30
BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW // VOL. 2022 NO. 2
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
ADVERTISINGINDEX
Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses
Dental Monitoring. dental-monitoring.com (pg. 3)
Heartland Dental. heartland.com/careers / heartland.com/affiliations (pgs. 10-13)
Podium. podium.com/dental (pg. 2)
away from their practice because of
the [COVID-19] restrictions and loss of
business without even trying to sell their
practice. Many, if not most, of the recent
dental graduates owe at least $200,000
or more in student loans and can't afford
to buy or open their own practice. They
feel comfortable working for a DSO,
in my opinion (as a dental mercenary).
They can work or transfer from one DSO
or another without any restrictions. Even-
tually they will lack the skills of adminis-
trating, finance and marketing in order
to either buy or open their own practice.
They will end up with a false sense of se-
curity by working for these DSOs. Even
when they finally pay off their loans, they
will not have built up any equity or expe-
rience by not having their own practice.
At that time, most will be unprepared to
seek their own practice and will become
too dependent by working for a DSO.
Looking to the future, there are many
more dental schools opening up, and
hopefully some of these graduates will
learn from the results of those working
for a DSO that they will have the incen-
tive to buy or open their own practice.
In the next five to seven years, if there
is no change in the outlook or incentive
to buy or open your own practice, there
will be about 35 percent of solo practi-
tioners left. I advise all solo practitioners
that are left to avoid private equity firms
attempting to buy your practice and you
will lose out on any equity, goodwill and
independence that have developed
over the years. n
Image Credit: Adobe Stock
