Private Equity Firms Buying Dental Practices

Dental practices have been consolidating for well over a decade, and private equity sits behind most of the larger groups. Dental service organizations, often called DSOs, buy practices and take over the business side: billing, staffing, purchasing, marketing and technology. The dentists keep treating patients, often with less administrative work than before.

Buyers fall into a few groups. General dentistry groups buy single and multi-location family practices. Specialty groups focus on orthodontics, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, endodontics or periodontics. Some groups are built around a particular model, such as a regional brand with shared marketing or a partnership in which the selling dentist keeps a meaningful ownership stake. The firms on this page back one or more of these models.

A buyer will look at collections rather than production, the mix of insurance, fee-for-service and membership plan patients, hygiene revenue, the flow of new patients, the number of operatories and how fully they are used, and the share of revenue produced by the selling dentist compared with associates. Practices that depend almost entirely on the owner are harder to sell, because much of the value leaves if the owner leaves.

Most dental deals ask the selling dentist to keep practicing for several years and to roll part of the proceeds into the group. Owners should ask how clinical decisions will be made, what their pay will be, how long they must stay, what non-compete terms apply, and what happens to their rolled equity when the group itself is sold. State rules on who can own a dental practice shape how these deals are structured, so the details matter.

Timing matters as well. Many dentists start these conversations five or more years before they plan to stop practicing, because the strongest offers usually go to practices whose owner can commit to several more years of clinical work.

Greymont is paid by buyers, never by owners. Whether you want to sell outright or partner with a group and keep practicing, Greymont can help you compare the groups that fit your practice.