Thinking About Buying a Dental Practice? Here’s What You Need to Consider
For many associate dentists, buying a dental practice represents an exciting next step in their career. It can offer greater control over how you work, the opportunity to build a business around your own vision and the potential to create a valuable long-term asset. However, buying a practice is also likely to be one of the largest financial commitments you will ever make, so approaching the process with the right knowledge and preparation is essential.
While you may have spent years developing your clinical skills, buying and running a business requires a very different set of knowledge. You don’t need to know everything before you start looking, but understanding the key areas involved can make the process considerably less daunting and help you make better decisions when the right opportunity comes along.
Start by understanding what you want
Before searching for practices, it is worth thinking carefully about the type of business you actually want to own. Are you looking for an NHS, private or mixed practice? Would you prefer an established, profitable business or something with greater potential for growth? You should also consider how you see your own role developing. Some owners want to remain predominantly clinical, while others have ambitions to spend more time managing and growing the business.
Location, number of surgeries, patient demographics, income mix and future growth opportunities should all form part of your thinking. Having a clear picture of what you’re looking for makes it much easier to assess opportunities objectively rather than becoming distracted by a practice that looks attractive but doesn’t necessarily fit your long-term plans.
Learn to understand the numbers
One of the biggest adjustments for first-time buyers is learning to look at a dental practice as a business rather than simply as somewhere to practise dentistry. Turnover is important, but it only tells part of the story. Profitability, staffing costs, associate costs, income mix, patient numbers and opportunities for future growth can all influence the attractiveness and value of a practice.
Valuation can initially seem complicated, particularly when terms such as goodwill, adjusted profit and multiples enter the conversation. You don’t need to become a professional valuer, but understanding the factors that influence value will allow you to ask better questions and make more informed decisions. Rather than simply asking, “Can I afford this practice?”, you should also be able to ask, “Is this practice worth what I’m being asked to pay?”
Don’t assume funding will be a barrier
Many aspiring owners delay exploring practice ownership because they assume they don’t have sufficient funds available. However, funding a dental practice acquisition is different from taking out a conventional personal loan, and lenders will consider a range of factors including the financial performance of the practice, the proposed deal structure and your own financial position.
Understanding your likely borrowing capacity early in the process can therefore be extremely valuable. It gives you a realistic buying budget and allows you to concentrate on opportunities that are appropriate for your circumstances. More importantly, when the right practice becomes available, you can be in a much stronger position to move forward.
Understand the importance of due diligence
Once you have found a practice and agreed terms, due diligence becomes an essential part of the acquisition process. This is where your professional advisers investigate the business you’re proposing to buy and identify potential issues before they become your responsibility.
Depending on the practice, this could involve the lease, NHS contracts, CQC requirements, staffing arrangements, financial performance and potential liabilities. While specialist legal advice is essential, buyers should also understand what is being investigated and why it matters. You don’t need to become a solicitor, but having enough knowledge to ask the right questions can help you understand the risks associated with the purchase and make more informed decisions.
Be prepared to negotiate
Negotiation can be uncomfortable for first-time buyers, particularly when you’re dealing with an experienced practice owner and a team of professional advisers. However, successful negotiation isn’t about being the loudest person in the room or trying to win every point. It is about being prepared and understanding what matters.
If you understand the valuation, financial performance and potential risks within the practice, you are in a much better position to have constructive conversations about price and terms. Knowing where you are prepared to compromise and where you aren’t can also prevent emotion from taking over when you’re making one of the biggest financial decisions of your career.
Remember that completion is only the beginning
It is easy to become so focused on completing the purchase that you forget what happens once you become the owner. From day one, you are no longer responsible only for your own clinical work. You are also an employer, leader and business owner, with a team looking to you for direction and patients who may need reassurance about the change in ownership.
The first 100 days can have a significant influence on the future of the practice. New owners can understandably be eager to make their mark, but often the best approach is to spend time listening, learning and understanding the business before making major changes. Building trust with the existing team and patients can be just as important as identifying opportunities for future growth.
Preparation creates confidence
Nobody buys their first dental practice knowing everything. The difference is often the amount of preparation they have undertaken and the quality of the people they have around them throughout the process. Developing an understanding of valuations, funding, due diligence, negotiation and leadership before you find the practice you want to buy can make the entire journey feel much more manageable.
This is one of the reasons Frank Taylor & Associates has developed the Dental Practice Acquisition Diploma, in partnership with Novus Institute. The nine-month programme has been designed to take aspiring owners through the entire acquisition journey, including financial planning, funding and deal structures, legal frameworks and due diligence, valuation and negotiation, the practice transfer process and the first 100 days of ownership. Delegates will also receive mentoring and ongoing support as they progress towards buying their own practice.
The aim isn’t to turn dentists into accountants, solicitors or professional valuers. It’s about giving aspiring owners enough knowledge to understand the process, ask better questions, recognise potential risks and make more confident decisions.
Whether you choose formal training or develop your knowledge another way, the principle remains the same: don’t wait until you’ve found your dream practice to start learning how to buy it. The better prepared you are beforehand, the stronger your position will be when the right opportunity comes along.
To find out more about the Dental Practice Acquisition Diploma and the first cohort starting in January 2027, click here.
