Dental Practice Valuation by Practice Size (2026)
A single-location practice sells for 5 to 7 times profit. Groups reach 11, and specialty practices 14. Another dentist buying you out thinks in collections instead.
- Your buyer picks the yardstick. The same practice is worth different amounts to a group and to an associate.
- Scale moves the number more than anything else you can do.
- How much of the dentistry you personally do is what drags the number down.
Two Buyers, Two Yardsticks
This is the thing to understand before you read any offer, because the two produce very different numbers on the same practice.
- Another dentist counts what the practice pays you, all of it: salary, benefits, and the personal costs running through it. They are buying a job and a business together, and they often price off a share of your collections. Dental sale advisers put that at 60% to 80% of the last twelve months on bank-financed deals.
- A group counts profit after paying someone to do your dentistry, usually 25% to 30% of what you produce. They have to hire that person once you leave.
A practice paying its owner $400K can model at $200K to a group. That gap is the value of your own hands, which one buyer keeps and the other has to replace.
What Each Size Sells For
| Practice Size | Priced Off | Typical Price | Who Buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo, small | Collections | 60% to 80% of collections | An associate or another dentist |
| One location | Profit | 5x to 7x profit | Group buyers, as a small addition |
| Small group | Profit, $1M to $3M | 7x to 9x profit | Mid-sized groups, regional chains |
| Big enough to build on | Profit, $3M to $5M | 9x to 11x profit | Investor-backed groups |
| Large group | Profit, $5M or more | 10x to 12x profit | The largest platforms |
| Specialty, any size | Profit | 10x to 14x profit | Specialty roll-ups |
Run your own numbers through the dental practice valuation calculator. How dentistry compares with the building trades: multiples across five industries.
Twelve times is about the ceiling for general dentistry. Specialty work goes higher because referrals keep coming and the margins are better.
Dental Practice Valuation Calculator
Before anyone digs into your books, they check one ratio. It is a quick sort, and it is easy to remember.
- A solo practice should run overhead at or under 50% of collections.
- A small group should be nearer 40%.
- A mature platform runs about 30%, and groups that hit it sell at 10 times or better.
- Sitting at 45% to 50% as a group attracts lower offers, or none.
A healthy general practice keeps 35% to 45% for the owner before tax. After paying market rates for the clinical and management work, that becomes 18% to 28% in a buyer's model.
Under 30% to the owner is worth investigating before anyone else does it for you.
The Six Things That Move Your Number
1. Scale, by a Distance
One location against three is the biggest single factor. Going to three typically doubles your multiple and triples your profit.
2. How Much You Personally Produce
- At 90% of production, expect 10% to 20% off the price.
- Any single dentist above 35% to 40% of collections costs you a turn or two.
- This is now the most common reason a group walks away from a practice they otherwise liked.
3. Hygiene
Hygiene is the part of a practice that repeats. Above 30% of collections, with recall that actually works, puts you at the top of your band.
Buyers discount hygiene that depends on one hygienist, or on your particular way of diagnosing.
4. Who Pays You
A balanced mix of insurance and cash patients reads as steady. Medicaid above 40% of revenue costs you a turn or two, because rates move with state policy.
5. Whether Anyone Else Runs It
A trained manager who is not you can add one to three turns. Written procedures and numbers people actually track justify the top of the range.
6. Your Lease and Your Paperwork
Under five years left on the lease suppresses the price. Open safety citations or an unresolved insurer audit can take 5% to 20% off.
Same Dentistry, Two Very Different Numbers
Take a three-location group clearing $2.4M in profit, growing 12% a year, with 30% hygiene and its associates under contract.
- Three locations at 7 to 9 times: $16.8M to $21.6M.
- One location doing the same work, clearing $400K, at 5 to 7 times: $2.0M to $2.8M.
- Roughly five times the value, from scale alone. Nobody is practicing better dentistry.
That is the most powerful thing an owner can do before selling. It also takes years rather than months.
The Price Is Not What You Take Home
The multiple gives you a headline value for the practice. Several things come out of it before the money is yours.
- Any debt gets settled out of the price.
- A stake you keep in the buyer's company is not cash, and it waits for their sale.
- Money tied to targets arrives later, if it arrives.
- Then tax. A $5M headline can land well under that in your account.
See what group buyers actually pay and how the held-back money works.
Who Is Buying Practices Now
Fewer dentists own their practice than a generation ago. About 73% do, down from 85% in 2005.
Meanwhile about a quarter of dentists now work with a group, and the share is highest among recent graduates.
- That cuts both ways for you. Fewer associates want to buy you out, and more groups are competing to.
- Associates who do buy usually borrow through the SBA's main loan program.
- The trend is worth watching before you time an exit. The ADA tracks practice ownership year by year.
- Before you hand over a share of it: what a broker charges to sell a practice.
Related Guides
- New York sellers: what a practice is worth in New York, and the ownership rule behind every offer.
- What group buyers pay, and how that compares to an associate.
- How long a sale takes.
- Selling in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
- What the two sale structures cost you in tax.
Frequently Asked Questions
A single location goes for 5 to 7 times profit, a small group 7 to 9, and larger groups up to 12. Specialty practices reach 14. A solo practice sold to another dentist is usually priced at 60% to 80% of a year's collections instead.
Start with collections and subtract your operating costs. Add back your personal expenses and any one-time costs. Then subtract what it would cost to pay a dentist to do your chairside work, usually 25% to 30% of what you produce. Multiply what is left.
Because they measure different things. Another dentist counts everything the practice pays you, since they are taking over your chair. A group subtracts what it costs to replace you clinically. The same practice can read as $400K to one and $200K to the other.
A lot. One location at $400K in profit is worth $2.0M to $2.8M. Three locations clearing $2.4M are worth $16.8M to $21.6M. That is roughly five times the value for the same kind of dentistry, done at greater scale.
You producing nearly all of it. At 90% of production, expect 10% to 20% off. Any single dentist above 35% to 40% of collections costs a turn or two. After that: heavy Medicaid, weak hygiene, a short lease, and open compliance problems.
Yes. Orthodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric practices reach 10 to 14 times profit, against 5 to 8 for general dentistry. Referral-driven work is steadier and the margins are better, so buyers pay up for it.
Under 50% of collections as a solo practice, nearer 40% as a small group, and about 30% for a mature platform. Groups that hit 30% sell at 10 times or better. Sitting at 45% to 50% as a group is what draws the low offers.