Transition Talk

While more women than ever are entering the field of dentistry, there’s still some hesitancy among women about becoming a practice owner. With self-doubt obscuring the picture, many female dentists wonder how to navigate a successful career, build a thriving practice and achieve “mom of the year” status. Angie Svitak, Cain Watters & Associates Financial Planner, joins Christy on this empowering episode to show female dentists that with the right amount of confidence, prioritization and support, it’s 100% possible to achieve their goals.

Whether you’re the buyer or seller, you have a vision of what the perfect practice, buyer and dental transition looks like. However, when it doesn’t play out exactly the way you envisioned, and you’re forced to switch gears, it can be challenging to keep your eyes on the end goal. This new episode shows you how to maintain an open mind and broaden your perspective throughout the buying or selling process.

Negotiating the practice real estate or lease is often a task that comes up near the end of the transition. But with significant financial implications and all of the moving pieces involved, this aspect of the transition requires consideration well in advance. In this episode, Christy and Charles cover common questions surrounding the real estate or lease. What are the most negotiated areas? What does it mean to have a triple net versus a gross lease? What happens if the owner sells the practice but not the real estate? Listen in for the answers.

Despite what dental practices are seeing with staffing shortages, inflation and rising costs, practices have proven to be resilient. Cain Watters and Associates Partner Hunter Satterfield joins Charles on this episode to pause and assess the recent trends across practices and offer solutions to help owners respond and grow.

It’s not easy to cultivate a successful dental partnership. With years of experience working with dentists, Cain Watters & Associates CPA and Partner David Forbess returns to Transition Talk to offer his expertise and discuss real-life examples of conflicts in partnerships. Together, David and Christy illustrate the importance of starting the conversation before the worst-case scenarios take shape.

While dental students may be hesitant to jump into practice ownership, the transition can many times be easier than they think. In the final episode of this three-part series, Christy and Charles continue to offer an optimistic approach and answer students’ most asked questions about ownership. They discuss student loans, corporate sales, work-life balance, advice for recent graduates and much more.

The path to practice ownership can seem daunting, especially for dental students whose core focus has recently been on the clinical aspects. In part two of this three-part series, Christy and Charles help alleviate the concerns and answer students’ most asked questions about practice ownership. They touch on topics such as red flags to be aware of, how to identify a healthy business, the “dating phase” between the buyer and seller and much more.

As dental students prepare to kick off their careers and consider owning a practice, planning their next steps after dental school can feel overwhelming. Christy and Charles answer students’ most asked questions about practice ownership, touching on topics such as the stress that comes with ownership, developing confidence as an owner, leading a team and much more.

With money, effort and time put into a dental practice, owners want to know what their life’s work has amounted to and how they can increase their overall practice value. Recorded live at the Cain Watters & Associates Annual Meeting, Charles and Christy teamed up with the co-hosts of the Accumulating Wealth Podcast to weigh in on the question that’s on every practice owner’s mind, “What’s my dental practice worth?”

When you begin to consider selling a portion or all of your practice, it's normal to wonder how long it typically takes to close the deal. While there is rarely a standard start-to-finish timeline, Christy and Charles show that numerous factors can affect the timing, from the type of practice and buyer, financial and emotional variables to even a little luck.