FranchiseVerdict
Comfort Dental logo
FV-00603·MODERATEExcellent86

Comfort Dental

Health & Wellness - OtherFranchising since 1993Website
Investment
$802K – $842K
96th pct Other
Avg revenue
63rd pct Other
Royalty
Units
145
85th pct Other
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $802K – $842K including a $75K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 7 loans (below the industry average).
  • Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Comfort Dental Group, Inc.
Incorporated in
Colorado
HQ
2540 Kipling Street, Lakewood, Colorado 80215
Auditor
Erickson, Brown & Kloster, LLC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$21.8M
vs $23.0M prior year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2024
Status as of 2024; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Comfort Dental unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: personal services
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $802K–$842K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $38K–$51K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

18%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$158K
EBITDA margin
21.0%
Total invested
$866K
Payback
66 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Franchisees operate dental clinics providing general dentistry services (cleanings, fillings, extractions, etc.). Day-to-day operations include patient scheduling, clinical care delivery, staff management, Medicaid/insurance billing, and maintaining regulatory compliance across varying state dental board requirements.

CEO
Rick A. Kushner, D.D.S.
Founded
1993
FDD year
2024
States available
10

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$802K – $842K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$38K – $51K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$75K
Royalty
$12,000 per month; subject to annual percentage increases
Ad fund
$4,000
Payback period
2.0 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
145
Opened
2
Last reporting year
Closed
2
Turnover rate
1.4%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+0.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+2.1%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
145±0
Franchised units
2023
145
Franchised units
2024
142
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 5 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 5 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
7
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

65
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE65 / 100

Comfort Dental presents elevated risk due to material litigation (corporate practice violations, billing fraud allegations), going concern status, unprotected territory, high fixed royalties without revenue disclosure, and unsubstantiated profitability claims.

Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGH11 active litigation cases including corporate practice of dentistry violations and unauthorized Medicaid billing — suggests systemic compliance issues
  2. 02HIGHGoing concern disclosure indicates material uncertainty about franchisor's ability to continue operations
  3. 03MINORHigh fixed royalty ($12,000/month = $144,000/year) with annual increases creates inflexible cost structure; no revenue disclosure makes ROI validation impossible
  4. 04MINORTerritory not protected — direct franchisor competition and multi-unit franchisee cannibalization risk
  5. 05MINOR145 units with unknown growth trajectory — no disclosure of unit count trend (declining, flat, or growing) is a major red flag
  6. 06MINORNet income claim ($420,092) lacks supporting Item 19 financial performance representation; unverified and potentially based on cherry-picked locations
  7. 07HIGHLitigation includes disputes with master franchisors — suggests franchisor relationship instability and possible territorial/operational conflicts

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Protected territory
No
Initial term
15 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Not allowed
Litigation count
11
Right of first refusal
No
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
3 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Colorado

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
11 hrs
On-the-job training
24 hrs

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

67 numbers

Locked
(415) 972-••••
One Sansome Street, Suite
CA
(970) 255-••••
CO
(720) 907-••••
CO

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Comfort Dental · FDD (2024) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above