7 Tips of Selling Your Dental Practice for More (Without Pulling Teeth)

Let’s face it! Selling your dental practice can feel scarier than a root canal without anesthesia. But with the right preparation (and maybe a sense of humor), you can turn this process into a smooth, profitable, and even satisfying experience. Whether you're preparing to retire or just ready to hang up your scrubs and sip something cold on a beach, here are 7 tips for Selling Your Dental Practice for More.

Selling Your Dental Practice for More Starts With Knowing Your Numbers

Yes, dentists love precision—but when it comes to your books? Many practices are messier than a teenager’s retainer case. Start with a clean, well-organized financial picture: EBITDA, revenue trends, percentage of hygiene vs. treatment, overhead rates, collections, and profitability.

Want more? Benchmark your numbers against others in your region. Buyers love context almost as much as clean margins.

Selling Your Dental Practice for More Means Stepping Away (A Little)

If you’re the star, producer, director, and janitor of your dental show, it’s time to delegate. Practices where the owner is deeply entrenched in every patient interaction are harder to sell at a premium.

Buyers aren’t just evaluating the numbers—they’re assessing risk. The earlier you plan your exit and begin removing yourself from clinical dependency, the less risky your practice looks. And the less risk for the buyer? The higher the price tag you can command.

Because let’s be honest, most buyers aren’t looking to become you. They’re looking to replace your systems, team, and structure, not your superhuman work ethic and 14-hour clinical days.

Build a team. Empower your associates. Make your practice feel like a machine that runs well, with or without you. That’s how Selling Your Dental Practice for More becomes a reality. Otherwise, buyers think they’re buying you, not a scalable business.

Boost Case Acceptance—It’s the Crown Jewel of Valuation

Want to impress a buyer? Show them a case acceptance rate north of 70%. If you’re only converting treatment plans at 30%, you’re leaving money on the tray. Get your team trained, tighten your follow-ups, and consider presenting large cases in stages for better uptake.

Think of it like flossing. Boring? Maybe. Valuable? Absolutely.

Now, unless you’re a comprehensive dentist with the charisma of a TED Talk speaker and the skill set of a prosthodontist-ninja hybrid, a 30% case acceptance rate might be acceptable. But let’s be real—how many “Super Dentists” are out there to fill your shoes after you exit?

That’s why practices built around more routine, predictable, and bread-and-butter dentistry tend to attract more buyers. They’re easier to step into, easier to staff, and easier to scale. Selling a replicable model wins over a superhero-dependent one, every time !

Selling Your Dental Practice for More Requires Looking Busy (Even If You're Not)

Perception is reality. A packed schedule—even if it's creatively optimized—gives buyers confidence that demand is high. If your chairs are half-empty and Fridays are always “golf days,” it’s time to re-evaluate. Add hygiene days. Offer flexible hours. Appear as if you’re booked 6 months out, even if you’re free next Wednesday.

Remember: “Scarcity sells.” It works on veneers, and it works on valuations.

Selling Your Dental Practice for More? Don’t Neglect the Ugly Ducklings (a.k.a. Ops)

Look around—your chairs still beige from the Clinton administration? Your X-ray machine older than your associate? Invest in cosmetic upgrades. No need for a total renovation, but polish the look.

Even if the buyer has plans to upgrade later, perception matters. This isn’t just about ROI—it’s staging, like in real estate. Buyers want to imagine themselves walking into a “ready-to-run” practice, not a fixer-upper.

Attract the Right Buyer By Telling a Great Story

You’re not just selling dental charts—you’re selling a lifestyle, a team, a community, and sometimes even the “best coffee shop within 2 blocks.” Every great deal starts with a compelling narrative. Why did you build this practice? What makes your team special? What’s the future potential?

Tell the story, don’t just dump the data. It helps Selling Your Dental Practice for More feel like an emotional buy—not just a financial one.

Selling Your Dental Practice for More is Easier with an M&A Advisor (Trust Us, We Floss This Daily)

Yes, you can go it alone. But would you recommend your patients pull their own molars?

A qualified M&A advisor—especially one who’s been a dentist, managed practices, and negotiated millions in deals—can help you identify hidden value, manage the deal timeline, vet buyers, and avoid costly mistakes.

Plus, we know how to use all the right buzzwords like “adj. EBITDA,” “earn-out,” and “post-closing integration,” without making your eyes glaze over.

The Final Word on Selling Your Dental Practice for More

If you take one thing away, let it be this: Valuation isn’t luck. It’s preparation. Start early. Treat the sale of your practice like the most important case of your career. Because, frankly—it is.

So clean up the books, upgrade the look, delegate the work, and call in the pros. That’s how you go from listing your practice… to Selling Your Dental Practice for More.

Dr. Allen Nazeri, aka "Dr. Allen," boasts over 30 years of global experience as a healthcare entrepreneur. He is the Managing Director at American Healthcare Capital and Managing Partner at PRIME exits. Dr. Allen provides strategic growth consulting to leadership teams of both privately held and publicly listed companies, ensuring their preparedness for successful exits.

He holds a Dental Degree from Creighton University and an MBA in M&A and Investment Banking from the University of Bedfordshire. Dr. Allen is the author of "Value Engineering: Strategies to 10X the Value of Your Clinic and Dominate the Market!" and the brand new book "Selling Your Healthcare Company at a Premium". Dr. Allen offers a free valuation to business owners ready for a partial or complete exit strategy. Dr. Allen collaborates with strategic buyers, private equity firms, and institutional investors, taking direct accountability for the annual successful sell-side representation of nearly $750M in enterprise value.

To have a confidential discussion about your company and receive a free valuation, please email Allen@ahcteam.com or Allen@ahcpexits.com

You can now communicate with Dr. Allen's clone https://www.delphi.ai/drallen