Are You Ready to Buy a Dental Practice? A Checklist for Associates
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Are you ready to buy a dental practice? A checklist for associates
Most practice owners started as associates. The move from associate to owner is less about one big decision and more about a handful of smaller ones being settled. This checklist helps you see which ones you have answered and which are still open.
1. Clinical readiness
- Are you comfortable with the procedures a typical practice in your target area relies on?
- Can you run a full schedule at the pace an owner needs, without an experienced dentist down the hall?
- Are there procedures you would refer out, and is that fine for the practices you are considering?
You do not need to do everything. You do need to know what you will do in-house and what you will refer.
2. Financial readiness
- Do you know your student loan payments and how a practice loan would sit alongside them?
- Have you talked to a lender about what you could borrow?
- Do you have savings for working capital and the months while you settle in?
- Has a dental CPA walked you through what a practice needs to earn to support the loan and your living costs?
Starting the lender conversation early tells you what is realistic before you fall for a practice.
3. Know what you are looking for
| Decide | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Buy or start from scratch | Different costs, risks and timelines. See start or buy |
| General or specialty | Shapes which practices and markets fit |
| Size | Number of operatories, staff and patients you can manage |
| Payer model | Fee-for-service, PPO or Medicaid run very differently |
| Region | Where you and your family want to live |
The clearer this list, the faster the search.
4. Choose where, not just what
The practice's history shows how it did in its market. Your future depends on that market too. For each region you are considering, look at:
- Residents per general practice, compared with the US average of about 3,850.
- Household income and payer mix, which shape fee-for-service potential.
- Population growth, which supports new patients.
- Recent openings nearby, which the practice's past numbers may not show.
See how to tell if an area already has too many dentists and relocating to another state as a dentist.
5. Line up your team
Before you make an offer, know who you will call:
- A dental CPA
- A dental attorney
- A lender with dental practice financing
- A practice appraiser, if your lender or deal needs one
- Independent market analysis of the area around the practice
6. Know the process
Buying a practice runs in stages: search, screening, letter of intent, due diligence, financing, contracts, closing and transition. See the steps to buy a dental practice, in order.
Signs you may be ready
- You can describe the practice you want in a few sentences.
- A lender has told you roughly what you can borrow.
- You have a CPA and attorney you would call tomorrow.
- You have narrowed to a region and checked its market.
Signs to wait a little longer
- You are not yet comfortable running a full schedule on your own.
- Your finances would leave no cushion for the first months.
- You do not yet know where you want to live.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find practices for sale? Listings are spread across many broker websites, and many practices are never listed. See how to compare practices for sale across brokers and how to find a practice that isn't listed.
Should I buy in the area where I work as an associate? It can help, since you know the market, but check any non-compete in your associate contract first, and compare the area with others before deciding.
Can Dentagraphics help an associate get ready to buy? Yes, with the market side and the search: listings from many brokers, ways to find unlisted practices, and data on competition, income and growth for any area. Dentagraphics does not broker or appraise practices.
How Dentagraphics helps
- Free plan: national, state and county demographics and competition.
- Start/Buy membership ($149 per month): listings from many brokers in one place, unlimited address and area searches, and tools to find practices that are not listed.
- Single-Site Study ($695) or Area Analysis ($745): handwritten analysis by a demographer of one practice's market or several regions compared.
Our competition data covers 118,330 US dental practices verified by hand. We do not broker practices and hold no stake in any location.
Thinking about buying? See a free sample report, or create a free account to start comparing regions today.