It's the question every practice owner must ask eventually. How honest you are with your answer – and what action that compels you take – will have a huge impact on your future. The question is: "If I were a new dentist, would I be attracted to this facility?

"Sooner or later a new dentist will be looking at your practice with an appraising eye, either as a potential associate or a potential buyer. When they do, they will come with certain expectations. Young dentists today are thoroughly immersed in a high-tech world and in today's market your practice will be seriously devalued if it doesn't measure up.

It's not just technology, either. If you have worn, outdated furniture in the waiting area, or vintage operatory chairs, you're sending the wrong message about your practice's ongoing viability – a message that any browsing dentist will pick up on within minutes. If you want to attract the best people, you have to demonstrate that you are not just in the game, you're a contender.

So given that you know that a new person will be coming aboard at some point, it makes sense to start thinking now about preparing your practice to accommodate them. If you're looking toward a retirement transition, where you bring in a new practitioner who will work with you while they ramp up their productivity to the point where they can make the final purchase, you need to think about how to adapt your facility for each stage of the process.

It needs to serve your needs now so you can make the most of the time you have in the practice right away; it needs to be able to integrate a new doctor later, so you can optimize the return you both get during the transition period. You have to protect the value of the practice – for yourself and the new owner – when you leave.

Maybe that means making technology upgrades now, with an eye toward redesigning a consultation room or your private office into an extra operatory for those two-doctor transition years. If it continues to be a two-dentist practice after you go, great. If not, the new owner can easily scale back to the original layout when you retire and you don't run the risk of overbuilding, which would cost you both.

If you're a younger owner who will be bringing in an associate to help capture excess value you're generating, naturally your plans will be different. You're not just looking for a workable arrangement for a few years. Your ideal facility would support both your needs for the long-term and that's going to affect the extent and the timing of your renovations.

In any case, start thinking about how that new practice will have to function: what the working parameters will be, what kind of economics it will take to sustain it, and so on. Sit down with a qualified expert and plan it now, so you won't be pressured into hasty (and expensive) compromises later.


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