Sell Your Dental Practice in California

Dentist buyers still talk in percentages of collections. Groups and their lenders talk in multiples of EBITDA. If you only know one language, you will only understand half of your offers.

A private dentist buying a solo practice usually looks at collections, patient count, hygiene schedule and the cost of the space. Price often lands as a share of a year's collections, adjusted for how profitable and how transferable the practice is.

A DSO or private-equity-backed group starts from EBITDA: profit after paying a market wage to the dentist who does the clinical work, including you if you stay. Then it applies a multiple that grows with size. FOCUS Investment Banking reports roughly 5–7x for practices with under $1 million of EBITDA, rising to 10–12x above $5 million.

That gap is why the same practice can draw offers that are far apart. The work before going to market is to build an honest, documented EBITDA that a group's analysts will accept, so the multiple applies to the right number.

Younger dentists are joining groups faster than older ones did. More than one in four dentists within ten years of graduation was DSO-affiliated in 2024. That changes who will be buying your practice. Fewer young dentists want to take on a solo practice and its loan, and more groups want to buy into regions like Los Angeles and the Bay Area where they are still underweight.

For a seller, the practical answer is not to pick a side in advance. It is to let both kinds of buyer see the practice and make their best offer.

Group offers are rarely paid all in cash at closing. The structure can matter as much as the multiple.

Rollover equity. Many DSOs pay part of the price in shares of the group. That stake can be worth a lot in a later sale of the platform, or very little. Its value depends on the group's debt, the terms of your shares and when the sponsor plans to sell. Treat it as an investment you are making, not as cash.

Earnouts and seller notes. Part of the price may depend on future collections or EBITDA, or be paid over time. Define how performance is measured, who controls scheduling and fees, and what happens if the group changes how the office runs.

Your employment agreement. Expect to keep practicing for two to five years. Pay, schedule, clinical autonomy and what happens if you leave early all belong in the negotiation, not in a document you see at closing.

Sources: FOCUS Investment Banking, 2025 Dental Transactions Update (100% cash deals described as rare); industry guidance on post-closing terms.

A dental practice sale in California is a regulated transfer. The rules decide who can own the practice, what the buyer must file, and how patients and records move.

Only dentists can own the practice. Under Business and Professions Code §1625(e), owning or managing a place where dentistry is performed counts as practicing dentistry. Dental corporations follow §1800 and the Moscone-Knox Act, and shareholders are limited to dentists and certain other licensees. Outside investors cannot simply buy the practice.

How DSOs fit. Groups usually buy the non-clinical assets through a management services organization (MSO), which signs a services agreement with a dentist-owned practice. Since January 1, 2026, SB 351 bars private equity firms and hedge funds involved with a practice from interfering with clinical decisions, patient records, coding and billing. It also bars clauses that stop providers from competing after they leave or from criticizing the practice, with an exception for non-competes tied to the sale of a practice. Structures signed under older rules may need review.

Permits the buyer must get. The Dental Board's Fictitious Name Permit (§1701.5) and Additional Office Permit (§1658) are not transferable. A buyer who will practice under your trade name, or who will own more than one office, needs their own permits. Start early so they do not delay closing.

Patient records. Records move to the buyer so care can continue, and patients keep their right to request copies. Records for Medi-Cal patients must be kept for ten years under Welfare and Institutions Code §14124.1. Most sales use a letter to patients, ideally signed by both dentists, before or at the handover.

Medi-Cal Dental exposure. Proposition 56 supplemental payments make up about a third of Medi-Cal Dental funding. A planned cut has been delayed to July 1, 2027, not cancelled. Buyers will price that risk if Medi-Cal is a large share of your collections.

Your own non-compete. California voids most non-competes, but §16601 allows one when you sell your practice and its goodwill. Expect the buyer to ask for one, with a non-solicit of patients and staff.

Sources: Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§1625, 1658, 1701.5, 1800, 16601; Dental Board of California permit pages; SB 351 (2025), via Sidley Austin and CDA; Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code §14124.1; ADA News (Oct. 2026) on Proposition 56.