DDSWhat are the stages of a dental practice?
Most practices pass through five stages: start (a new practice or a first purchase), grow (patients, associates and locations), mature (stable ownership), transition (planning succession) and exit (a sale, merger, partnership or closure). Each stage leaves different public records, from new entities and permits to license and filing changes.
Start: see how to start a dental practice and how an associate becomes an owner. Mature: see what drives practice value. Transition and exit: see succession planning, exit options and the retirement timeline.
No reliable public data measures how long each stage lasts for a practice, so DDSIntel does not publish stage lengths. Career length is the closest anchor. Some practices skip stages: an acquisition can end the mature stage early, and an unplanned event can force a transition.
Where do transition signals appear in the lifecycle?
Most dental transition signals cluster in the late mature and transition stages: entity and officer changes, permit activity for relocations, and license changes for the dentists at a practice. Read together with the age of the dentists in a market, they help show when the dental exit window is opening, in aggregate.
For the age and career data behind this, see when do dentists retire?. The window itself is explained in when dentists sell, and the group of owners approaching it in the dental retirement cohort.
Public records show events, not intentions. See what public records show about a practice and, for owners, how owners control their record and the owners page.
How does consolidation change the lifecycle?
Consolidation adds buyers. An owner in the transition stage may sell to a dental support organization, a private buyer or an associate, and each path leaves different filings. Estimates of how far consolidation has gone range from 16.1% of dentists affiliated with a DSO to an undisclosed 35% figure; how consolidated dentistry is compares them.
The sale itself is covered in how long a dental practice sale takes, how to prepare a practice for sale and patient records in a sale or closure.
What happens when planning does not go as expected?
Some transitions are not planned. An owner may find no buyer, or may die or become disabled without a continuity plan. The guides on closing a dental practice and unplanned transitions set out the steps, and selling in a shortage area covers markets with few buyers.
In this section
- When do dentists retire?
- How long does a dental practice sale take?
- What happens when a dentist retires without a buyer?
- How does an associate become a practice owner?
- How do you start a dental practice?
- What drives the value of a dental practice?
- What is a dental practice succession plan?
- What are the options for exiting a dental practice?
- How early should a dentist plan for retirement?
- How do you prepare a dental practice for sale?
- What happens to patient records when a dental practice is sold?
- What happens to a dental practice if the owner dies or becomes disabled?
- Is it harder to sell a dental practice in a shortage area?
- When do dentists sell their practice?
- What is the dental retirement cohort?
- What public records exist about a dental practice?
- How can practice owners control their DDSIntel record?
- How long does a DSO sale take compared with a private sale?
- How much does it cost to sell a dental practice?
- How do I choose a dental practice broker?
- How does a work-back period work after selling a dental practice?
- How does a lease assignment work when you sell a dental practice?
- How does a non-compete work after you sell a dental practice?
Frequently asked questions
When should an owner start planning a transition?
Plans vary, but with average retirement at 68.7 and careers of 41.3 years, many owners begin years ahead; the retirement timeline and the owners page cover what owners control.
Does a practice always change hands at retirement?
No. Some owners close, some pass a practice to family, and some sell earlier or later.
What is the dental exit window?
The period in which an owner is most likely to sell, retire or merge, as defined in the glossary and explained in when dentists sell.
Where are the underlying figures?
In the dental market data hub, with every figure’s publisher and date.
Sources
- ADA Health Policy Institute. The dentist workforce. ada.org.
- ADA Health Policy Institute. Dental practice research. ada.org.
Questions or corrections: request a correction. Markdown version: /lifecycle.md.