Successful dental practices are built on a foundation of clinical excellence, team cohesion, and an unwavering commitment to patient care. Growth, therefore, is never just a commercial ambition – it reflects the principal’s desire to strengthen their practice, elevate the team experience, and deliver exceptional dentistry. As the landscape evolves, so too does the definition of “growth”, with today’s environment demanding a more strategic and holistic approach to development.
A new definition
For most principals, the goal of growth remains clear: to expand practice capacity and long-term profitability without compromising clinical standards or team wellbeing. Crucially, sustainable development should not rely on longer working hours or undue pressure on individuals. The aim is to balance productivity with a supportive, healthy working environment.
While traditional metrics such as patient volume, retention, new surgeries, and revenue remain important, modern practice owners are increasingly focused on deeper forms of progress. These include enhancing the professional environment, creating more robust career pathways, and strengthening the resilience of the business for the future. This broader perspective empowers principals to pursue growth on their own terms, aligned with their values and vision.
Limitations of traditional pathways
Conventional growth routes often present significant challenges long before their benefits are seen. Large financial commitments, recruitment difficulties, and heavier operational demands can make expansion slow, risky, and difficult to sustain.
For many principals, this leads to considering a sale. While selling can release the value built over many years, the traditional sales market carries notable disadvantages. Vendors typically receive only part of their practice value upfront, and modern earn-out structures frequently remove managerial control from the principal while still tying deferred payments to practice performance. This imbalance can produce poor financial outcomes and heighten risks around staff retention, team morale, and community relationships.
More importantly, when an external buyer prioritises financial efficiency above clinical leadership, concerns naturally arise about the continuity of patient care. The principal’s loss of influence over how the practice is run – including the protection of clinical standards – is often a decisive red flag.
A new opportunity
In response to these long-standing issues, more innovative pathways are emerging for principals who want to grow their practice while retaining control. These options allow clinicians to stay focused on development but approach it through a fundamentally different lens – one that benefits the principal, the team, and the patient community.
A shared ownership model provides this opportunity. Successfully implemented across global healthcare sectors, it offers a proven, forward-thinking alternative to traditional sales. Principals maintain control of their practice, upholding clinical standards, and preserving culture, leadership, and community relationships.
With DeNovo Dental Partners, principals realise the full value of their practice upfront – primarily in cash, with the remainder in equity in the DeNovo parent company. This equity component creates multiple long-term wealth-generation opportunities as both the practice and the wider organisation grow.
Even more importantly, this growth is actively supported. Partner dentists gain access to central expertise that can be drawn upon entirely at their discretion, ensuring full autonomy while enabling meaningful progress. Targeted reinvestment into the practice can also be guided through this model, supporting physical or operational development without placing unnecessary strain on the principal.
Where the market is heading
Growth will remain a priority for dental practices, but how it is achieved – and what it represents – is changing. Traditional approaches often involve unnecessary compromise or carry risks that ultimately reduce the benefits for vendors. With the emergence of new shared-ownership models, the future of practice development is being redefined.
This shift promises stronger outcomes for principals and their teams, along with the continuity of high-quality patient care – the core purpose of every dental practice.
Author: Caron Best – Chief Operating Officer
Media Contact:
DeNovo Dental Partners
Kristen Pope
Chief Integration, Partnership & Communications Officer
Kristen.Pope@DeNovo.Partners
https://www.denovo.partners/
