Hygiene revenue
A healthy share of revenue from a stable hygiene program signals recurring, less doctor-dependent income. It is one of the first things a buyer checks.
For dental practice owners
Sell your dental practice without leaving money on the table.
DSOs are calling and the offers sound big. What they do not explain is how they build the number, or how much of your value quietly walks out the door with you. If you are thinking about selling, work with an advisor who knows what actually moves a dental valuation and puts real buyers in competition for your practice.
Every conversation is confidential. No pressure, no obligation.
The problem
Most dentists sell to the first DSO that calls. That is how you get discounted.
Consolidation has made your practice a target, and a single acquirer with a friendly rep is not a market. When you talk to one buyer, you take their number and their terms. The owners who do best treat the sale like the transaction it is: they understand what drives the value, fix the things that discount it, and let several qualified buyers compete.
The other trap is timing. By the time most owners decide to sell, the levers that would have lifted the price, an associate bench, a strong hygiene program, clean financials, take a year or two to build. Start early and you go to market with leverage instead of taking what is offered.
What moves your value in a dental practice.
A buyer prices each of these. Get them right before anyone sees your practice.
Associate vs owner production
The more production runs through associates rather than you, the less a buyer has to replace, and the higher the earnings they are actually buying.
Single-dentist concentration
When one dentist, usually the owner, drives most of the collections, that is concentration risk. Past roughly a third of collections it becomes a real discount.
PPO vs fee-for-service mix
Your payer mix shapes margin and how durable the revenue looks. Buyers underwrite fee-for-service and PPO income differently.
Real estate, handled separately
If you own the building, that is often a separate deal from the practice. Structured right, it can add a second stream of value rather than getting buried.
Multi-location scale
Multiple locations with management depth read as a platform, not a job, and platforms attract more buyers and better terms.
Every one of these is a version of the same question a buyer is really asking: how much of this practice depends on you? That is the exact issue covered in owner dependence: selling a business that needs you.
Who is buying dental practices.
The dental market is consolidating, and the buyers are not a mystery. DSOs and their private-equity backers are building regional platforms and pay the most for larger, associate-supported, well-run practices, usually with an equity or earnout piece and a required transition period. Individual dentists, often SBA-funded, buy smaller owner-operated practices they intend to run themselves. Group practices expand by acquisition in between. Each values your practice on a different basis and structures the deal differently. My job is to put the right ones in competition so you negotiate the price, the cash at closing, and the post-sale role from strength.
How I help you sell.
One advisor who understands the practice, with two firms behind the deal.
First we get the practice ready: clean, defensible financials and a clear read on hygiene, associate production, payer mix, and how much depends on you, handled through Thryve Accounting & Advisory, ideally a year or two before you go to market. Then we position the practice, build a targeted list of the buyers who would pay a premium for it, and run a disciplined process that creates real competition. The transaction is executed through Optima Mergers & Acquisitions, a Dallas middle-market investment bank named to Axial's Advisor 100. You get senior attention and institutional muscle on the same deal.
Questions owners ask
Straight answers before we talk.
How do DSOs value a dental practice?
DSOs value a practice on adjusted EBITDA, your profit after a market-rate dentist's compensation is subtracted for the work you personally produce. The more of the production that runs through you rather than associates and hygienists, the more a buyer has to pay a replacement dentist, and the lower the earnings they are buying. Hygiene mix, PPO versus fee-for-service revenue, and the durability of your patient base all move the number. The metric matters as much as the multiple.
Should I sell to a DSO or an individual dentist?
They buy different things. A DSO is buying a cash-flowing business and usually pays more for a larger, associate-supported practice, often with an equity or earnout component and a required post-sale work period. An individual dentist is buying a practice they will own and run, typically SBA-funded, which fits smaller owner-operated practices. The right answer depends on your size, how much depends on you, and what you want life to look like after closing. The mistake is talking to only one type.
What does an associate-led practice do to my price?
It usually raises it. A practice where associates and a strong hygiene program produce most of the revenue keeps running when you step back, which is what a buyer is underwriting. A practice where one dentist drives most of the collections carries owner-dependence risk, and buyers price that into the terms, the earnout, and how long they need you to stay. As a rough marker, once a single dentist controls more than about a third of collections, buyers treat it as a real concentration issue.
Do I have to stay on after the sale?
Often yes, especially with a DSO and especially if the practice depends on you clinically. Transition periods commonly run one to three years, and part of the price can be tied to production during that window. How long and on what terms is negotiable, and the less the practice depends on you personally, the more leverage you have to shorten it.
Related reading
Thinking about selling your dental practice?
The first call is free, thirty minutes, and completely confidential. Tell me where the practice stands and I will tell you straight what a buyer will see and what it is worth doing before you go to market.
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