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Writing on practice finance
Plain explanations of the financial mechanics that actually determine whether a practice is healthy. No jargon for its own sake.
Capital is buying your category. The terms have changed
Multiples compressed, deal structures hardened, and more than fifteen states now sit inside the closing process, what that means for owner-operators in all five verticals.
Read →Why your practice is profitable on paper but short on cash
Why a busy, well-run practice can show healthy profit and still feel financially tight, and the handful of numbers that explain the gap.
Read →The few numbers that actually drive practice profitability
Practice finances feel impossibly complicated. Underneath, profitability comes down to four levers, and knowing which is which changes everything.
Read →The dental CEO library
Twelve pieces on the economics of owning a dental practice, margin, owner time, capital, expansion and exit. Each one ends with a diagnostic you can run yourself.
The Busy Dentist’s Paradox
A full schedule is one of the most reassuring signals in dentistry, and one of the least reliable measures of economic health.…
DentalThe Most Expensive Employee May Be the Dentist
Dental owners analyze employees constantly: production, utilization, compensation, overtime, retention, and staffing ratios.…
DentalThe Second Location Is a Management Test
A second dental location is often described as a growth opportunity. Financially, it is also a test of whether the first practice has become an organization.…
DentalThe Real Reason Dental Practices Struggle With Profitability
Profitability problems rarely come from one dramatic mistake.…
DentalWhy Dentists Buy Equipment They Don’t Need
Dental equipment is unusually persuasive because it is tangible. It looks like progress.…
DentalWhy Younger Dentists Are Delaying Ownership
The story that younger dentists simply do not want to own practices is too simple.…
DentalThe Dental Practice Is Becoming a Capital-Intensive Business
Modern dentistry requires more than clinical skill.…
DentalAI Won’t Fix a Broken Dental Practice
AI is moving quickly into dentistry, but the most valuable near-term use cases may be less glamorous than the headlines suggest.…
DentalThe DSO Premium: Is the Higher Multiple Actually Worth It?
A DSO offer can appear irresistible when its headline valuation exceeds the value a dentist expected from a traditional buyer.…
DentalWhy Dentists Should Plan the Sale Before They Need the Sale
The best time to prepare a dental practice for sale is rarely when the dentist has already decided to sell.…
Where the numbers come from
Figures cited across this library are drawn from the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute’s Survey of Dental Practice, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and published research on private-equity affiliation in dentistry.
Three of them do most of the work. ADA HPI reports average net income of $215,320 for general dentists in private practice in 2025, against average gross billings of $965,660. Over a five-year comparison, practice revenue rose 1.4% while expenses rose 4.9%, the squeeze behind falling inflation-adjusted incomes. And the share of dentists and dental practices affiliated with private equity nearly doubled between 2015 and 2021.
Where an article makes a claim about your practice specifically rather than the profession, it is a framework for you to test against your own numbers, not a benchmark.
General information for practice owners, not accounting, tax, legal, valuation or investment advice for your situation. MedPraxis CFO is not a CPA firm, a registered investment adviser, or a business broker. Talk to your own CPA, attorney or adviser before acting on anything here.