Many seasoned dental practice owners assume they will simply sell their practice when the time comes. After all, they have built a successful operation, maintained steady collections, and earned the right to decide later. In our experience, however, the difference between a messy transition and an excellent one often comes down to a handful of small decisions made well before any urgency exists, while all options are still available.

One of the most important and often overlooked considerations in transition planning is envisioning who your eventual buyer will most likely be. Not all buyers value practices the same way or operate them the same way.

Today’s buyer pool includes:

Individual first-time practice owners
Private buyers who already own multiple offices
Dental support organizations (DSOs)
Dental partnership organizations (DPOs)
Private equity-backed platforms
Even dental insurance companies

Each buyer type brings different expectations, timelines, and transaction structures. Understanding which buyers are realistic for your practice helps guide decisions long before a sale is even considered.

Seller age and career stage play a significant role.
Owners in their 60s, particularly those with practices collecting under $2 million annually, are far more likely to transition to private buyers. Practice sellers in their 40s are statistically more likely to sell to corporate entities. Importantly, many corporate buyers expect the selling doctor to continue working for five years or more after closing. If post-closing seller employment is not appealing, that preference alone narrows the buyer field.

Practice profitability is another critical factor.
While legitimate tax planning often reduces reported income, it can obscure true seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE). Properly recasting financials to reflect true profitability is essential to establishing defensible valuation multiples. This is where an experienced practice broker can be a big help, by clarifying earnings, reducing buyer uncertainty, and positioning the practice for stronger offers.

Equally important is what is being sold.
If a practice seller owns the dental realty, many sellers prefer to sell their dental real estate with the practice. But this can become challenging for first-time buyers that qualify for a practice acquisition loan but struggle to secure real estate financing without seller participation. In contrast, multi-location private buyers often have the cash flow strength to support acquisition of both the practice and real estate. It is also essential that real estate transactions be handled by properly licensed professionals; practice transitions frequently involve legal and regulatory considerations that should not be improvised by unlicensed practice brokers.

Buyer demographics are shifting.
According to the ADA Health Policy Institute, younger dentists are far less likely to own solo practices than previous generations, with increased affiliation with group practices and DSOs. In short, tomorrow’s buyers practice dentistry differently than yesterday’s sellers, and transition planning must account for that reality.

Finally, practice size matters.
With average U.S. general dentist collections around $942,000, smaller practices can be challenging to sell, particularly to buyers carrying significant student debt. For sellers who envision post-sale employment, the “pie” must be large enough to support both buyer debt service and the seller’s compensation as an associate.

Transition planning is not an exit exercise; it’s practice management. Successful transitions are designed, not improvised.
Understanding which buyers are realistic for your practice
can quietly shape better decisions years in advance.

Discuss Your Practice’s Likely Buyer Profile

Who Will Your Buyer Be?