Cost per seated arch
Cost per seated arch is ad spend divided by arches actually started and paid for.
This is the only cost figure in full arch marketing that cannot be gamed by moving the goalposts, because its denominator is a case with money against it. Every other cost figure in the category is measured at a stage the patient can still walk away from for free.
The word arches matters as much as the word seated. A patient is not an arch. Many full arch patients convert to dual arch once the clinical picture and the financing are on the table, so a figure quoted per case and a figure quoted per arch can differ by 40 to 70 percent while using the same words.
The figure is only meaningful with three things attached: the definition of the denominator, the sample it was measured across, and the date window. A cost per case number with none of those is a decoration.
The formula
Divide total ad spend for the cohort by the number of arches that reached the Started definition, meaning signed and deposited or financing funded, over the same cohort.
cost per seated arch = ad spend / arches started arches started = patients started x arches per closed patient
What is included and what is excluded
Counts
- All media spend paid to the platforms for the cohort
- Arches that reached Started, meaning deposit paid or financing funded
- Both arches when a patient converts to dual arch
- The full cohort date window, not the calendar month the case closed in
Does not count
- Treatment planned or presented cases
- Consultations, however qualified
- Leads and calls of any kind
- Cases from a cohort outside the stated window
- Agency fees, which are stated separately rather than blended in
A worked example
A practice spends 15,000 dollars in a month, and the cohort produces 15.3 started patients at 1.4 arches per patient.
- 01Ad spend: $15,000
- 02Patients started: 15.3
- 03Arches per closed patient: 1.4
- 0415.3 x 1.4 = 21.42 arches
- 05$15,000 / 21.42 = $700.28
Cost per seated arch is $700. Quoted per patient instead of per arch, the same month reads $980.
Our measured figure, with its sample
This is the figure we publish against the definition above. It travels with its denominator everywhere it appears, because a number without one is not a result.
Cost per seated arch, measured
Cost per seated arch
$800
Offices in the sample
103
Months measured
6
Stated because a number without a denominator is not a result. This is the only cost per case figure in this category published with its sample size and date window attached.
ARCH WORKS, cost per seated arch
$800
103 offices, six months ending August 2026
Blended average across all 103 offices, not a best case.
Published benchmark, competent operation
$1,500 to $3,500
Range, not a measured figure. Midpoint $2,500
Published benchmark, weak intake
$4,000 to $7,000
Range, not a measured figure
68%
lower cost per seated arch than the published benchmark midpoint of $2,500.
What the number means
Cost per seated arch. Ad spend divided by cases actually started and paid for, matching the Started definition in The Arch Standard. Not cost per lead, not cost per consult, and not cost per treatment plan presented.
Sample: 103 offices, measured over six months ending August 2026
Benchmark ranges are from published industry sources, not from any competitor's marketing claim.
How we define a seated archThe number has a cause, not a miracle behind it. The demographic match removes the discovery spend that normally burns the first 60 to 90 days, because the campaign starts from a matched market profile instead of learning your market on your budget.
That is why cost per lead runs about 35 percent below what comparable campaigns produce. On its own that would only mean cheaper leads, and a cheap lead that never seats is worth nothing. The qualification, the speed to lead routing, and the coordinator handoff protect the rest of the funnel, so the cheaper leads survive to a started case instead of dying later. Cheaper in, and the same or better survival through, is what moves cost per seated arch.
How this differs from
- Cost per lead
Cost per lead prices a phone number. This prices a case with money against it.
- Cost per consult
Cost per consult stops at attendance. This continues to the deposit.
- Return on ad spend
Return on ad spend is a ratio to revenue. This is an absolute cost you can compare against your case margin.
These definitions come from our published measurement standard. Read The Arch Standard for the reporting rules they sit inside, or see every term.
Want this measured in your practice? A consult walks through how we track it, if that is useful.
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