Associate Dentist to Owner Podcast

📋 Free Download: Practice Evaluation Checklist https://practiceown.com/pdfWhat is the best location to buy a dental practice? I compare dentist competition, dental visits, and hygienist pay across the country, then look inside two practices in the same city with very different ownership outcomes. I explain why a seller's financial statements can miss the most important part of an acquisition. If you're deciding where to buy, this episode will help you understand what to evaluate before you commit.What we cover: - Alabama has about 2,424 residents per dentist, compared with 1,236 in Massachusetts. - Only about 58% of Alabama adults reported a dental visit in the past year. - Hygienist pay averages roughly $63 an hour in Washington versus $29 in Alabama. - Higher payroll can coexist with higher fees and insurance reimbursement. - State averages hide substantial differences between cities in the same state. - Median annual collections per patient in my practice evaluation data are $894. - In the 800-patient practice, collections per patient fell from $1,700 to $950 after the sale. - Collections fell from $1.36 million to $760,000, while many operating costs stayed fixed. - Practice loan repayment left that buyer with about $51,000 in first-year income. - The 3,300-patient practice supported nearly $800,000 in first-year buyer income after practice loan repayment. - Clinical due diligence helps determine whether you can sustain the seller's collections.💼 Work with me: I help dentists evaluate dental practices before they buy. Every practice I evaluate gets compared against my database of 500+ evaluations. https://practiceown.com📬 Questions? Reach out directly: [email protected]:00 Where Should You Buy A Dental Practice?1:02 Dentist Competition And Dental Visits3:46 Hygienist Pay And Local Expenses6:15 City, Suburb, Or Rural?8:15 Patients And Treatment Planning10:44 Collections Per Patient14:35 Cash Flow And Practice Loans18:28 A Different Practice In The Same City

📋 Free Download: Practice Evaluation Checklist https://practiceown.com/pdfA dentist I worked with made $1.1 million in his first year as a practice owner, at an office his CPA and ChatGPT both told him not to buy. In this episode I go through the actual numbers for that practice (adjusted by about 10% and renamed to keep it confidential), give the same documents to ChatGPT to see what it says, and then walk through the report I put together for him and exactly why I told him to strongly consider it.What we cover: - The profit and loss statement: $1.2 million in collections, $1.1 million in expenses, and only $118,000 of net operating income - After add-backs the seller was taking home roughly $175,000 to $200,000, about what an average associate makes - The one number on the production report that a CPA, a bank and AI all glide past: 4,384 adult cleanings in a year - What ChatGPT said when I gave it the same three documents: do not buy at the $936,000 asking price, and expect about $56,000 a year after the loan payment - Why its six red flags (payroll, rent, revenue drifting down, five new patients a month, almost no perio, "dependent on restorative") do not hold up - How I estimate active patients: about 800 per full-time hygienist, and cleanings counted at a nine month interval, which put this office at roughly 3,000 patients - Past 2,200 to 2,400 patients you are in group practice territory, and this was one older doctor doing three hygiene checks an hour - The seller collected $405 per patient per year against a median of $916 across the 500+ practices I have evaluated - 47% of production came from hygiene, the 89th percentile, which means the dentist was producing only about $200 per patient - Crowns 32% below average, fillings 45% below, zero endo, one implant and 45 extractions on 3,000 patients - My cash flow model for the buyer: $115,000 conservative, about $700,000 moderate, $1.3 million strong. He landed at $1.1 million after debt service - Why cutting expenses was the worst advice he got, and why a $134,000 a year loan payment works like a retirement contribution💼 Work with me: I help dentists evaluate dental practices before they buy. Every practice I evaluate gets compared against my database of 500+ evaluations. https://practiceown.com📬 Questions? Reach out directly: [email protected]:00 The Practice His CPA And ChatGPT Said Not To Buy2:20 The Documents You Need To Evaluate A Practice4:26 The Profit And Loss Statement And Production Report8:35 Asking ChatGPT If I Should Buy This Practice11:39 ChatGPT's Six Red Flags15:07 My Evaluation Report And The Real Patient Count21:17 Collections Per Patient And Production Analysis28:36 Cash Flow Modeling And What He Actually Made

📋 Free Download: Practice Evaluation Checklist https://practiceown.com/pdfA dentist recently reached out to me after signing a letter of intent on a practice they were no longer sure about. They were worried they were locked in. In this episode I read through a sample dental practice letter of intent section by section and explain what it actually commits you to, what you can walk away from, and the one section most buyers skip that really is binding.What we cover: - Why the LOI is not the purchase contract: the asset purchase agreement comes later - What a letter of intent is really for: putting your terms in front of the seller before due diligence starts - Attorneys will draft your LOI, but most will not tell you what to offer or what the practice is worth - Purchase price allocations: why you want more in equipment and the seller wants more in goodwill - Most dental deals are asset purchases, and accounts receivable is always up for negotiation - The earnest money deposit is falling out of favor, and why brokers are quietly discouraging it - If you gave no deposit, you can usually walk away at any point with no consequence - The lease contingency, and the deals I have watched die because the landlord said no - Why the 30 to 60 day due diligence window only really matters if you gave a deposit - Exclusivity, confidentiality and ordinary course: the provisions that stay binding even after you back out - Everyone in the process gets paid when you close, so nobody else is going to tell you to walk away - Overpay by $200,000 and you may not be able to sell your way back out💼 Work with me: I help dentists evaluate dental practices before they buy. Every practice I evaluate gets compared against my database of 500+ evaluations. https://practiceown.com📬 Questions? Reach out directly: [email protected]:00 A Dentist Who Wanted To Back Out0:53 What A Letter Of Intent Actually Is2:33 Due Diligence And Going In Person3:24 Purchase Price And Allocations4:30 The Earnest Money Deposit6:06 Lease, Due Diligence Window And Closing Conditions8:35 The Provisions That Are Still Binding10:07 Why Everyone Wants You To Close

📋 Free Download: Practice Evaluation Checklist https://practiceown.com/pdfIf you are a dentist thinking about buying a practice, you have heard most of these. Some come from the people who employ you, some from other dentists, and some you tell yourself. In this episode I go through the seven lies I hear most often about becoming a practice owner and explain what is actually true, using what I see every week evaluating practices for buyers.What we cover: - Why being an owner is not automatically better than being an associate, and when it is worse - A startup gaining 200 patients a year and losing 50 takes about 10 years to reach the 1,500 patients a profitable practice needs - The failed startups that show up on the market two or three years later, and why buyers should walk past them - I bought my practice one year out of school and made about $700,000 my first year, mistakes included - Why the bank looks at your $100 monthly student loan payment and not the $800,000 balance - The $50,000 to $100,000 cushion banks want to see, and why you can start looking before you have it - Two practices that both collect $1,000,000 and both profit $500,000, and why one is far easier to buy - $500 per patient versus $2,000 per patient, and what that means for every hygiene visit - How AI nearly cost me $15,000 on my own taxes, and why I would not let it evaluate a practice - Why a $2,000 fee-for-service crown instead of a $750 in-network crown only works if the patients stay for you - Why the hygienists are the most important people in the office you are buying, and how many you want - What ownership has meant for the dentists I know, including one who passed $1,000,000 in his first year💼 Work with me: I help dentists evaluate dental practices before they buy. Every practice I evaluate gets compared against my database of 500+ evaluations. https://practiceown.com📬 Questions? Reach out directly: [email protected]:00 Seven Lies About Becoming An Owner0:23 Is Ownership Better Than Being An Associate?2:15 Should You Just Do A Startup?7:46 Do You Need More Experience First?10:35 Student Loans, Savings, And What The Bank Checks15:00 The Most Profitable Practice You Can Find20:12 Is Fee For Service The Best Practice To Buy?26:11 Are The Patients Yours Once You Buy?

📋 Free Download: Practice Evaluation Checklist https://practiceown.com/pdfWas becoming a dentist worth it? If you had asked me during my first year out of dental school, my honest answer would have been no. In this episode I tell the whole story: why I chose dentistry over accounting, what associate life was really like, the practice I bought that turned out to be a serious mistake, and how ownership completely changed my answer. If you are not yet a dentist, this is the story I wish I had heard before dental school. If you already are one, it might change what you do next.What we cover: - The three criteria I judged every career on: lifestyle, pay, and a realistic path to ownership - Why I dropped accounting for dentistry after one microeconomics class - The associate job that moved me to a pediatric Medicaid office I never signed up for, with 5:30 a.m. starts nobody would fix - Two friends, one startup and one acquisition, and how different they looked one year in - The practice that collected about $1 million the year before I bought it for about $300,000 - The $300 crowns that revealed I had bought an office running on HMO plans - Dropping the HMO plans on day one, losing 80% of the patients, and laying off half the staff - Making about $700,000 my first year as an owner, more than triple my associate pay - Selling that practice for more than double what I paid for it - The client who collected over $2 million his first year of ownership and kept about half as profit💼 Work with me: I help dentists evaluate dental practices before they buy. Every practice I evaluate gets compared against my database of 500+ evaluations. https://practiceown.com📬 Questions? Reach out directly: [email protected]:00 The Story I Wish I'd Heard Before Dental School0:47 Choosing A Career At 195:28 The Associate Years8:20 Finding My First Practice12:51 My First Day As An Owner15:34 The Turnaround18:38 How This Turned Into A Business20:54 The Verdict