Every Dentist Exits Their Practice: Don’t Get Caught With Your Hands Tied

Date: October 15, 2026 | 7:00 PM CST/8:00 PM EST
Duration: 1 Hour
Credits: 1
Presenter: Connor Jorgensen, Director at TUSK Practice Sales, and Ryan Mingus, Managing Director & Partner at TUSK Practice Sales
Sponsor: TUSK Practice Sales
Cost: Free

Every dental practice owner exits their practice eventually. What has changed is how much of that exit the owner controls.

There are three traditional paths out of a practice: sell to an associate or another doctor, partner with a DSO, or close your doors. Doctor-to-doctor transitions have narrowed as associates carry more debt, and the lending appetite for single practice acquisitions has tightened. DSOs remain active but are scrutinizing deals more closely than at any point in recent years. And with dental staff wages and supply costs each up 23% since January 2021 against 19% reimbursement growth, owners are working harder to hold onto their business.

There is also the question of timing relative to everyone else. In some states, more than 40% of dentists are now 55 or older, and 90.1% of dentists aged 55 to 64 own their practice. A large share of that group will have to make a decision about what their exit looks like sooner rather than later.

Ryan Mingus, Managing Director and Partner, and Connor Jorgensen, Director, at TUSK Practice Sales lay out the paths available to a practice owner today and what each one requires and costs under current conditions. The session covers how DSO deal structures actually differ today, including the best-kept secret for owners not ready to sell 100% of their practice, the state of the doctor-to-doctor transitions market, the operational levers owners are using against margin pressure, and how to weigh all possible paths for your practice.

This session is built for every practice owner, regardless of how you will exit your practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the pathways available to a dental practice owner today and explain why every owner eventually faces the decision.
• Explain how doctor-to-doctor and DSO transitions are each structured, financed, and evaluated in the current market.
• Explain how acquisition lending capacity, buyer education debt, and interest rates together limit what an individual buyer is able to purchase.
• Identify the practice characteristics and timing factors that disqualify a practice from each pathway.
• Analyze how dentist demographics and the concentration of owners approaching retirement affect seller position and transaction timing.
• Apply preparation steps that preserve more than one pathway, including approaches to associate and staff continuity.

Presented By

Ryan Mingus, Managing Director & Partner, TUSK Practice Sales
Ryan has 12+ years of sales and leadership experience in the dental and healthcare industry, most recently as Business Development Director for Strategy and Optimization at Align Technology, Inc. Mr. Mingus earned his BA in Economics and Business from the Virginia Military Institute and his MBA from the University of San Diego. He also held the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army National Guard.

Connor Jorgensen, Director, TUSK Practice Sales
Connor Jorgensen has over a decade of experience in the dental industry focused on growth strategies and value creation. Most recently, he was the Director of Business Development at a national DSO focused on organizational growth. He earned his B.S. in Marketing from the Ivy School of Business at Iowa State University.

Supported in part through an unrestricted educational grant by: