Find a financial advisor who understands dental practices.
Practice loans, specialty disability, DSO decisions, retirement when your practice is your retirement — matched with fee-only advisors who work with dentists every day.
Built for dentists, not generalists
General financial advisors don't know what own-occupation really means for someone who makes a living with their hands. They don't understand the economics of an equipment refresh, or why the DSO that just offered you 8× EBITDA might not be the windfall it looks like. We match you with advisors who do.
- Your biggest asset is usually the practice itself — valuations drive retirement math.
- Standard long-term disability policies often disqualify you if you can still supervise dentistry, even if you can't do it.
- Tax strategy for an S-corp/PLLC practice owner looks nothing like W-2 planning.
- Dental school debt of $300K+ shapes every decision for the first decade of practice.
Tools & guides
Dentist Retirement Calculator
Project your gap to retirement using your practice income, current savings, and target age. Accounts for the reality that your practice itself may be a major retirement asset — or a depreciating one.
Practice Acquisition ROI Calculator
Model the real financials of buying a dental practice: monthly SBA loan payment, year-1 net income vs. staying as an associate, debt service coverage ratio, and break-even year.
Associate vs. Owner Income Calculator
Year-by-year pre-tax income comparison: when does ownership cross over and pay more than staying as an associate? See the break-even year, 10-year gap, and practice equity at exit.
Financial Planning for Dentists: The Complete Guide
The full arc: dental school debt, associate years, practice acquisition, the tax-advantaged retirement stack for high earners, and how to actually retire from a practice you own.
Should You Buy or Start a Practice?
Financial comparison of acquisition vs. de-novo: typical loan structures, ramp curves, and when each makes sense.
Disability Insurance for Dentists
Why group long-term disability fails dentists and what an own-specialty rider actually costs — with real numbers by age.
Business Overhead Expense Insurance for Dentists
Your personal disability policy covers your income — not your staff payroll, rent, or SBA loan payments. BOE insurance is the coverage that keeps your practice financially alive while you recover. How to size it, coordinate it with personal disability, and structure the premium for a deduction.
Dentist Disability Insurance Coverage Calculator
How much disability coverage do you actually need? Enter your monthly obligations, income, existing LTD benefit, and practice overhead — get a recommended benefit amount, your coverage gap, estimated BOE need if you're a practice owner, and a premium range by age so you know what to budget.
Practice loans, disability gaps, tax strategy, DSO decisions — a dental-specialist advisor can look at your actual numbers and tell you what to prioritize. Free match, no obligation.
Solo Practice vs. DSO: Financial Pros and Cons
Typical DSO offer structures (EBITDA multiples, equity roll-overs, earnouts) compared to holding solo. The autonomy-vs-liquidity tradeoff in dollars.
Tax Strategies for Dental Practice Owners
Entity structure, the retirement contribution stack (solo 401(k) + cash balance), QBI deduction, equipment expensing, and the mistakes that cost dentists $25K–$45K per year.
Dental Practice Tax Deductions: The Complete 2026 Checklist
Every deductible expense category for dental practice owners — operating costs, equipment (Section 179 $2.56M, 100% bonus depreciation), retirement contributions, vehicle, health insurance, loan interest, and what you can't deduct. With a deduction stack example for a $350K practice owner.
Dental School Loan Repayment Calculator: IBR vs. RAP vs. Refinancing
Enter your loan balance, income, and family size — compare every 2026 repayment strategy side by side. Shows total lifetime cost including estimated taxes on any forgiven balance, so you can see the true economic cost of IBR forgiveness vs. refinancing at 5–7%.
Should You Refinance Dental School Loans? The 2026 Decision Guide
IBR forgiveness is taxable again in 2026 (ARPA exemption expired). For private-practice dentists not eligible for PSLF, refinancing often saves $200K+ over IBR-to-forgiveness. Side-by-side math, the PSLF test, rate expectations, and a step-by-step decision checklist.
Financial Planning for Dental Specialists
Orthodontists, oral surgeons, periodontists, and endodontists face distinct planning challenges: later career starts, fee-for-service cash flow, referral-network practice valuations (7–10× EBITDA for ortho), and specialty-specific disability coverage gaps GPs don't encounter.
Orthodontist Financial Planning Guide
Orthodontists average $368K/yr but start 2–3 years late due to residency. How to close the retirement gap: solo 401(k) + cash balance plan sheltering $230K+/yr, S-corp strategy at high income, and practice exit at 7–10× EBITDA.
Oral Surgeon Financial Planning Guide
OMS averages $515K/yr — the highest income in dentistry — but has the most extreme late-start problem (4–6 yr residency). How to structure hospital + office-based income, shelter $300K+/yr pre-tax, and exit at 6–9× EBITDA.
Periodontist Financial Planning Guide
Periodontists average $285K–$330K/yr with a 3-year residency delay and heavy GP referral dependency. How to shelter $150K–$370K+/yr pre-tax, grow implant revenue to reduce referral concentration, and exit at 5–8× EBITDA.
Endodontist Financial Planning Guide
Endodontists net $350K–$420K with 30–35% overhead — among the best margin in dentistry. The defining financial challenge: personal goodwill concentration that can cut practice sale value by 1–3× EBITDA. How to solve it and shelter $170K–$340K+/yr pre-tax.
Dental School Loan Repayment Strategy
2026 repayment options after SAVE was eliminated: IBR, RAP, PSLF, and refinancing. Break-even math for refinancing vs. federal plans, and how loan strategy interacts with practice acquisition timing.
PSLF for Dentists: Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness Worth It?
PSLF can eliminate $300K–$600K in dental school debt tax-free after 10 years at a qualifying employer (FQHCs, VA, IHS, dental schools). Full math, qualifying employer table, RAP vs. IBR decision, and NHSC stacking strategy.
Estate Planning for Dentists
What happens to your practice if you can't practice anymore? Buy-sell agreements, disability triggers, life insurance structures, and the 2026 estate tax picture for practice owners.
Selling Your Dental Practice: Financial Planning Guide
Practice valuation methods, asset vs. stock sale tax treatment, DSO deal structures (cash, rollover equity, earnouts), and how to maximize after-tax proceeds.
Dental Practice Exit Planning: The 5-10 Year Runway
EBITDA building, owner dependence reduction, associate strategy, wealth diversification, and year-by-year action timeline for dentists planning an eventual exit.
Dental Associate Compensation: Production Pay and What to Negotiate
Production vs. collections models, typical percentages, lab fee deductions, the benefits gap, and what to push back on before you sign your first associate contract.
Dental Associate Contract Review: 8 Terms That Affect Your Financial Future
The compensation percentage is rarely where the real financial exposure sits. This guide covers the terms associates underweight: non-compete radius and state enforceability, who pays the malpractice tail premium ($3K–$9K), termination asymmetry, and buy-in provisions that are only binding if they're in writing.
Buying Into a Dental Practice: The Associate Buy-In Guide
How buy-ins are structured and priced, SBA financing options, partnership agreement terms to negotiate, and the tax treatment of goodwill when you acquire a partial ownership stake.
Cash Balance Plan for Dentists: Shelter $100K–$290K+ Per Year
Layer a cash balance plan on top of your solo 401(k) to legally shelter six figures in additional pre-tax income. Who it fits, how much you can contribute by age, and what it costs to run.
Dental Practice Overhead: Benchmarks and What Actually Moves the Number
The average practice runs 59–67% overhead (excluding doctor comp). Benchmarks by cost category, what drives each line, the associate hiring math, and the financial planning decisions that change the ratio — not just cost-cutting.
Dental Practice Overhead Calculator
Enter your practice collections and expenses by category. Instantly see each line item as a percentage of collections and whether it's on target, above ADA benchmarks, or in red-flag territory — plus the impact on your practice sale value.
S-Corp Election Tax Savings Calculator
See exactly how much SE tax you'd save by electing S-corp status. Enter your net practice income, salary, and filing status — get an instant breakdown of gross savings, net savings after admin costs, and a 10-year cumulative figure.
Buy vs. Lease Your Dental Office: The Financial Analysis
SBA 504 financing for dental office purchases, the holding entity structure, cost segregation + OBBBA 100% bonus depreciation, and the specific scenarios where ownership builds significantly more net worth than leasing.
Physician Loans for Dentists: Buy a Home With $300K+ in Student Debt
Dentists with DMD/DDS degrees qualify for 0% down, no-PMI physician mortgages with favorable student debt treatment. The student debt DTI math — and how home purchase timing interacts with practice acquisition.
Backdoor Roth IRA for Dentists: 2026 Step-by-Step Guide
Once your income clears $168K (single) or $252K (married), direct Roth contributions are gone. The backdoor Roth is the workaround — mechanics, the pro-rata trap to avoid, and the mega backdoor option for practice owners.
Dental Equipment Financing: Buy, Lease, or Defer?
The tax math behind financing a CBCT, intraoral scanner, or CAD/CAM system. Section 179 ($2.56M limit), permanent 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA, and when timing a purchase can change after-tax cost by $40K+.
Dental Practice Valuation Calculator
Enter your collections and EBITDA margin — see estimated value for three buyer types (individual dentist, regional DSO, national DSO/PE), plus a simplified after-tax net proceeds estimate using 2026 LTCG and NIIT rates.
Life Insurance for Dentists: What Practice Owners Actually Need
Between dental school debt, practice acquisition loans, and a business that depends on you showing up, most dentists need $2M–$4M in coverage. Key person insurance, buy-sell funding, and the whole life sales pitch explained.
Solo 401(k) for Dentists: 2026 Limits & Calculator
A solo 401(k) lets a practice owner contribute up to $72,000 pre-tax in 2026 — $24,500 more than a SEP-IRA at most income levels. Calculator for sole prop and S-corp structures, plus how to layer a cash balance plan on top.
Dental Practice 401(k) Plan: Setup Guide for 2026
When you hire a full-time associate, your solo 401(k) eligibility ends. Learn how to set up a safe harbor group 401(k) that still lets you shelter $72,000/yr, covers your team, eliminates nondiscrimination testing, and qualifies for the SECURE Act startup tax credit.
Roth Conversion Strategy for Dentists
Roth conversions have no income limit — any dentist can convert pre-tax balances at any income. Guide covers the five career-stage windows where conversions are most valuable, 2026 bracket-filling math, the pro-rata trap fix, and IRMAA timing.
New Dentist Financial Checklist: What to Do in Your First 5 Years
Loan repayment options after SAVE was eliminated, how to evaluate your first associate offer, when to get disability insurance (the window closes), how to start retirement savings as an associate, and when to seriously consider practice ownership.
Financial Planning for DSO-Employed Dentists
DSO employment removes the solo 401(k), S-corp savings, and practice equity that practice owners rely on. Here's how to maximize the tools you do have — group 401(k), backdoor Roth, individual disability, and portfolio building without practice equity.
DSO Rollover Equity: What Dentists Need to Know
How equity rollover works in a DSO deal, why the stated valuation may not reflect what you'll actually receive, tax treatment at close vs. at the liquidity event, liquidity timelines, and what to negotiate before you sign.
After the DSO Sale: Managing Your Practice Sale Proceeds
The financial decisions that follow a DSO sale — IRMAA exposure, Roth conversion windows, the retirement plan shelter you lose as a W-2 employee, portfolio construction, and what to do with rollover equity that may not pay off for years.
Asset Protection for Dental Practice Owners
Entity structure, umbrella insurance, retirement account protection (ERISA plans are federally shielded without a dollar cap), real estate holding structures, and what to set up before — not after — a claim is filed.
Opening a Second Dental Location
The financial model for multi-location expansion: acquisition vs. de novo math, SBA 7(a) financing, MSO entity structure, associate staffing economics, year-one tax advantages, and cash flow stress testing before you commit.
HSA for Dentists: The Stealth Retirement Account
Practice owners who choose an HDHP and invest their HSA instead of spending it build a triple-tax-advantaged account with no income limit. 2026 limits, SEHID deduction stacking, and the long-run math for high-income dentists.
Health Insurance for Dentists and Practice Owners (2026)
When you leave an associate position or start a practice, employer-sponsored coverage disappears. ACA marketplace options, association plans, HDHP + HSA strategy, QSEHRA for staff, and the S-corp 2% shareholder setup trap that costs practice owners thousands in missed deductions every year.
Dental Practice Buy-Sell Agreement: Financial Planning Guide
What happens to your practice if a partner dies, becomes disabled, or exits — and who funds the buyout? Cross-purchase vs. entity redemption tax differences, disability trigger design, and the insurance sizing mistakes that leave partners exposed.
1099 vs W-2 for Dental Associates: Tax Impact and Planning
Many dental associates are classified as 1099 independent contractors — which shifts the employer share of FICA (~$7,000–$9,000/yr) onto you. Understand the IRS classification test, the real dollar cost, when 1099 status actually works in your favor (Solo 401(k) room, QBI deduction), and how to plan your taxes and savings accordingly.
Dentist Investment Strategy: Portfolio Construction for Practice Owners
When your practice is 55–70% of your net worth, a standard 60/40 portfolio doesn't make sense for the liquid portion. How practice owners should actually allocate — account hierarchy, asset location, career-stage shifts, and the healthcare concentration trap to avoid.
Social Security Planning for Dentists: When to File and How Much to Expect
Claiming SS at 70 vs. 62 can be worth $350,000–$500,000+ in lifetime income for high-earning dentists. The strategy also connects to your Roth conversion window, practice sale timing, and Medicare IRMAA brackets — and WEP/GPO repeal means VA and military dentists now get their full benefit.
How to Choose a Financial Advisor for Dentists: Questions, Credentials, and Red Flags
Most financial advisors have never reviewed a DSO term sheet or explained why an own-occupation disability rider matters for someone who practices with their hands. Here are the 10 questions that separate real dental-finance expertise from a rehearsed pitch — and the red flags that end the conversation early.
CPA vs. Financial Advisor for Dentists: What Your Accountant Can't Do
Your CPA files accurately and catches deductions. But did they model whether a cash balance plan would shelter an extra $80K–$290K per year? Did they advise you three years before a practice sale to start building personal goodwill? The gap between what CPAs do and what financial advisors do costs dental practice owners money every year.
Dental Practice Divorce: Protecting Your Practice and Financial Future
Your practice is likely your largest marital asset — but in 30+ states, a significant portion of its value (personal goodwill) is not divisible in divorce. How courts value dental practices, how to maximize the personal goodwill argument, and the after-tax analysis that makes the difference between settlement options.
Dentist Net Worth by Age: 2026 Benchmarks and Where You Should Be
Standard net worth benchmarks don't apply to dentists — the $297,800 average dental school debt and 4-year late start change the math entirely. Recalibrated benchmarks by career stage, the liquid vs. practice equity distinction that matters most, and the five traps that leave dentists behind.
Dental Office Lease Negotiation: What Practice Owners Must Know
The assignment clause can block a practice sale entirely. TI allowances, CAM caps, exclusivity, personal guarantee burn-downs, and renewal option terms — the lease provisions that have the biggest financial impact and how to negotiate each one.
Financial Independence for Dentists: The FIRE Playbook
Dentists start 4 years late, carry $300K+ in debt, and have a physical career with a ceiling. But they also have a sellable practice worth $500K–$3M+. How to calculate your FI number with practice equity, stack $175K–$380K+ annually in tax-sheltered accounts, and build the path out — on your timeline.
College Savings for Dentists: 529 Plans, Superfunding & the SECURE 2.0 Exit Hatch
Dentists are phased out of AOTC credits and Coverdell ESAs above $180K–$220K income. The main vehicle is the 529 — and high-income dentists can use superfunding ($190,000/couple per child in one year) and the SECURE 2.0 529-to-Roth rollover to fund college without leaving money stranded.
Real Estate Investing for Dentists: Tax Strategy, DSCR Loans & Timing
Rental properties are the most common "second engine" dentists build alongside the practice. Covers the passive activity loss problem, the short-term rental exception that high-income dentists actually use, DSCR loans for borrowers with dental school debt, and the depreciation math including cost segregation and 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA.
Dental Malpractice Insurance: Claims-Made vs. Occurrence, Tail Coverage & Costs
The carrier switch that left a dentist personally exposed, what tail coverage actually costs (200–300% of last year's premium), how the practice sale triggers a tail requirement under claims-made policies, and why occurrence coverage is worth the slightly higher premium for most practice owners.
IRMAA and Medicare Planning for Dentists: The Practice Sale Surcharge Nobody Warns You About
Selling your practice in a high-income year can trigger top-tier Medicare surcharges — $689.90/month per person vs. $202.90 — for the following two years. Covers the two-year lookback, what it costs a married couple ($13,000+/year), installment sale strategies to reduce exposure, and the SSA-44 life-changing event appeal that retiring dentists can file.
Estimated Quarterly Taxes for Dentists: Safe Harbor, Due Dates & How to Calculate
New practice owners routinely get hit with an underpayment penalty in year one — because nobody withholds for them anymore. How the quarterly system works, the safe harbor rule that eliminates penalty risk, how S-corp payroll makes the problem disappear, and the practical reserves system that keeps tax from becoming a cash flow crisis.
Dental Group Practice Financial Planning: Structures, Compensation & Exit
Joining or forming a multi-dentist practice changes your compensation model, retirement contribution capacity, and exit options in ways most dentists don't fully understand before signing. How production-based vs. overhead-adjusted models compare, what happens to your cash balance plan when you gain W-2 employees, and which operating agreement provisions prevent the disputes that regularly break up profitable practices.
Should You Drop Your PPO? A Financial Calculator for Dental Practices
Nearly 1 in 4 dentists plans to drop at least one insurance network within two years. The math is counterintuitive: a PPO that reimburses at 60% means retained patients generate 67% more revenue per visit — and you only need 60% of them to stay to break even. Enter your collections, reimbursement rate, and expected attrition to see year-by-year projections and the break-even timeline for your practice.
How Much Should a Dental Practice Owner Pay Themselves?
Setting your S-corp W-2 salary is one of the highest-leverage annual decisions a practice owner makes. Too low invites IRS scrutiny; too high wastes FICA dollars that could stay in the business. But the real optimization is triangulating salary against your solo 401(k) employer contribution (25% of W-2) and QBI deduction phase-out — with scenarios showing the $190K inflection point where the math changes.
Dental Practice Year-End Tax Planning Checklist (2026)
Most of your biggest tax-saving moves have hard December 31 deadlines — retirement plan establishment, equipment placed in service, Roth conversions, charitable contributions. Miss them and there's no fix at filing. This checklist organizes every major action by deadline, with the specific 2026 limits for solo 401(k), cash balance plan, Section 179, HSA, and estimated tax payments.
Charitable Giving Strategies for Dentists: 2026 OBBBA Rules
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added a 0.5% AGI floor on charitable deductions in 2026 — meaning the first $2,000–$3,000 of giving yields zero federal tax benefit for most dentists. How donor-advised funds, QCDs, charitable bunching, and charitable remainder trusts still make giving highly tax-efficient for practice owners and dentists selling a practice.
NHSC and State Dental Loan Forgiveness Programs (2026)
Federal and state programs that can eliminate $50K–$120K of dental school debt in exchange for a service commitment: NHSC LRP ($50K tax-free for 2 years at a dental HPSA), NHSC Students to Service ($120K for 4th-year dental students), IHS LRP ($50K taxable), and state programs. Who qualifies, what the financial tradeoff looks like versus private practice, and how to stack NHSC with PSLF.
Dental Practice Cash Flow: Managing A/R, Collections Rate & Working Capital
Even a profitable dental practice can feel perpetually cash-short — because insurance reimbursements arrive 14–60 days after services are delivered. Why the timing gap exists, how to track your net collection rate (target: 98%+), what a healthy A/R aging report looks like, working capital options for dental practices, and the 90-day cash reserve every practice owner needs before aggressively funding retirement accounts.
Dental Practice Acquisition Due Diligence: The Complete Financial Checklist
The documents to request, the numbers to analyze, and the red flags that should trigger a renegotiation before you close. Covers financial recast methodology, net collection rate analysis, payer mix risk, staff cost review, lease assignment, and equipment deferred capex — everything a buyer needs to verify before signing the purchase agreement.
Starting a Dental Practice from Scratch: The Complete Financial Guide
De novo practices cost $450K–$800K to launch and lose money for 12–24 months — but can produce far more income over a career than buying an existing practice ever would. Startup cost breakdown, SBA 7(a) financing mechanics, entity structure timing, year-1 tax strategy (Section 179 + bonus depreciation), staffing math, and the production ramp benchmarks that tell you whether you're on track or undercapitalized.
Dental Practice KPIs: 12 Financial Metrics Every Owner Should Track Monthly
Net collection rate, EBITDA margin, overhead by category, case acceptance, A/R aging, and 8 more metrics that connect your daily operations to your financial plan. Includes benchmarks for each KPI, warning levels, and a plain-language explanation of how each number affects practice valuation, retirement contributions, and tax strategy.
Dental Membership Plans: Financial Analysis for Practice Owners
Thinking about launching an in-house membership plan? Here's the break-even math, the cash flow advantage over insurance, how recurring membership revenue affects your practice valuation at sale, and what DSO buyers actually think of membership plans. The decision has more financial planning implications than most dentists realize.
Dental Practice Financing: Every Loan Option Explained (2026)
SBA 7(a) for practice acquisition, SBA 504 for owner-occupied real estate, equipment financing with Section 179 math, and working capital lines — how each program works, what it costs at current 2026 rates, what lenders actually evaluate (DSCR, collections rate, dental school debt treatment), and the six financing mistakes that cost dentists the most.
Dentist Take-Home Pay Calculator: After-Tax Income by Career Stage (2026)
The same $400,000 income looks very different for a W-2 associate, a 1099 contractor, and an S-corp practice owner. Enter your income, career type, and retirement contributions — see your employment tax, income tax, and real cash take-home side by side. Uses verified 2026 federal brackets and the $184,500 SS wage base.
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Dentist Advisor Match is a matching service. We connect you with vetted fee-only financial advisors in our network — we don't manage money or provide advice ourselves. Advisors in our network are fiduciaries who charge transparent fees (not product commissions), and we match you based on your specific situation.