Sell Your Dental Practice in Florida
Florida is one of the most actively pursued dental markets in the country, and the offers coming to practice owners show it. Private equity has closed more deals in dental than in any other healthcare category, and roughly 130 PE-backed dental support organizations are now competing to add practices to their platforms. Many of those buyers are racing to grow ahead of their own sale or recapitalization. That pressure is what produces strong, competitive offers for an owner who's well prepared.
That same pressure is why so many dentists accept the first letter of intent that lands in their inbox without understanding what they are actually signing. A dental sale in Florida is rarely a simple handoff of keys and a patient list. It involves rollover equity, post sale employment terms, a management agreement structured around state ownership law, and a valuation method that can swing your proceeds by hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on how your practice is positioned. TAMBAY Mergers & Acquisitions, led by State-Certified Appraiser Tom Brubaker, prepares an honest opinion of value before your practice ever reaches a buyer, so you walk into those conversations knowing your number and the reasoning behind it.
Why Florida dental practices are in such high demand
The buyer pool for Florida dental practices is deep and getting deeper. Consolidators range from three nationwide platforms supporting more than a thousand offices each down to regional groups completing a handful of add on acquisitions every year, and only about a quarter of the country's dental practices have affiliated with a DSO so far. That leaves a large field of independent practices still in play, and Florida sits high on most acquirers' target lists because of its population growth, favorable tax climate, and steady patient demand.
Timing is working in sellers' favor at the moment. Surveys of dental support organizations show a strong majority planning to increase acquisition activity, while the supply of high quality practices coming to market remains tight. At the same time, the profession is aging toward a wave of retirements, with the average retirement age now approaching seventy and some states reporting that more than four in ten active dentists are already past fifty five. A practice owner who prepares and goes to market while demand outpaces supply is in a far stronger negotiating position than one who waits until that retirement wave crests and seller supply climbs.
What buyers and DSOs evaluate
Dental acquirers underwrite a practice on its earnings, but the number they are buying is normalized EBITDA, your profit after adding back owner compensation and one time expenses and adjusting to a market rate for the dentists who will keep producing. Quality practices have been trading in a range of roughly six to twelve times that figure, while smaller tuck in practices tend to land lower, around three to six times. Where your practice falls inside that spread comes down to a short list of factors buyers examine closely.
Provider concentration sits at the top. A practice that leans heavily on a single producing dentist often carries a discount of ten to twenty percent, because the buyer is absorbing the risk that production walks out the door at closing. Associate driven production, a stable hygiene program, and recurring recall revenue all push the other direction. Buyers also weigh your payer mix and reimbursement exposure, your patient retention, the age and integration of your technology and practice management systems, and whether your office sits inside or near a buyer's existing geographic cluster. Three years of clean profit and loss statements, organized treatment and production reports, and a current year to date picture let a buyer move quickly and confidently, which protects both your price and your timeline.
How Florida ownership law shapes every dental sale
Here is the piece that makes a Florida dental transaction unlike almost any other business sale, and it is the part owners most often misunderstand. Under Florida Statute Chapter 466 and Florida Administrative Code 64B5-17.013, only a licensed Florida dentist, or a professional corporation or LLC composed entirely of licensed dentists, may own a dental practice in the state. A non-dentist, and that includes a private equity firm or a corporate DSO, cannot legally own the clinical practice, employ the dentists, or direct clinical judgment. Crossing that line is a third degree felony, not a paperwork problem.
So when a DSO acquires a Florida practice, it does not buy the practice the way someone buys a plumbing company. Ownership of the clinical entity has to stay with a licensed dentist, a rule the Florida Board of Dentistry enforces under the state's dental practice act, so the deal gets structured in two parts.The clinical entity stays owned by a licensed dentist, often the seller or an affiliated dentist, while a separate management company enters into a Practice Management Agreement to handle the non clinical side: billing, marketing, human resources, accounting, technology, facilities, and compliance. The management fee has to be fair market value and cannot be a share of clinical profits or tied to referrals, because Florida also prohibits fee splitting under the same chapter. The practical effect for you as a seller is that the legal architecture of your exit, who signs what, which entity holds the assets, and how the management agreement is drafted, is as important to your outcome as the headline multiple. TAMBAY structures the transaction with that framework in mind and coordinates with your healthcare counsel so the deal both maximizes value and survives regulatory scrutiny.
What it means to sell your dental practice with TAMBAY
Most dentists sell a practice once. The DSO sitting across the table has done it dozens of times this year alone, with a deal team, a model, and a playbook built to protect their return. Pairing yourself with an advisor who brings the same level of preparation is how you keep that table even. At TAMBAY Mergers & Acquisitions, founder Tom Brubaker handles your engagement personally from the first confidential conversation through closing, and his work as a State-Certified Appraiser (License RD2130) means your valuation is built on a disciplined analysis of your actual financials and risk profile rather than a multiple borrowed from a comp sheet.
​That preparation changes how the negotiation runs. When you know your real number before the market sees your practice, you can read competing letters of intent for what they actually deliver, compare a higher headline multiple against a weaker equity rollover, and weigh a longer employment commitment against stronger cash at close. Tom also brings the recognition of being named the 2025 Business Brokers of Florida Top Dollar Producer, #1 in West Florida, for selling the highest dollar volume of business in the district. You get one principal, working your deal start to finish, whose entire focus is the value of what you built. Dental is one corner of a healthcare market Tom works in year round, and the same valuation discipline applies whether the seller owns a practice, an agency, or a clinic. The medical and healthcare practice sales page shows how TAMBAY Mergers & Acquisitions approaches the whole sector.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are dental practices valued in Florida? Most dental valuations are built on normalized EBITDA, which is your earnings after adding back owner compensation and one-time costs and adjusting clinical compensation to a market rate. Quality practices have been trading in roughly the six to twelve times range, with smaller practices closer to three to six times that. A practice that depends heavily on one producing dentist typically sees a discount, while strong associate and hygiene production support a higher multiple. Tom prepares a state-certified opinion of value so you understand your number and how a buyer will defend or attack it.
Can I sell to a DSO and keep practicing? Usually yes, and most DSO deals are built around it. Sellers commonly take a portion of proceeds as cash at close and roll the remainder into equity in the larger platform, then continue practicing under a multi-year agreement. That retained equity is often called the "second bite of the apple," because it can produce a meaningful additional payout when the DSO itself sells or recapitalizes. The structure of that rollover and the length of your commitment are negotiable, and they deserve as much attention as the cash figure.
Does Florida law let a private equity firm buy my practice outright? Not the clinical practice. Florida restricts dental practice ownership to licensed dentists, so a non-dentist buyer cannot own the practice, employ the dentists, or control clinical decisions. Acquirers work within that rule by keeping the clinical entity under a licensed dentist and using a practice management agreement for the business side. This is standard, legal, and well established, but it makes the deal architecture central to your outcome, which is why experienced structuring matters.
How long does it take to sell a dental practice? A prepared practice with organized financials generally moves from initial positioning to closing in about six to ten months, depending on buyer financing, diligence pace, and how cleanly your records support the asking price. Practices that come to market without three years of clean statements and current production reports tend to stall in diligence, which costs both time and leverage.
Will my staff and patients know before I am ready? No. The entire process is run confidentially. Your practice is marketed to qualified, vetted buyers under non disclosure, and your team, your patients, and your referral sources stay unaware until you decide the timing is right to tell them.
What documents will buyers want in diligence? Plan on three years of profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and tax returns, plus a current year to date P&L, production and collection reports by provider, your payer mix, active patient counts and recall data, staffing and compensation detail, and your lease. Organizing these before you go to market is one of the highest return things you can do for your final price.
Should I use a dental specialist broker or work with TAMBAY? Many dental focused brokers are paid to move volume and route practices to the DSO relationships they already hold, which can quietly narrow your buyer field. TAMBAY runs an open, competitive process and starts from an independent State-Certified valuation, so the goal is the strongest deal for you rather than the most convenient deal for the buyer. You also work directly with Tom throughout, instead of being passed to a junior associate after you sign.
Ready for a confidential conversation?
You spent years building this practice. Before you respond to a DSO offer or sign a letter of intent, have a private, no pressure conversation with Tom Brubaker about your goals, your timing, and what your practice is genuinely worth in today's market. Every conversation is confidential.
Know your number before the market sees your practice. Request a State-Certified opinion of value from TAMBAY Mergers & Acquisitions and walk into any buyer conversation with a clear, defensible understanding of what your dental practice should command.
Tom Brubaker - Managing M&A Broker
2026 All Rights Reserved
13902 N Dale Mabry Hwy #102, Tampa, FL 33618