You do not start selling a dental office by asking what multiple everyone else received. You start by deciding what you want after the sale.
Stop working? Reduce clinical days? Practice without running the business? Take cash and retain an investment in a larger group?
Different goals can lead to different buyers and contracts.
Define the exit before the buyer does
Write down your timeline, clinical role, minimum cash needs, and tolerance for future risk. Include what matters for patients and staff.
An individual dentist, a group, and a DSO may approach your office differently. The highest headline offer is not automatically the best fit if it requires a job or risk you do not want.
Build a sale file you can defend
Prepare financial statements, tax returns, payroll, provider production, collections, and adjustments. Add payer contracts, staff agreements, equipment records, debts, and the lease. Define active patients, hygiene, recall, and new-patient metrics clearly.
The ADA recommends experienced advisers, including legal and accounting support and an independent valuation specialist. If you use a broker, understand the fee and process.
Use controlled diligence. Do not scatter patient-level records across ordinary email threads. Advisers should guide appropriate disclosure, privacy requirements, and records transfer.
Fix confusion before negotiation
Explain A/R, credits, missing posting, and inconsistent adjustments. Reconcile the story across accounting and PMS reports. Disclose material problems honestly.
Document operating improvements and whether they are sustainable. One strong month does not establish a new earnings base.
Dentistry Automation can be part of reviewing verification, posting, and claims workflows. It is not a broker or valuation service. Buying automation does not guarantee a sale premium.
Compare offers line by line
Separate cash at closing, rollover equity, earnouts, seller notes, and holdbacks. Review debt, working capital, and whether A/R is sold or retained. Determine whether real estate is included.
Examine employment terms: compensation, schedule, performance conditions, and how long you must stay. Have counsel review restrictive covenants under relevant law.
Do not count contingent payments as cash already received. Do not count rollover equity as if you could sell it tomorrow.
Take the letter of intent seriously
An LOI can shape price, diligence, exclusivity, and timing. Counsel should review it before signing, including which provisions are binding.
The final agreement needs clear terms for records, staff, lease assignment, ongoing cases, liabilities, and goodwill. Tax structure affects net proceeds, so involve your accountant early.
A sale is not finished when everyone agrees on the headline number. It is finished when the transaction closes and the handover works.
Keep operating during the process
Protect patient care and continuity. Assign someone to manage requests so selling does not consume every clinical day. Plan who tells staff, patients, and counterparties what, and when.
Make the office easier to understand before putting it on the market. Clean numbers, transferable systems, and a realistic owner-transition plan make for a better conversation. Start with advisers, then address operating gaps. Dentistry Automation can help evaluate the RCM part of that preparation.
For the underlying valuation questions, read dental practice valuation: what is your office really worth?.
See the workflow
Dentistry Automation runs verification, payment posting, and claims workflows with AI, backed by people for the exceptions. See how it works.
Sources: ADA sale guidance; Bass, Berry & Sims transaction-risk commentary; Simply Business Valuation on deal economics. This is general information, not legal, tax, or transaction advice.
