Maplevale Credit, a small-business funding service in Johnson City, TN, walks through buying an existing dental practice: reading the seller's cash flow, separating the price into goodwill, equipment and working capital, and preparing a request a funding partner can review. Figures in the examples are invented; Census counts are cited by year.
Start with the practices that exist
County Business Patterns counted 49 offices of dentists with paid employees in Washington County, TN in 2023, 12 of them with a ZIP 37601 address. Whoever introduces buyer and seller, every one of those sales starts with the seller's records.
This article is about the money side. The dental practice page covers lines of credit and equipment for an operating practice.
Dental practice cash flows for Washington County, TN businesses
A dental practice's cash flows in from patients, insurance plans and payment plans, and out to wages, supplies, lab fees, rent and equipment. The timing matters as much as the totals: plan payments can trail the work by weeks, while payroll runs every other Friday.
Dental practice cash flow analysis
- Collect three years of tax returns and monthly collections from the seller.
- Separate collections by payer: patients, each major plan, payment plans.
- List the seller's own pay, perks and one-time costs, and add them back to see what the practice earns for an owner.
- Subtract what you will pay yourself and the new loan payments.
- What remains is the cushion; if it is thin, the price or the structure needs another look.
Illustration only, invented figures: collections $1,150,000; operating costs before the owner's pay $820,000; cash flow for the owner $330,000. A buyer paying $150,000 a year in loan payments and $140,000 in their own salary keeps a $40,000 cushion ($330,000 − $150,000 − $140,000).
How much does a dental office cost? What Johnson City, TN owners should check
Maplevale Credit does not publish practice or office prices. The cost of a dental office is the purchase price plus what it takes to run it in the first months, and both come from the deal itself: the seller's asking price, an independent valuation, the equipment's age, and any build-out the space needs. Ask for a valuation and an equipment list with service records before agreeing a price.
Business loans for dentist, explained for Johnson City, TN owners
Business loans for dentists buying a practice are term loans, reviewed on the practice's records and the buyer's experience and credit. Equipment that needs replacing can go on equipment financing as a separate line. Some sellers carry part of the price as a note; partners will read that agreement too.
Working capital for dental practice: a Johnson City, TN primer
Working capital for the first months covers the gap after closing: patients keep coming, but plan payments for the new owner may take time to start, and supplies and payroll do not wait. Build that gap into the request rather than funding it from personal savings after the fact.
A transition timeline from offer to first full month
- Letter of intent with price and structure.
- Due diligence: records, equipment, lease, staff agreements.
- Funding request sent with the purchase agreement and valuation.
- Plan credentialing and the seller's transition period with your advisers.
- Closing, then the first payroll under the new owner.
Each step has its own documents, and a partner reviewing the request will ask where you are on this list. Give it the date you expect each step to finish, not a single target date for everything.
Dental practice loan interest rates for owners in Washington County, TN
Maplevale Credit does not quote dental practice loan interest rates. A partner sets the rate from the practice's collections, the buyer's credit and experience, collateral and the term. Compare offers on the total dollars repaid and any prepayment terms. The county figures behind this article are on Johnson City, TN Census figures.
See Washington County, TN figures and the other articles on the articles page.
By Maplevale Credit · Updated
