The 1% Practice Scorecard: What Is Your Dental Practice Actually Worth?
Here is an uncomfortable truth: most dental practice owners cannot tell you what their practice is worth within a million dollars. They get a P&L from an accountant and assume that is the answer. It is not. As dental M&A attorney Brian Colao puts it bluntly on the Bulletproof Dental Practice podcast, “The whole game is EBITDA” — and not knowing yours is, in his words, reckless.
Clinical excellence is the floor. What your practice is worth — and whether it can fund the life you actually want — is the ceiling. Run your number below.
What Is Your Practice Worth?
Why Your Accountant’s Number Is Lying to You
If you are a solo owner who does not pay yourself a market associate wage, your practice looks far more profitable than it is. That phantom profit vanishes the moment a buyer — or reality — prices in the cost of replacing your chair time. Insert a real associate wage (27–32% of production) above the line, and you see your true entrepreneurial profit. Most owners run this exercise once and never look at their business the same way again.
Since COVID, Two Identical Practices Are Not Worth the Same
The “Kelley Blue Book” era of dental valuation is over. As Colao explains, valuation is now organization-specific. Two practices in the same city with the same EBITDA can sell for wildly different numbers — or one may not sell at all. The differentiator buyers scrutinize first is culture and staff turnover. If you are hemorrhaging team members, buyers assume they are inheriting your problem and discount hard.
The Five Levers That Move the Number
- Same-store EBITDA growth — more profit from the practice you already own. The fastest, most reliable lever.
- A team and culture that stays — low turnover directly raises your multiple.
- Documented systems — a practice that runs without you commands a premium; one that depends on you is a job with overhead.
- Pricing and positioning — competing on value, not on insurance write-offs.
- Exit readiness — knowing your number years before you need it, and building the trend line.
Know Your Number. Then Build It.
A great practice was never the goal. It is the resource base that funds a life worth living. Knowing what yours is worth is step one; growing it on your terms is the work. That is exactly what we do inside the Bulletproof Mastermind, break down every week on the podcast, and go deep on at the Bulletproof Summit. The 1% of dentists, who want 100% from life — welcome above the floor.
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