Dental practices
How much is my dental practice worth?
Your dental practice is worth the earnings it can sustain once every clinician, you included, is paid at market rates for the dentistry they perform, capitalised at a rate that reflects the risk of those earnings continuing under a new owner. The gap between that figure and the profit in your accounts is usually the cost of replacing your own production.
No multiples published. The reasoning is, in full.
What the answer depends on
The three things that move the number most
Two practices with identical gross fees can be worth very different amounts, and nearly all of that difference comes from here.
How much of the production the principal does personally
The central dental normalisation replaces the principal's drawings with the cost of an associate producing the same fees. Where the principal produces most of the fees, maintainable earnings after that adjustment can be modest, and much of what looked like value is personal goodwill, which attaches to the individual and cannot be sold. Leverage is the counterweight: hygienists and oral health therapists deliver preventive and periodontal care without occupying a dentist's chair. Availability limits how quickly a buyer could replace your output: the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that 49.4 per cent of employed dentists worked part time in 2024, so registrant headcount overstates the chair time on the market.
The payer mix behind the fees, and who sets the rates
Most dental fees are private, commonly part-paid by a health fund extras rebate claimed at the chair. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reports that dental was the largest component of general treatment benefits in the June 2026 quarter, at $1,001.79 million of the $1,804.16 million insurers paid. Preferred provider arrangements matter because the insurer, not the practice, sets those rates, so the share of fees earned at agreed rates and the margin left after laboratory and clinician costs are analysed separately from fees the practice prices itself. Revenue governed by someone else's schedule is not valued like revenue you control.
What the equipment and the premises will cost the next owner
Chairs and dental units, orthopantomogram or cone beam computed tomography units, sensors, scanners, milling equipment and sterilisers wear out on different cycles, and accounting depreciation follows tax effective lives rather than the date a buyer has to write the cheque. A sustaining capital allowance is built from the age and condition of each asset and deducted from earnings, because a practice trading on ageing chairs is not as profitable as its accounts suggest. Fit-out is largely sunk, since plumbed and shielded surgeries do not relocate, so the lease term, options and make-good obligations decide whether any of it is recoverable. A short lease with no options is a common reason a dental goodwill figure is reduced.
Higher or lower
What would move your number up, and what would move it down
Pushes the number up
- Production spread across associates, hygienists and oral health therapists.
- A large and genuinely active patient base, with measured recall compliance and new patients.
- A lease with meaningful unexpired term, options and assignment rights a buyer can use.
- Equipment recently replaced, with imaging licensing in order and transferable.
- Associate agreements documented, with the payroll tax and superannuation treatment provided for.
Pushes the number down
- The principal producing most of the fees, with no associate in place and none easily recruited.
- Patients who book a named dentist rather than the practice.
- A high share of fees earned at rates an insurer sets, with thin margin after laboratory costs.
- Ageing chairs, imaging or sterilising equipment with a replacement cycle falling due.
- Undocumented associate arrangements, with no view taken on payroll tax or superannuation.
The evidence
What sets the number, in practice
The analysis runs on production data the practice already keeps: gross fees by clinician, fees per chair hour, chair utilisation, active patients on a definition stated in the report, recall compliance and new patients per month, alongside normalised financial statements, the asset register, the lease and the associate agreements.
The associate payroll tax question is worked rather than assumed. Victoria's Revenue Ruling PTA-041 on relevant contracts and medical centres applies expressly to dental clinics, and Revenue NSW treats dental clinics as part of the medical services industry for the same purpose, while the relief Revenue NSW offers is confined to contractor general practitioner wages. Whether an arrangement is compliant is a question for your accountant or lawyer.
Where the line is
Why there is no multiple on this page
A capitalisation multiple is the inverse of the return a buyer requires for the risk they are accepting, so it is an output of the analysis of one practice, not an attribute of dentistry. What sets it is the list above.
There is also a mechanical problem with any published figure. A multiple struck on earnings before interest and tax carries depreciation and one struck before depreciation and amortisation does not, and in a capital intensive practice those two produce materially different answers from the same accounts. Applied to unadjusted profit, before the principal's own production is charged at associate rates, either will fail on the first buyer's accountant. Publishing a figure would make HPNA more quotable and its readers more wrong.
What it costs to find out
A fixed fee, published before you ask for it
An indicative assessment is a flat $950 plus GST, credited against a valuation report if you proceed within 3 months. A full valuation report is a fixed fee set by the annual revenue of the business being valued, $1,500 plus GST at the smallest band and $9,450 plus GST at the largest, and an expert report for a family law matter or a dispute is priced separately on the same bands. Every fee is agreed in writing before work starts and never depends on the conclusion reached.
Indicative assessment
$950
One fee whatever the size of the business, credited against a valuation report if you proceed within 3 months.
Valuation report
- Up to $1 million
- $1,500
- $1 million to $3 million
- $2,200
- $3 million to $10 million
- $4,950
- Above $10 million
- $9,450
Expert report
- Up to $1 million
- $2,700
- $1 million to $3 million
- $3,950
- $3 million to $10 million
- $8,900
- Above $10 million
- $16,950
Every fee above is fixed and quoted plus GST, and is agreed in writing before any work starts. Bands are set on annual revenue. A business sitting exactly on a boundary pays the lower fee. See the full fee schedule
Go deeper
Read the full analysis
- Sector pageDental practice valuationsThe complete treatment: methods, earnings adjustments, sector risks, value drivers, the information required and detailed FAQs.Read
- MethodologyHealthcare business valuation methodsHow maintainable earnings, capitalisation, discounted cash flow, net assets and market evidence each work, and when each applies.Read
FAQs
Dental practice valuation questions
How much is my dental practice worth?
It is worth the maintainable earnings the practice can produce once every clinician, including you, is paid at market rates for the dentistry they perform, capitalised at a rate reflecting the risk of those earnings continuing without you. The largest adjustment is almost always replacing your drawings with what an associate producing the same fees would cost, and a sustaining capital allowance for chairs and imaging is deducted as well.
How do I value my dental practice for sale?
Run the analysis a buyer will run: gross fees by clinician, chair utilisation, active patients, recall compliance and new patient numbers, then normalised earnings after paying every clinician at market. Then settle the structure. An asset sale transfers goodwill, equipment, fit-out and stock; a share sale carries the entity and its history, including any payroll tax exposure.
Is dental goodwill a percentage of turnover?
No, and using turnover as the base is a reliable way to reach a wrong number. Two practices with the same gross fees can carry very different earnings depending on who produced them, what the associates are paid, what share of work an insurer prices and what the laboratory bill looks like. Goodwill is supported by earnings that survive a change of owner, not by revenue.
Does my practice lose value if my lease is nearly up?
It usually does, because a dental fit-out cannot follow the buyer. Plumbed and shielded surgeries, chairs and imaging installations are sunk into the premises, and the patient base is attached to a location. A lease with no meaningful unexpired term and no options leaves a buyer facing a landlord negotiation immediately after settlement, so securing a further option before going to market is worth doing.
How much does it cost to find out what my practice is worth?
An indicative assessment is a flat $950 plus GST, credited against a valuation report if you proceed within 3 months. A full valuation report is a fixed fee set by the annual revenue of the business being valued, $1,500 plus GST at the smallest band and $9,450 plus GST at the largest, and an expert report for a family law matter or a dispute is priced separately on the same bands. Every fee is agreed in writing before work starts and never depends on the conclusion reached. The full schedule, including the additional entity fee for groups that trade through more than one entity, is published on the pricing page.
Make your next decision with a clear understanding of value.
Tell us about your healthcare business and the purpose of the valuation. We will confirm the appropriate scope, information requirements, timeframe and the fee band that applies.