Buying and Financing A Dental Practice: What You Need to Know

Purchasing an established practice is a great way to hit the ground running. However, it's smart to enlist the help of a firm that understands the details involved.

Though ultimately rewarding, establishing a dental practice from scratch takes time and effort. It may also take patience. Faced with an opportunity to purchase an existing practice, it's no surprise that many dentists decide this is a better option. The ability to turn a key and walk into your own functioning practice, with an established patient base and a full hygiene schedule, means you'll hit the ground running without any worries about how long it might take to become financially sound.

However, there are some important factors to consider. First, financing the purchase of a dental practice is a unique situation. Your local bank may not understand the value of purchasing not only the physical assets of the practice, but also the patient base. In addition, some sellers of long-established practices may have delayed upgrading a worn chair or investing in new technologies, leaving that to the eventual buyer. Finally, the selling doctor may insist on unique financial terms like a payment schedule, or a portion of profits for a given period of time, or perhaps a salary to stay on as a consultant during the transition.

Luckily, there are lenders who understand the complexities of purchasing a dental practice and are dedicated to helping their clients through the process. For instance: how do you know if the practice is really as profitable as it might appear? Are expenses in check? Are their untapped opportunities to improve profitability after the sale? All of those factors can impact the viability of the practice as well as the final terms of sale and, ultimately, the price.

Clarion Financial, one of the few firms that specialized 100% in dental financing, has a network of partners that can help purchasers analyze the practice's profitability and potential, negotiate the terms of sale, make necessary improvements and upgrades, and even refine the practice's systems and marketing after the sale.

"Clarion Financial has the products and solutions to assist dental professionals in each stage of their practice needs," said Todd Bowe, the company's Director of Finance. "Through our products, our customers see us as a partner within their dental practice." That's important, he says, because traditional lending sources often simply hand you a check and wish you luck. Lenders like Clarion Financial, by contrast, become invested in your success.

That's good news for dentists who want to step confidently into the purchase of an existing practice. With the right lender, you can get the advice you need, along with the ability to immediately make the practice state-of-the-art by equipping it with technologies that patients demand. Perhaps most importantly, a lender like Clarion Financial will offer the dental practice financing required to make the practice uniquely yours. That means being able to live your own dream instead of merely buying someone else's.