How Much Is My Dental Practice Worth?
A dental practice’s value depends on sustainable cash flow, transferable goodwill, buyer financing, and transaction terms. Collections alone cannot establish the price. Use the scenarios below to organize questions, then obtain an assessment grounded in your records and market.
Dental Practice Value Estimator
Explore how two illustrative methods respond to your assumptions.
Your practice's total annual collections (not production).
Owner benefit before owner-dentist pay, as a percentage of collections (0–100%). The default 40% is an example, not a market benchmark or adjusted EBITDA.
Enter positive annual collections and a margin from 0 to 100% to explore a scenario.
See the assumptions and calculation
For general dentistry, this teaching model applies 60–85% of collections and 2.5–4 times owner benefit. The combined range averages the two low endpoints and the two high endpoints equally. These assumptions are not current sales comparables.
Owner benefit and adjusted EBITDA are different measures. An earnings analysis for an institutional buyer must account for appropriate clinician compensation and other adjustments. This calculator does not model debt, real estate, taxes, transaction costs or contingent payments.
This is a broad educational estimate, not an appraisal. Real practice value depends on profitability, patient base, payer mix, location, lease, equipment, and team — factors a rule of thumb can't capture. Use it as a starting point, then get a defensible number from a professional Opinion of Value.
You may have heard rules of thumb — a percentage of annual collections, or a multiple of earnings. These shortcuts exist because they are easy, not because they are accurate. Two practices with the same collections can be worth very different amounts once profitability, patient retention, payer mix, staffing, and facility condition enter the picture.
A credible answer starts with your practice's true cash flow and weighs the factors below — the same ones a serious buyer, a lender, or a DSO acquisition team will scrutinize.
The same collections can produce different answers
Consider two hypothetical general practices, each collecting $1 million per year. At a 40% owner-benefit margin, owner benefit is $400,000. At 20%, it is $200,000. Collections are identical; the earnings input is not. These are teaching examples, not transactions or typical margins.
Using the calculator's stated assumptions, the collections method gives $600,000–$850,000 in both cases. The owner-benefit method gives $1 million–$1.6 million in the first case and $500,000–$800,000 in the second. Averaging those methods is simply this tool's educational convention; a professional valuation weighs the evidence for the specific practice.
Which earnings figure are you comparing?
Collections are money received by the practice. Owner benefit includes earnings available to an owner before paying that owner for clinical work. Adjusted EBITDA for a buyer uses a different earnings definition, including appropriate clinician compensation. Ask your advisor to reconcile the financial statements and explain each adjustment before comparing offers or multiples.
What to bring to a valuation conversation
- Recent financial statements, tax returns, production and collections reports.
- Owner and associate compensation, recurring expenses, and proposed adjustments.
- Patient activity, payer mix, staffing, equipment and lease information.
- Your intended transition, timeline and any buyer proposal already received.
Start with PTI's Opinion of Value scope, meet Dr. Michael Njo, or read the American Dental Association's guide to a successful sale. A formal appraisal may be needed when a lender, court or another relying party requires one.
What Drives Dental Practice Value
The factors a professional valuation examines — and a buyer will too
True cash flow
Not just top-line collections — buyers and lenders look at what the practice actually earns after real overhead.
Collections history and trend
Stable or growing collections over multiple years support stronger valuations than a single good year.
Patient base and retention
Active patient count, new-patient flow, recall effectiveness, and payer mix all shape what a buyer is purchasing.
Location and facility
Demographics, competition, visibility, and the strength of your lease or real estate position.
Equipment and technology
Modern, well-maintained operatories add value; deferred upgrades become negotiating points against you.
Team and goodwill
An experienced team that stays through the transition, and a brand patients trust, carry real transferable value.
How a Professional Valuation Works
Income approach
Values the practice on the earnings it reliably produces — the lens most buyers and lenders lead with.
Market approach
Compares your practice against actual sales of similar practices, adjusted for your market and mix.
Asset approach
Accounts for equipment, technology, and tangible assets — a floor, not the whole story, for a going practice.
PTI's Opinion of Value blends these approaches into a clear, defensible assessment you can use for planning, a sale, a partner buy-in, or to pressure-test a DSO offer.
Get a Number You Can Actually Rely On
Start with a confidential conversation about your practice and your timeline — no obligation to sell.
Request an Opinion of ValueFrequently Asked Questions
Preparing for a Sale?
If a transition is on your horizon, our free Practice Sale Readiness Checklist walks through the records, operations, and timing questions to address before going to market.
Get the Checklist