseFloat(data.population_aged_12_to_17) 
            break
    }
    
    const ratio = Math.round(targetPopulation / totalPractices)
    
    if (ratio > 3000) return `Low competition: ${ratio} residents per practice`
    if (ratio < 1700) return `High competition: ${ratio} residents per practice`
    
    return `${ratio} residents per practice`
}

Market Competition Functions

4. Digital Presence Analysis (_a function)

What it determines: Evaluates the digital marketing maturity of competing practices in the local market.

Why it's essential: Areas with low competitor website adoption present significant opportunities for practices with strong digital marketing strategies.

Formula

function analyzeDigitalPresence(data) {
    const websitePercentage = parseFloat(data.practices_with_website)
    
    if (websitePercentage < 80) {
        return `Market opportunity: Only ${websitePercentage.toFixed(2)}% of practices have websites`
    }
    return null
}

Population Dynamics Functions

5. Population Growth Analysis (ya function)

What it determines: Analyzes population growth trends to identify expanding markets versus declining areas.

Why it's essential: Population growth directly impacts practice viability—growing areas provide expanding patient bases while declining areas face shrinking demand.

Formula

function analyzeGrowth(data, growthPercentile) {
    const populationGrowth = parseFloat(data.population_growth)
    
    if (populationGrowth < 0) {
        return "Population decline: Fewer residents than 2020 Census"
    }
    
    if (growthPercentile >= 90) {
        return `Rapid growth: Exceeds ${100 - growthPercentile}% of markets since 2020 Census`
    }
    
    if (growthPercentile >= 70 && growthPercentile < 90) {
        return "Healthy population growth since 2020 Census"
    }
    
    return ""
}

Utility Functions and Implementation

Data Type Conversion

function parseNumeric(value) {
    if (value && value !== "N/A" && !isNaN(Number(value))) {
        return Number(value)
    }
    return null
}

Implementation Guidelines

Significance Thresholds

• Higher significance: Local value >120% of comparison value (20% threshold)
• Lower significance: Local value <90% of comparison value (10% threshold)

Specialty-Specific Targeting

• Pediatric (PEO): Ages 0-11 years
• Orthodontics (TST): Ages 6-17 years
• General/Other specialties: Total population

Decision Framework

Decision Matrix

Decision Thresholds

Industry Benchmarks Reference

Comprehensive Market Assessment

Implementation Timeline