Are Solo Buyers a Thing of the Past?
Not so Fast….
- Karl Frye - Principal Broker - Frye Practice Sales
480-599-6958 / www.fryepracticesales.com
With so much focus on the DSO industry reshaping the landscape of dentistry, it’s no wonder that potential sellers worry there may not be enough solo dentists looking to buy practices.
As a dental practice broker, I find the truth is much more nuanced than the DSO industry would have you believe and that the solo prospects are, in fact, plentiful.
While the DSO industry has done a remarkably good job of convincing practice owners that private practice is fading due to management difficulties, high operating costs, and inefficiencies, the substantial funding behind this advertising/marketing campaign has overstated one aspect of the full picture. In reality, DSO growth has cooled due to higher borrowing costs (higher interest rates), some DSO failures, and many unhappy DSO sellers. According to the latest ADA figures 16% of practices are affiliated with a DSO, some states for example come in lower than that with both the Northeastern Seaboard (MD, DE, NJ, CT, RI, NY, MA) and the West Coast (CA, OR, WA) both averaging @13% of dentist being affiliated; whereas NV, AZ, TX, FL, WY, GA, & OK are averaging @25% of dentists being affiliated with DSOs.
At the other end of the spectrum, DSOs have successfully persuaded dental school students that their future lies in corporate dentistry. But after several years of this trend, these young dentists have realized that they can earn much more money owning their own practice. The pattern has become a new trend of working for a DSO for several years as a new dentist, then buying your own practice. This is really no different from the past, where dentists worked for a group private practice before purchasing their own.
Here’s what the numbers reveal about evolving buyer-pool trends, according to the latest analysis from the ADA’s The U.S. Dentist Workforce - 2025 Update:
- Dental school enrollment is up. First-year enrollment was 7,013 in 2024, up from 6,708 the prior year.
- The supply of dentists is projected to increase through 2040, driven in part by the opening of new dental schools. In 2024, there was a record number of dental school graduates. Over the last two decades, the number of graduates has increased by 58%.
- Since 2001, 21 new dental schools have opened in the U.S., bringing the total to 75 as of 2025.
- In 2024, 26.5% of early-career dentists (up to 10 years out of dental school) started their careers working for a DSO.
- Practice ownership appears delayed among recent graduates, but most dentists eventually become practice owners. Among 2011-2015 dental graduates, practice ownership jumped from 33% to 58% in just a five-year span.
- Dentists can earn more income by working for themselves. In 2024, the average inflation-adjusted income for practice owners was $217,781 compared to $160,891 for non-owners.*
With rising healthcare costs for employees and difficulties in finding hygienists, dental assistants, and administrative staff, private practice will become increasingly challenging. But practice owners who are high producers and learn to maximize technology and leverage social media to attract new patients will continue to thrive. Potential buyers—a large pool of them coming from their start at DSOs and looking for the challenge and rewards of private practice—know this and will seek to buy a profitable practice like yours.
In summary, the narrative of the young dentist has changed, but the result has not; the endgame is still private practice. And with the dental industry growing robustly, there will be more and more dentists entering the buyer pool. In fact, I believe the future of dentistry will be 25% of dentists affiliated with DSOs and 75% in private practice.
For sellers and the industry alike, the message is clear: solo dentists are not disappearing—they are still actively and confidently buying into private practice dentistry.
*(Trends in Dentists’ Income, Revenue, and Hours Worked, Update based on the ADA Health Policy Institute’s 2025 Survey of Dental Practice and other sources)