The emergence of women in dentistry has been a slow but steady phenomenon that has challenged many of us to examine our preconceptions and stereotypes of how women practice. Besides the many effects women are having on the clinical side of the profession, women are also impacting the management and transitioning of dental practices.

I don't know how many times I have heard a dentist tell me how he plans on cutting back and slowing down and he gets closer to retirement. On one occasion in which I had listed a practice for sale, the seller told me of his plans to cut his schedule back by one day per week to work on his golf game. I had never thoroughly analyzed the effect of a cutback before but decided to take a very close look at what the exact effects of such a cut back would be.

The best business dealings are when you deal with someone whose word and handshake are all you need ... and then you put it in writing!

My former article discussed the pitfalls of partnerships and buy-ins which include loss of control, loss of marketability, and loss of value. These are consequences of converting a real tangible practice into intangible undivided interests.

One of the most popular practice transition strategies is the buy-in. The interests may be any size - 10%, 49%, 50 % or more. Sometimes it involves selling progressive interests and other times it involves selling a remaining interest by a retiring shareholder.

In the past year, our firm encountered three dentists who experienced the same event - death.

The importance of value to the buyer of a dental practice is emphasized, since value is the buyer’s actual take-home income. This article explains how to recognize and measure value in practices.

All to frequently buyers zero in on price as the primary practice purchase issue, while ignoring the issue of value. However, buyers stand to benefit much more by receiving high value than by paying a low price, since the primary practice value actually is the net income the buyer takes home from the purchased practice.