Are you thinking of buying a dental practice but don’t know where to start from?

Starting or acquiring a dental practice of your own is one of the most important decisions you have to make as a dentist. It involves a number of steps that need to be followed sequentially in order to turn your dreams into a living reality. You need to be careful while making a decision, as the repercussions of the process turning into a mishap will have a deleterious impact on your dental future, both professionally and personally.

A successful dental transition includes detailed evaluation, consultations and continuous communication between you, your dental broker and everyone associated with the process. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind during the process of buying a dental practice.

1) Practice Information, Finance & Reports: Before buying a dental practice, you need to check how your expenditure will affect your affordability. You need to be clear about various dental practice variables such as your financial forecasts, preferred location, hidden costs within the purchase and so on. Get in touch with a dental practice finance source and get “pre-approved” for a loan to save yourself from any last minute hassles.

2) Consult Dental Practice Transition Experts: Once you are ready to buy a dental practice, you must consult a dental practice transition expert to help you match a dental practice that meets your needs. For this, you need to evaluate about what type dentistry you do or what you’d like to do. According to your preferences, ask your practice experts to provide you with a vast network of practices to choose from.

3) Dental Practice Visits: Once you have reviewed all the potential dental practices that match with your requirements, the next step is to contact all the owners to arrange a visit. This visit is when you get an opportunity to evaluate the location, equipment, patients, working hours, etc. In your visit, make sure you clear all your doubts regarding the sale or anything related to the dental practice with the seller. If you feel the practice is a good fit for you, make an offer to purchase the practice.

4) Dental Practice Management: After purchasing the dental practice, review the dental practice management reports and data to analyze various strengths and weaknesses of the practice. Keep a plan ready to reactivate patients through letters, phone calls, special offers, etc as a new dental practice owner. You can also check out the competitions nearby in terms of hours open, services provided or simply by making some random phone calls as a “mystery patient” to look for new opportunities.

5) Ongoing & Future Expense Management: As an owner of a dental practice, manage your current expenses by increasing operating hours, increasing fees, retaining services that were not previously provided by the seller and so on. You also need to have a firm knowledge of all the overhead expenses related to the dental practice such as rent, dental supplies, staff and other contracts and leases related to the office space.

Buying a dental practice is going to be one of the toughest decisions in your dental career. Your decision making can be made a lot easier with the right team of dental brokers around you. Henry Hemmen & Associates have decades of experience and wealth of knowledge in dental practice valuation and can help you throughout the process of buying a dental practice.

If you are interested in buying a dental but don’t know where to start from, why not contact Henry Hemmen & Associates for a consultation? Reach out to HHA’s team of experienced dental practice brokers at 800-745-1438 for a free consultation.