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Buying a Practice
What to Look for Before You Buy a Dental Practice
06/02/2025
Buying a dental practice is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make in your career, and the difference between a great purchase and a regretted one usually comes down to what you checked before you signed, not after.
Start with the numbers. Ask for at least three years of profit and loss statements, tax returns, and production reports. Look past the headline revenue figure and pay attention to trends: is collections growing, flat, or declining? How much of production comes from the current owner personally, versus associates or hygiene? A practice that's entirely dependent on one dentist's personal relationships carries more transition risk than one with distributed production.
Next, look at the patient base. New patient numbers, recall and hygiene retention, and average patient age all tell you whether you're buying a practice with momentum or one that's coasting on a shrinking, aging panel. Ask how new patients find the practice, referrals, online search, insurance panels, since that affects how easily you can keep growth going after the transition.
Don't skip the physical details either: equipment age and condition, the remaining term on the facility lease, and whether the space can support the patient volume you're planning for. A practice that looks great on paper can be constrained by two operatories when you need four.
Finally, think about the transition itself before you close. Will the selling dentist stay on for a period to introduce you to patients and staff? How will the team and patients be told about the change? A well-planned handover protects the value of what you're buying far more than a lower price ever could.
Start with the numbers. Ask for at least three years of profit and loss statements, tax returns, and production reports. Look past the headline revenue figure and pay attention to trends: is collections growing, flat, or declining? How much of production comes from the current owner personally, versus associates or hygiene? A practice that's entirely dependent on one dentist's personal relationships carries more transition risk than one with distributed production.
Next, look at the patient base. New patient numbers, recall and hygiene retention, and average patient age all tell you whether you're buying a practice with momentum or one that's coasting on a shrinking, aging panel. Ask how new patients find the practice, referrals, online search, insurance panels, since that affects how easily you can keep growth going after the transition.
Don't skip the physical details either: equipment age and condition, the remaining term on the facility lease, and whether the space can support the patient volume you're planning for. A practice that looks great on paper can be constrained by two operatories when you need four.
Finally, think about the transition itself before you close. Will the selling dentist stay on for a period to introduce you to patients and staff? How will the team and patients be told about the change? A well-planned handover protects the value of what you're buying far more than a lower price ever could.