Tag
#Dso
17 articles
The Wrong Board: Why Dentists Optimize a Game They Never Chose to Play
Most dentists inherit their practice model — insurance contracts, real estate, associate hires — and optimize a game they never chose. Why that path builds a high-paying job, not the business an institutional buyer pays a real multiple for.
The Boutique Fallacy: Why Size Sets Your Dental Practice Value
Two dental practices, same profit, can sell millions apart. Why size — not margin — decides whether you get an SDE multiple or an institutional DSO/EBITDA exit.
Operational Due Diligence: Know Your Dental Practice Baseline
The broker, lender, and CPA all give sound advice — but none establishes your operational baseline. Why buyers and sellers need forensic operational due diligence before they act.
Dental Practice Broker: The Incentive Problem Nobody Explains
You almost certainly need a dental practice broker. But the success-fee model means defending your number through diligence was never their job. Here's the gap — and why it costs so much.
What Is My Dental Practice Worth? Why the Answer Depends Entirely on Who's Buying
The value of your dental practice depends entirely on who is buying. Here is how individual buyers and institutional buyers calculate it — and why those are two different numbers.
Dental Practice Exit Strategy: The 5-Year Forensic Blueprint for an Institutionally Auditable Sale
A year-by-year dental practice exit strategy for building a practice that institutional buyers pay premium multiples for — the forensic blueprint starting 5 years before you sell.
The $250,000 Audit: How Retroactive Payer Downgrades Destroy Enterprise Value
A $25,000 insurance chargeback becomes a $250,000 enterprise value reduction at a 10x multiple. Here's how retroactive payer audits and QoE extrapolation compound to destroy dental practice valuations.
The KPIs That Kill Your Multiple: Which Dental Practice Metrics Institutional Buyers Actually Score
Not all dental KPIs matter at exit. Here are the metrics PE-backed buyers weight most, the thresholds that move multiples, and the vanity metrics they ignore entirely.
The Other Side of the Door: What You Are Actually Trading When You Sell Your Practice
A 45-year practice owner sold into a DSO and was forced out during COVID by someone 75 miles away. The number was right. The trade was not what he expected.
How DSOs Actually Evaluate Your Dental Practice: The 11 Underwriting Criteria They Score But Never Publish
Former NADG regional director reveals the 11 criteria DSO underwriting teams actually score — and the specific thresholds that separate premium multiples from discount ones.
The Same Playbook: What a Harvard Hospital Study Tells Us About the Future of Dental Practice Valuations
A Harvard study on PE-owned hospitals revealed a 13% rise in ER deaths after acquisition. The same debt-loading, cost-cutting playbook runs in dental M&A — and understanding it is the difference between a defended exit and a seven-figure re-trade.
EBITDA Laundering: The Clinical Blind Spot in Dental M&A
The EBITDA Laundering blind spot in dental M&A: how compliant-looking revenue masks clinical fraud that survives standard due diligence.
The EBITDA Illusion: Why DSOs Buy You at 5x and Trade at 14x (And How to Keep the Difference)
Why dental DSOs trade at 14x while acquirers pay 5x — understand the Multiple Arbitrage mechanism that transfers wealth from practices to PE.
The Myth of the "Unsellable" Practice: Why Rural Dentistry is the Ultimate Diamond in the Rough
As a former Operations Director for some of the largest DSOs in the country, I have sat in the "War Rooms" where acquisition targets are chosen. I've seen the playbook corporate dentistry uses to domi.
The Owner's Dilemma: Why Your Second Dental Practice Is The Hardest To Run
For the successful owner of a thriving dental practice, the next logical step seems obvious: expand. The ambition that fueled the growth of your first location naturally looks to the horizon for a sec.
The Million-Dollar Mistake: Why Waiting Until You're Ready to Sell Could Cost You Your Legacy
The Million-Dollar Mistake: Why Waiting Until You're Ready to Sell Could Cost You Your Legacy For decades, you have been a pillar of your community, a trusted caregiver for generations, and the lea.
Navigating the Great Squeeze: 5 Critical Insights from the 2025 ADA Dentist Workforce Report
The new ADA Health Policy Institute's 2025 Dentist Workforce Report confirms what many of us are feeling on the ground: ownership is later, consolidation is up, and margins are getting squeezed. Headl.