Cost of opening a private practice

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feileung

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Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to open a private practice (approximately)? How long do people usually work in a clinic before they consider this? I'm just wondering how much debt I'll be shoulding on top of my student loans.

Thanks.

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I'd probably consider buying out a private practice with an established patient base before I'd consider building from scratch.

If you're still interested in the cost of building, you might want to check dentaltown or the dental forum. I'd imagine it wouldn't be hard to spend 500k building though...
 
like 100k - 200k, basically add that to your loans lol
 
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I was thinking maybe 200-500k from scratch but that's a total guess. I really have no point of reference.

It really would be more convenient to purchase a practice. Any idea what range we're talking about?
 
A lot of money. All I know if I buy or build I am going to have a crazy cool salt water fish tank. I have always wanted one.
 
Lottery can solve this problem :)
 
or hook up with dean's daughter :love:
 
He was night putting, just putting at night with the 15-year-old daughter of the Dean
 
If you're afraid of losing a lot of patients when buying an existing practice, a lot of people do this: Find a practice you love whose owner is about to retire. Then you work there for a few years as a partner (or even associate), but with a contract that says you will purchase and own it within a few years. That way, patients are introduced to you slowly and get to know and trust you. Also, practice transitioning is a lot easier that way, especially if you are keeping the staff and general layout. You could also help earn money towards the purchase price.

I've heard around 300-600K myself...totally depends on what the practice brings in (and how much the dentist wants to sell!)
 
How much does an associate earn?
 
in northern VA an associate makes about 100-120k

in regards to building one, it all depends on how many chairs (25k each) + x-ray machines and stuff will be around like 20-40K. also depends a lot on if you purchase the property or lease.
 
what about opening a practice if you're a specialist? (since their patient base is constantly changing?)

would it be better to open your own practice or get into an exisiting one if you were an ortho or endo?
 
what about opening a practice if you're a specialist? (since their patient base is constantly changing?)

would it be better to open your own practice or get into an exisiting one if you were an ortho or endo?


I believe specialists always own, whether on their own or with partners. You can't really have an "associate", at least in the sense of someone who might not get all the super interesting, high-earning cases. You're all doing all the specialty procedures.

I've heard of a few cases where different specialists have shared a building and all built their operatories in it....saves on utilities and they can order supplies together.
 
I like to think ahead of time...every dentist i met/knew/or heard of...i asked them how much and what's the best way to start out. From what I heard you can have a mediocre dental practice for around 250k-300k. Some of the dentists told me I don't need to know this yet because I'm young and I won't start dental school until august and blah blah blah blah. But I kept asking because I know some of the things I learned outside are the things that they might not teach me in dental school.
I like people who think ahead like me :)
 
In the back of "throw-away" journals like DentalTown there are often for sale adds in the classifieds. I've seen practices offered for upwards of 750k!
 
The dentist that I talked to today said the building and land that they currently own cost them 900k in 1997. The building looks really great, but I do not think that you could buy a facility like theirs in todays market for that price. Thier office has 12 operatories, high tech video recorders, High tech cameras, staff of 15, 2 X-ray machines, and the list goes on. There are 2 dentist that work out of this office.

I know a specialist that does not have his own office, he just work part-time out of three offices. So that would be like being an associate.
 
I know a specialist that does not have his own office, he just work part-time out of three offices. So that would be like being an associate.

only you make more than the owning dentist :D
 
Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to open a private practice (approximately)? How long do people usually work in a clinic before they consider this? I'm just wondering how much debt I'll be shoulding on top of my student loans.

Thanks.

Check this out for starters...
http://www.origindental.net/
 
If you're afraid of losing a lot of patients when buying an existing practice, a lot of people do this: Find a practice you love whose owner is about to retire. Then you work there for a few years as a partner (or even associate), but with a contract that says you will purchase and own it within a few years. That way, patients are introduced to you slowly and get to know and trust you. Also, practice transitioning is a lot easier that way, especially if you are keeping the staff and general layout. You could also help earn money towards the purchase price.

I've heard around 300-600K myself...totally depends on what the practice brings in (and how much the dentist wants to sell!)

While I don't know how much it will cost you to build or buy, I totally agree with what you said. I mean my aunt is a hygienist and in her life she witnessed this once and said it worked out fantastically and that from her position she recommends it.Whats funny though and kind of impressive is that when my aunt left her first office to work somewhere else some of the clientele followed her, and she is a hygienist not a dentist.

"Knowledge is food for thought so I wisely swallow."
 
I know someone who is starting a practice right now, actually I know a couple, but I only really talk to one of them about the money thing. She works there only 3 days a week right now because she doesn't have enough patients to work there full time. She also started it from total scratch (the building is not a medical/dental facility building with everything already set up for equipment.

She has spent over $400,000 thus far in loans and is pretty much done. It is a three chair office...I would guess about 1500 to 1700 Square feet. She had to paint, build in walls, redo plumbing, tile, etc. before she could even put in the cabinets and equipement stuff. So that all factors into the $400,000. She has actually spent more money than that because it doesn't account for the fact that she bought her space, so I have no idea how much she paid in a down payment and monthly mortgage and such, but it's in the heart of downtown...in a nice part...so I'm guessing a crap load.
 
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