Common seller tricks in dental
Practices can be written up on collections that belong to a retiring doctor, with a payer mix and a lab bill that will not look the same under a new provider.
- Collections that depend on the selling dentist’s production, with no associate ready to hold them.
- A rich fee-for-service story that hides a growing PPO or Medicaid share.
- Hygiene recare that is stale, overbooked on paper, or not actually returning.
- Chairs, sensors, or a pano/CBCT that are leased, aging, or about to need replacement.
- Lab bills, unpaid refunds, or unfinished treatment plans left off the conversation.
Which numbers to verify
Look at collections, production by provider, and new-patient counts by month. Split hygiene and doctor production. Payer mix should be explicit. Reconcile deposits. Recast the selling doctor’s days in the chair — that is the revenue you may have to replace. Accounts receivable should be aged and discounted; they are not all collectible at 100%. Supply and lab costs deserve a hard look.
Licensing and key-person risk
The practice can only operate with a licensed dentist. A corporate or non-dentist buyer has extra rules in many states. Credentialing with plans can take months, which is a cash-flow problem, not a paperwork footnote. Malpractice tail and the transfer of records have to be handled with counsel. This is a professional-practice closing, not a simple asset sale.
Equipment and condition
Operatories, sensors, mills, and imaging have remaining life and service contracts. Get a list of what is leased versus owned. A practice that looks modern in photos can have a ten-year-old pan and a lease on the software. The lease on the suite, including assignment and use as a dental office, is part of the equipment story.
Seasonality and the calendar
Hygiene and school calendars, plus the dentist’s own vacation, move monthly collections. A doctor who took a long leave can make one year look odd. Open and unfinished treatment plans should be treated as work and as patient relationships, not as automatic future collections.
Customer concentration
One dentist is often the concentration. A few referring specialists or a heavy plan mix can also concentrate. If a single PPO is a large share of collections, a fee change or a dropped panel is the risk. Hygiene patients who only came for that doctor may not automatically reappoint.
Questions to ask before you make an offer
- Please show production and collections by provider and by month for three years, with deposits to match.
- What is the payer mix, and what credentialing will I need, with what timeline?
- How many active patients and hygiene recare patients are truly active, and how is that defined?
- What happens to the selling doctor’s production after close, and is there an associate or a transition schedule?
- Which equipment is leased or near replacement, including imaging and software?
- May I review lab bills, refunds, and unfinished treatment plans?
- What is the office-lease term, assignment language, and use clause?
- How will charts and records transfer, and what is the malpractice tail plan?
- Are there open board, payer, or patient complaints?
- After an LOI, may I speak with your accountant and, as allowed, your office manager?