Tag: selling a dental practice

May 11
2023

The Average Age of Dentists Selling Their Practice Is Dropping Dramatically. Here’s Why

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Troy Jones

By Troy Jones, M&A Advisor, Professional Transition Strategies.

One of the best parts of being a dental practice broker is that I’m given a unique line of sight into new trends in the industry. Something that we’ve been noticing at Professional Transition Strategies (PTS) is that the average age of dental entrepreneurs selling their practice is getting significantly younger.

In fact, most doctors we worked with before the pandemic ranged from 55 to 58 years old, as many of them were gearing up for retirement. Now, the average age of a dentist selling their practice with us is down to 44 years old. And we suspect this is a phenomenon happening all around the country.

So, what’s causing this huge drop in age?

There are a couple factors at play, but it comes down to two major components: the industry’s consolidation wave and the fallout from the pandemic. The sweeping consolidation happening across the industry is highlighting new opportunities for dentists – and many are taking advantage of them. Coming out of the pandemic, many businesses and industries reshuffled their operations which lends itself to changes in dentistry.

Here’s a closer look at why younger dental practice owners are choosing to sell their practice sooner rather than later.

Consolidation Gives Way to Equity Arbitrage Opportunities

As dentistry is undergoing industry consolidation, it’s given rise to many new financial opportunities for dentists, which contributes to this trend. Private equity backed dental service organizations (DSOs) provide an alternative to traditional partnerships. In the past, many dental entrepreneurs on their path toward retirement would bring in an associate to take over after they stepped away; however, associateships have an extremely low success rate, making them an undesirable route for many.

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Apr 6
2023

The Benefits of Transparency When Selling Your Dental Practice

Dr. Suzannw Ebert

By Dr. Suzanne Ebert, vice president operations and customer relations, American Dental Association.

 In the dental industry, it is widely believed that confidentiality is crucial when a dentist chooses to sell their practice. This notion is strongly advocated by dental brokers and has been adopted by numerous dentists. In fact, a few dentists have stated that they had minimal or no communication with the buyer of their practice until the transaction was finalized.

The logic goes that there are several things that will happen as soon as anyone knows your practice is for sale:

  1. All of your patients will leave
  2. Your staff will leave to work someplace else
  3. Your competitors will actively poach your patients

These are all legitimate concerns. However, if the community knows that a dentist is considering selling their practice, there can be benefits to that transparency. Let’s examine the concerns one at a time.

  1. Will all your patients really leave?

Some might, but those are likely patients who were considering leaving for other reasons. Research suggests that insurance acceptance and convenience (location and hours) are the most common reasons that patients switch practices.

The majority of dentists considering selling their practice are planning to retire. Patients know that a dentist in their sixties is going to retire someday. Is it better for patients to find out through a postcard after you are already gone – or worse, to call for an appointment and learn you are no longer working?

In fact, being upfront with patients may prompt them to finish out a treatment plan before you leave because they trust you to do the necessary work.

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