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Last year, we had a practice for sale in a good suburban area of Brisbane. The principal dentist/vendor was in his mid-60s and had been practicing in the same spot for 30 years. The practice’s aesthetic was very functional but needed some reinvestment (both inside and out – let’s say $50k); it was in a great position on a busy street, surrounded by busy retail businesses. The principal was willing to contractually commit to working part time post sale and had a solid history of producing approx. $750k p.a., working 4 days per week (no extended hours), offering limited clinical choices with average fee levels, no website and $0 spent on advertising.

A practice or real estate sale is usually a high-stakes transaction involving hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars changing hands. Quite often, the buyer and seller will base the price paid for a practice on an appraisal or valuation that has been done by an accountant.

"The business of dentistry has proven to be extremely resilient in the face of maximum uncertainty, a place the public sees as worthy of their discretionary money. For that reason, practitioners are recognising that a dental clinic is a fantastic business to own."

It was great to be interviewed by Dental Head Start about how to find and succeed in your first practice. We spoke about the common pitfalls that buyers and new owners can find themselves in and how to avoid them. 

When a practice owner is looking to sell their practice, they will often put off telling their staff about the sale for as long as possible.  There are many reasons for this. Sometimes (often) they won’t want to tell the staff at all until after a deal has been locked in with a buyer.

"I wanted to structure my business so that I had some free time and could get away. Somehow, I convinced myself that the way to get this free time was to grow the practice, but every time I grew the practice, I had bigger overheads that needed to be covered and the business of dentistry relied on me more than before."

Once a dentist has decided that they want to be their own boss and own a dental practice, the next question that they face is “should I buy an existing practice or set one up from scratch?”

In October 2019, a bottle of The Macallan Fine and Rare whisky sold at auction for $US1.9 million, becoming the most expensive bottle of wine or spirit ever auctioned. This whisky was bottled in 1986, after maturing for six decades in European Oak at Macallan's distillery near the River Spey in Scotland. The cask this bottle was from has produced six record-setting bottles, beginning in 1986 when the first one was sold in New York and won the Guinness World Record at the time for "The World's Most Expensive Spirit".

So, you’ve decided to sell your practice and after years of blood, sweat and tears, doing whatever’s necessary to build it into the success it has become, you want to make sure you get top dollar for it.

As a child, I remember my paediatrician worked till his mid-80s; he had a walking stick, he was half asleep during consultations, no mother wanted to bring her child there. I knew I didn’t want to stay too long like him, but my partner in the practice was 9 years older than me and I always thought I would stay on longer than him. Life had other plans for me though.