Expired Supplies Are Quietly Eating Your Profit

Expired Supplies Are Quietly "Eating" Your Profit

Expired supplies don’t make noise.
They don’t complain.
They don’t show up on your schedule.

They just disappear.

Most dental practices underestimate how much money they lose to expired inventory. Supplies are ordered with good intentions—“just in case.” Over time, shelves fill up. Products get pushed to the back. Dates pass.

And cash turns into trash.

This loss is rarely obvious. It doesn’t show up as a big bill. It shows up as small, repeated waste.

A box here.
A material there.
Multiply that across rooms, providers, and locations.

Inventory waste isn’t a moral failure. It’s a visibility problem.

When teams don’t see what’s being used, they can’t adjust. When no one owns the data, habits don’t change.

The fix isn’t tighter control or blaming staff.
It’s clarity.

When practices can see:

• What gets used most

• What expires often

• What sits untouched

Decisions get easier. Orders shrink. Waste drops. Cash stays in the practice.

Inventory isn’t “just supplies.”
It’s money on shelves.