How to sell a dental practice in Canada, and what it is worth

Dental practices in Canada typically sell for 4.0 to 7.0 times adjusted earnings. Where a practice lands depends on how much of its production comes from the owner, since a buyer who must hire a dentist to replace you deducts that cost first. The province sets who may buy the shares, which in Ontario means a dentist personally.

What a dental practice sells for in Canada

If you plan to sell a dental practice in Canada, the starting range is 4.0 to 7.0 times adjusted earnings. That is the healthcare row of the table of multiples by industry, which also covers medical and veterinary clinics, and our own valuation runs on it.

Adjusted earnings are the profit with the owner’s salary and personal costs added back, the figure explained in SDE or EBITDA. For a dentist the add back has a catch. Much of what you draw is pay for dentistry you perform yourself, and a buyer who will hire someone to do that work counts the cost first.

Size moves the range as well. Our engine takes 0.5 off the multiple below $500,000 of earnings, where most buyers are individuals, and adds 0.3 above $1 million, the level most private equity buyers screen for.

Who may own a dental practice depends on the province

Dentistry is regulated province by province, and each regulator decides who may hold the shares of a dental corporation. That rule sets who can buy your shares and who has to buy your assets instead. Ontario and British Columbia show how far the rules differ.

In Ontario, the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario issues a certificate of authorization to each dentistry professional corporation. Its health profession corporation page requires every director and officer to be a dentist and member of the College, and every voting shareholder to be a member. Non-voting shares may also be held by close family of a voting dentist shareholder, as the College defines it. Holding companies are barred from owning shares, and every certificate expires on August 31 each year.

A change of shareholders has to be reported to the College within 10 days, according to its FAQ on changes of practice ownership. In practice the buyer of your shares in Ontario is a dentist personally. A dental group making an offer should explain how its structure fits the rule, and your own lawyer should check that answer.

British Columbia allows more room. A dentist needs a permit from the BC College of Oral Health Professionals before practising under a corporate name. Section 59 of the province’s Health Professions and Occupations Act lets voting shares sit in a company whose own voting shares belong to licensees, so a dentist’s holding company can own the practice corporation. Section 58 requires every director to be an eligible licensee.

Other provinces set their own rules, and the regulator’s website in your province is the first place to check. Our guides to selling a business in Ontario and selling a business in British Columbia cover the rest of each province’s process. Whether you sell shares or assets also changes your tax, which share sale or asset sale explains, and qualifying shares can use the lifetime capital gains exemption of $1,275,000 in 2026.

Your own chair time is the owner dependence

In most businesses, owner dependence means the customers call the owner. In a dental practice it is more literal, because part of the revenue is treatment you deliver with your own hands.

Buyers split production, the billings for treatment, by provider. They want your share set apart from the share produced by associates and hygienists. A practice where you produce most of the dentistry keeps those earnings only while you stay.

A dentist buyer replaces your chair time with their own. A group may ask you to keep practising for a set period, sometimes with part of the price tied to production through an earnout. Selling a business that depends on you covers the general case.

One practice, priced for two kinds of buyer

Take, as an illustration, a practice with $650,000 of adjusted earnings once the owner’s salary is added back. The owner’s own production is a large share of the billings, and replacing it would cost an associate’s pay, assumed here at $360,000 a year.

The gap between the two rows is the price of your own chair time. Associates who already carry much of the schedule shrink the cost a buyer deducts. A practice that would cope through six months of your absence also earns 0.2 more in our engine, or 0.4 where a management team already runs it.

The buyer you sell to also decides which add backs survive. Add backs buyers accept goes through the common ones, such as a spouse on the payroll or a vehicle run through the practice.

Associates and patient records

A buyer reads every associate agreement early. The first question is how long each associate has been with you and whether they plan to stay. The second is what each agreement says about patients if the associate leaves.

An associate can also be the natural buyer. Someone who already treats your patients knows the practice and keeps their care continuous, so an offer from inside is worth hearing before you go to market.

Patient records carry their own rules. The RCDSO’s FAQ says that under Ontario’s health privacy law a dentist may share patient information with a prospective buyer once that buyer signs a confidentiality agreement. The selling dentist tells patients about the change of ownership in writing. The purchase agreement usually moves responsibility for keeping the records to the buyer, and keeps access for the seller to answer a complaint or claim.

Patient level detail belongs at the end of due diligence, once an offer is signed. Until then a buyer can work from production reports and the anonymous profile.

Who buys dental practices in Canada

Dentists buying a first practice usually finance it with a bank loan, sometimes with a vendor note from the seller. Dentists who already own a practice nearby buy to add patients and chairs.

Dental service organizations are the third group. The RCDSO describes them as corporations that support the business side of the practices they own or partner with, and its November 2025 report on practice models noted a shift toward corporate ownership. Its Council approved work on guidance that names a lead dentist responsible for each clinic.

Dentalcorp, which reports more than 650 locations, says on its partnership page that every dentist who partners with it becomes a shareholder in Dentalcorp. An offer that includes the buyer’s shares deserves a valuation of those shares apart from the cash. Who buys Canadian businesses compares the buyer groups in general.

What to prepare in the two years before

1. 01Report production by provider for at least three years, so your own share and each associate’s share are numbers a buyer can check.
2. 02Bring associate agreements up to date, with clear terms on notice and on patients.
3. 03Check your corporation’s certificate or permit and its shareholders against your regulator’s current rules.
4. 04Move personal and family costs onto their own lines, so each add back is documented.
5. 05Decide how long you are willing to keep practising after the sale, since that answer shapes every offer.

Changes like these take about a year to show in the statements a buyer reads, which is why preparing a business for sale starts early. For a first range on your own practice, the Quick AI valuation takes a few minutes and asks for your numbers before it asks for a name.

The buyers, due diligence priorities and sector requirements are set out on InvestDeal’s healthcare practice M&A advisory page.

Questions owners ask

What is a dental practice worth in Canada?

Typically 4.0 to 7.0 times adjusted earnings, which is profit with the owner’s salary and personal costs added back. A practice with $650,000 of adjusted earnings would fall between $2.6 million and $4.55 million for a dentist who takes over the owner’s chair, and lower for a buyer who must hire an associate to do that work.

Can a non-dentist buy a dental practice?

That depends on the province. In Ontario the directors and officers of a dentistry professional corporation must be dentists. Voting shares are reserved for members of the RCDSO, and holding companies are barred. In British Columbia the voting shares may sit in a company owned by licensees, and a group making an offer should explain how its structure fits your province’s rule.

What happens to patient records when a dental practice is sold?

In Ontario the RCDSO says a prospective buyer may see patient information once it signs a confidentiality agreement. The selling dentist tells patients about the change in writing, and the purchase agreement usually passes responsibility for the records to the buyer while keeping access for the seller.

Who buys dental practices in Canada?

Many buyers are dentists, either buying a first practice or adding one near a practice they already own. Dental service organizations are the other active group. Dentalcorp, which reports more than 650 locations, says every dentist who partners with it becomes a shareholder in Dentalcorp.