You graduated with $365,000 in student debt. You’re grinding through an associateship, watching DSOs snap up practices in your market, and telling yourself you’ll “get serious about ownership” when the time is right. Maybe when rates drop. Maybe when you feel more ready. Maybe when your loans feel more manageable.

Here’s what I’ve learned from helping about 1,500 dentists buy practices across the country: waiting is not a neutral decision. Every month you delay, you’re making a choice — and it’s costing you more than you think.

Between DSO consolidation, high interest rates, and the psychological weight of six-figure debt, buying a practice feels like a massive risk. I get it. But complicated is not the same as unfavorable.

In fact, for the right associate, this market presents an opportunity that may not exist two or three years from now. DSO fatigue is real. Practice sellers who were holding out for top-dollar corporate offers are quietly becoming more flexible. Owner-operators are back at the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, the cost of waiting compounds. The true average income difference between an associate and a practice owner is almost exactly $150,000 per year once the practice is stabilized. Over five years of waiting, that’s $750,000 in foregone earnings — before you account for the equity you’re building for someone else the entire time. The “safe” choice has a very real price tag.

One of the biggest fears I hear from associates is: “What if I buy a bad practice?” It’s a fair question. But most bad practice purchases aren’t bad because the market was tough — they were bad because the buyer didn’t ask the right questions before going deep.

I teach a simple two-question framework I call the Lemon Test. Ask these before you spend a dollar on due diligence:

1. Does the dentist actually want to live there? Location is the one variable you cannot fix after closing. You can upgrade equipment, improve systems, rebrand — but you can’t move the practice. More importantly: do you and your family genuinely want to build a life in that community? A dentist who is deeply embedded in the place they serve builds a different kind of practice than one who’s already planning their exit.

2. How much did that practice collect last year? Collections are the most honest number in any practice’s financials — not production, not EBITDA, but what actually came in. This single figure tells you whether the asking price is defensible, what debt service you can carry, and whether the practice is trending up or quietly declining. Ask for three years of collections, not one. And if a seller hesitates to share it, that’s data too.

If either answer gives you pause, that’s not a reason to walk away — it’s a reason to ask harder questions before you go further.

Seller expectations are resetting. The inflated valuations of 2021–2023 are softening in many markets. Buyers who act now are increasingly finding motivated sellers willing to negotiate on price, terms, and transitions.

Lending remains accessible. Despite rate concerns, dental practice acquisition lending is a specialized market. Dental practice loans are among the safest in the industry — banks that understand dentistry routinely offer 100% acquisition financing for qualified buyers because the asset class has an exceptionally strong repayment history.

Buyer competition is coming. As more associates hit their 3–5 year mark, demand for quality practices will rise. The associate who moves in the next 12 months will have more favorable conditions than the one who waits until 2027 or 2028.

The “perfect time” to buy a dental practice is a myth. The right time is when you’re prepared — with the right information, the right team around you, and a clear-eyed view of what you’re buying.

Stop asking if you can afford the purchase price. Start asking if the practice can afford you — your time, your energy, and your future. Preparation isn’t about timing the market. It’s about knowing the fundamentals.

Brian Hanks is the author of How to Buy a Dental Practice and founder of Dental Buyer Advocates. Get a free chapter of the book at https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/free-chapter/