Free HR calculator
Chair Downtime Calculator
When a hygienist or assistant is out and a chair goes dark, the cost shows up in production, not payroll. Enter your own production per chair hour and how often staffing gaps idle a chair. You see the monthly and annual production at risk, what rebooking recovers, and whether temp coverage pays for itself.
Before you start
What you will need. Short-staffed days per month, Chair hours lost per short day, Your production per chair hour, Share of lost appointments you recover by rebooking
Your staffing gaps
Your production numbers
Temp coverage (optional)
Annual production at risk
Where it comes from
The method
How the chair downtime math works
The model is deliberately simple, because the inputs that matter are yours. Short days per month times chair hours lost per short day gives the idle hours. Idle hours times your production per chair hour gives the gross production at risk. The recovery rate discounts that for appointments you rebook. Temp coverage converts lost days into covered days that keep their production and cost the temp rate instead.
How this is calculated
The number payroll never shows
A dark chair does not show up as a cost on any report. Payroll may even look better that month. The loss is production that never happened, which is why practices consistently underestimate it. Putting your own production figure on idle hours changes how urgently coverage gets fixed.
The two levers
Fewer short days and faster recovery. Fewer short days comes from attendance expectations, time off rules that protect coverage, cross-training, and a temp bench you can call. Faster recovery comes from a rebooking procedure that starts the moment a gap appears instead of after the day is lost. Both are policy and process problems, which is good news, because policy and process are fixable.
Where the model is honest about its limits
It does not model the downstream cost of compressed schedules, recall slippage, or patients who quietly leave for a practice that could see them sooner. It also depends entirely on the production and recovery figures you enter. If anything, a careful version of this number understates the real cost of routine chair downtime.
Carry this into the decision
Keep every chair covered and producing
The Dental Attendance, Time Off, and Coverage System manages call-outs, time off, and coverage so the downtime this calculator prices stops landing on the schedule.
$59. 30 days. Reply to your receipt or email support@truestephr.com for a full refund. No form or explanation is required, and you keep the files.
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Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
Put your own numbers in and read the result on screen.
This tool estimates from the figures you enter. It is general information rather than legal, tax, or accounting advice, so check the result against your own records before you rely on it.