Reviewed by Erik Newton, Esq., on October 18, 2026.
Ask a broker, a buyer and a seller what a Florida dental practice is worth and you will often get three different numbers, each offered in good faith. The gap is rarely an arithmetic error. It comes from what each side counts as earnings, which buyer is doing the counting and how the price will be paid.
This guide is for owners thinking about a sale and for dentists sizing up a purchase.
How dental practices are valued
There is no formula that turns collections into a price. Buyers are not buying revenue; they are buying the risk-adjusted future of that revenue, which is why two practices with identical collections can sell for very different amounts.
Most valuations start from EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and adjust it. Owner compensation is normalized to what it would cost to replace the owner’s clinical production at a market rate, personal expenses run through the practice are removed and one-time items are taken out. The result, adjusted EBITDA, is the number a multiple is applied to. Each adjustment, or add-back, is a claim the seller has to document: documentation survives diligence, narrative does not. Our article on adjusted EBITDA and add-backs covers which add-backs buyers accept.
The multiple depends mostly on who is buying. As a general pattern in single-location dental sales, buyers underwriting growth (typically DSOs) price in a band of roughly 6x to 8x adjusted EBITDA, moderate buyers 5x to 7x and conservative private buyers 4x to 6x, with larger and multi-location practices trading above these bands. Quality of earnings moves a practice within a band; buyer type selects the band.
Behind the multiple, buyers read the records: financial statements and tax returns, cash flow, trends in revenue, operating costs and net profit, accounts receivable, existing liabilities and any contingency that could affect future earnings.
What raises or lowers value in a Florida practice
Financial performance. A history of consistent collections outweighs a projection of growth. Tax returns, internal statements and the broker’s package should tell the same story; when they do not, buyers take the least favorable number.
The patient base. Loyalty, volume, retention and demographic profile signal future revenue. The buyer’s question is whether patients will stay once the owner leaves.
Equipment and facility. Up-to-date, well-maintained equipment and technology add value and reduce the buyer’s immediate reinvestment. Buyers also check the X-ray equipment. The buyer registers each dental X-ray machine with the Department of Health within 30 days of acquiring it and before using it, and the seller reports the transfer within 15 days (s. 404.22, Fla. Stat.; F.A.C. 64E-5.511).
People. Stable staff, a deep hygiene program and associates under written agreements support value. Key staff who stay after closing make the transition smoother, and employment and retention agreements help keep them.
Contracts, licenses and compliance. The lease (its remaining term and whether it can be assigned), supplier, insurance and employment contracts, licenses, and any unresolved dispute or hidden liability all feed into the number.
Florida law adds three more:
- Who can buy. Florida allows only a licensed dentist, or a professional corporation or limited liability company composed of dentists, to own and operate a dental practice (s. 466.0285, Fla. Stat., as of October 2026). A non-dentist can own a company that provides non-clinical support services under a management services agreement, but the practice itself stays under a dentist’s control. That rule shapes the buyer pool and how a DSO offer is built.
- The seller’s covenant. Buyers pay for goodwill, and the seller’s non-compete helps protect it. When a dentist sells a practice, Florida presumes a restriction of 3 years or less reasonable and more than 7 years unreasonable (s. 542.335(1)(d)3, Fla. Stat.). The area and scope still need to fit the practice.
- Occupancy cost. Rent for commercial real property is no longer subject to Florida sales tax or local surtax for rental periods beginning October 1, 2025 (Department of Revenue TIP 25A01-04, July 24, 2025), which changes the occupancy-cost line in a deal model built on older leases.
If you want a grounded read on your practice’s value before a buyer gives you theirs, schedule a confidential consultation.
Who prepares a valuation
The broker. A broker’s opinion of value is built to attract offers. It is a marketing number, not a diligence-tested one, and buyers do not negotiate against it.
An accountant or valuation professional. A formal valuation from a CPA or an independent valuation professional gives the seller a defensible baseline before going to market. A formal valuation is worth considering before going to market, when a partner or family member is buying, or when the lender asks for one; lenders set their own requirements, so ask early.
The buyer. DSOs and experienced buyers run their own models, with finance teams that review these deals regularly. A dentist sells a practice once or twice in a career.
Counsel. Valuation looks like an accounting exercise, but its consequences are legal: the adjusted EBITDA becomes the purchase price, the price becomes the agreement, and the agreement allocates every risk the valuation argued about. We review the numbers for what diligence will challenge, push back on unjustified discounts and set the LOI terms that protect the value.
How deal structure changes the number
Two offers with the same headline price can differ widely in what the seller keeps, because structure is value.
- Cash or rollover equity. Part of the price paid in buyer equity is a different asset from cash: less liquid, dependent on someone else’s performance and governed by terms many sellers never fully read.
- Earn-outs. Payment tied to future performance shifts risk back to the seller, often under conditions the seller no longer controls. See structuring earn-outs in dental practice sales.
- Seller financing. A note means part of the seller’s payout depends on the buyer’s success.
- Employment terms. A price that requires years of post-closing employment at below-market pay is, in part, not a price.
- Allocation and tax. Florida has no personal income tax, but a practice organized as a C corporation pays Florida corporate income tax of 5.5% on net income above a $50,000 exemption (ss. 220.11, 220.1105 and 220.14, Fla. Stat., as of October 2026). Equipment sold as part of the sale of the whole business is usually exempt from sales tax as an occasional or isolated sale, but that exemption does not cover inventory or titled property, such as vehicles (F.A.C. 12A-1.037, as of October 2026). Inventory the buyer will resell, such as retail products, can pass without tax under the separate resale exemption when the buyer is a registered dealer and the sale is documented, usually with the buyer’s Annual Resale Certificate; supplies the practice will use up do not qualify (F.A.C. 12A-1.039, as of October 2026). Goodwill a buyer acquires is amortized over 15 years (26 U.S.C. § 197), so the purchase-price allocation matters to both sides.
The number also moves during the deal. The pre-LOI valuation is the optimistic one, diligence produces the tested one, and buyer pushback produces the final one. The comparison that counts is net proceeds: what arrives after debt payoff, taxes, transaction costs, escrows and structure. That figure can be modeled before signing.
Preparing before you go to market
Clean records are built over time and cannot be produced after the fact, which is why we suggest starting twelve to twenty-four months before a sale. In that window:
- Normalize owner compensation to a market rate
- Take personal expenses out of the practice, and give any family member on payroll a defined role
- Document every add-back you intend to claim, with support attached
- Keep tax returns, internal statements and any broker package consistent
- Set rent at market if you own the building, since buyers normalize occupancy cost
- Put associate agreements and compliance policies in writing, and deal with a short remaining lease term
Before the first LOI, get a grounded valuation rather than an aspirational one. Our webinar on the pre-LOI mistakes that cost sellers the most explains why most of a sale’s value is won or lost before buyers engage.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an average dental practice sell for?
There is no reliable average, because price follows adjusted EBITDA, the buyer’s multiple and the deal structure rather than collections alone. Two practices with the same revenue can sell for very different amounts.
How is a dental practice valued?
Most buyers start with EBITDA, adjust it for owner compensation, personal expenses and one-time items, and apply a multiple to the adjusted figure. The multiple reflects the buyer type and the quality of earnings. The patient base, equipment, staff, lease and compliance record then move the number up or down, and the deal structure decides how much of it the seller keeps.
Get a grounded number
If you are weighing a sale and want a grounded read on your practice’s value, or an LOI reviewed before you sign it, conversations are confidential. Schedule a confidential consultation.
The webinar deck, Understanding Dental Practice Valuations, is available as a PDF download.
Related reading
- Understanding Dental Practice Valuations: EBITDA, Add-Backs, and What Buyers Actually Pay
- Adjusted EBITDA and Add-Backs: The Quiet Negotiation That Sets Your Practice Value Before Anyone Sends an Offer
- Selling Your Dental Practice: The Pre-LOI Mistakes That Cost Sellers the Most
- How to Structure Earn-Out Agreements in Dental Practice Sales
- Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions Attorney in Florida
Practice area: Dental Practice Sale and Acquisition Attorney in Florida
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it.