What is my dental practice worth?

How buyers look at dental practices

Collections story + patients who stay without you

Dental buyers care about the earnings story and whether patients, staff, and referrals stay when a new dentist walks in.

In plain terms, diligence usually covers:

1. Collections vs production — production is what was scheduled and billed; collections are what actually arrived after insurance adjustments, write-offs, and unpaid balances. Buyers build on collections. A large or unexplained gap between the two is a question you want answered before they ask it.
2. Payer mix — how much revenue comes from specific insurance plans (and their fee schedules) vs fee-for-service patients. Mix affects margins, how much a new owner can change, and how patients may react to a transition.
3. Hygiene and recall — an active, well-scheduled hygiene program and steady recall suggest repeat patients who come back for reasons beyond one doctor. A thin or neglected recall system reads as patient-base risk.
4. Provider dependence — how much of the dentistry (especially higher-value procedures) is done by you vs associates or hygienists, and whether associates are likely to stay.
5. Facility, lease, and equipment — remaining lease term and assignability, operatory count and condition, and equipment or technology that will need replacing soon.
6. Patient base transferability — active patient records, new-patient flow, referral sources, reputation, and team continuity (front desk, assistants, hygienists) that help patients stay through a change in ownership.

When SDE is the right starting point

• Most owner-dentist practices where the buyer will step into or replace the owner’s clinical and management role start with Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE) — the total annual benefit to one full-time owner-operator — then apply risk-aware methods. See What is SDE?.
• Larger multi-provider practices with associate depth and cleaner add-backs may also hear EBITDA in broker or group-buyer conversations — still start with an honest earnings base. Free Preview runs seven methods appropriate to the business category and blends a headline planning range with confidence notes. This page does not publish secret method weights or “typical dental multiples.”

There is no universal “dental practice rule of thumb” that replaces homework. Production-only numbers and undocumented owner add-backs produce junk ranges.

What moves the range

Qualitative factors — not a benchmark table

These factors commonly shift a dental practice’s planning range (qualitative — not a benchmark table, not comps):

• Collections quality — clean, consistent collected revenue and a documented explanation of adjustments and write-offs.
• Payer mix and fee schedules — concentration in a few insurance plans vs a healthy fee-for-service base.
• Hygiene program strength — scheduled recall, hygienist tenure, and how full the hygiene schedule runs.
• Owner-dentist chair time — if collections soften when you cut days, buyers price transfer risk.
• Associate and team continuity — associate commitment, hygienist and front-desk tenure, and agreements in place.
• Lease — term remaining, renewal options, and whether it can be assigned to a buyer.
• Equipment and technology — age and condition of chairs, imaging, and practice-management systems; deferred replacements buyers will subtract.
• New-patient flow and reputation — referral sources and reviews that support a steady patient base.
• Documentation — clean P&Ls, add-back support, and office systems someone else can run.

ValuRight’s Health Score and recommendations surface several of these risks early. What-if scenarios let you explore changes (for example, reducing owner chair days or building associate coverage) and see how the planning range may move — model output from your inputs, not a promised sale-price lift. More on readiness: Exit readiness & Health Score.

Bridge

Get the earnings base honest first

• What is SDE? — Seller’s Discretionary Earnings for owner-operated Main Street businesses, including owner-dentist practices.
• How to value a small business — SDE, multiples, and what moves the range.
• What is my business worth? — the general Free Preview worth hub (any Main Street category).
• Methodology — seven methods in plain English.
• Exit readiness & Health Score — what buyers mean by ready to transfer.

Helpful links: What is SDE? · Methodology · How to sell my business