Doctor,

One of the most common phrases I hear from dentists who are thinking about acquiring another practice is, “This place has real potential.”

And I always pause when I hear that.

Not because they’re wrong. Most practices do have potential. But potential is not what builds smart growth. And it’s definitely not what DSOs are buying when they acquire practices.

Potential is exciting. It’s energizing. It taps into everything that made you a good dentist in the first place, confidence, problem-solving, optimism, the belief that you can improve things if you just get your hands on them.

But potential is also where most dentist-led acquisitions quietly go off the rails.

Because when you buy a practice based on potential, what you’re really saying is:

“I believe I can fix what isn’t working.”

And that mindset is clinical. Not strategic.

Dentists are trained to see what could be better. You walk into an operatory and instantly see what’s off. You look at a treatment plan and know how to improve it. You look at a practice and think, “If I just changed a few things, this would really hum.”

DSOs don’t think that way.

They’re not impressed by what a practice could become. They’re focused on what the practice is right now, without heroics, without extra effort, without someone swooping in to save the day.

Because from an acquisition standpoint, potential is just another word for work, risk, and uncertainty.

I’ve seen this play out countless times. A dentist acquires a second practice because it’s underperforming and “ripe for improvement.” The schedule isn’t full. The team needs leadership. The systems are outdated. The marketing is weak. On paper, it looks like a bargain. In the dentist’s mind, it’s an opportunity.

What they don’t fully account for is what that “potential” actually demands.

It demands your time. Time you were already short on.
It demands management attention at the exact moment your primary practice needs stability.
It demands cultural repair which is slower and harder than most dentists expect.
And it demands emotional energy, because fixing a practice is far more draining than running a good one.

DSOs know this. That’s why they don’t chase turnaround stories unless the math already works before the turnaround. They’re not paying for what they might build. They’re paying for what they can reliably step into.

A DSO looks at a practice and asks, “If we changed nothing for the next six months, what would this produce?”

A dentist looks at the same practice and asks, “What could this produce once I get involved?”

Those are fundamentally different questions.

And here’s the uncomfortable part: the dentist’s question is far riskier.

Because acquisition growth doesn’t fail loudly. It fails quietly. The practice doesn’t collapse. It just underperforms. The integration drags. The promised improvements take longer than expected. The second location pulls focus from the first. The owner works more. And the growth they envisioned gets delayed year after year.

They ended up buying a second job instead of the stability they imagined.

DSOs are disciplined about this. They prefer boring practices. Predictable ones. Places where the numbers aren’t flashy but the operation doesn’t wobble. They would rather pay more for something stable than less for something “full of potential.”

Dentists often do the opposite.

They see potential as upside.
DSOs see it as exposure.

That doesn’t mean you should never acquire a practice with room to improve. It means you need to be brutally honest about what kind of growth you’re buying. Are you acquiring something that already stands on its own, or are you acquiring a second job disguised as an opportunity?

If the practice only works because you believe you can fix it, you’re betting your future on effort. And effort doesn’t scale well. It also doesn’t impress future buyers when you eventually want to exit.

The best acquisitions don’t need rescuing. They don’t depend on optimism. They don’t require constant intervention. They may not feel exciting at first glance, but they perform consistently without drama.

And consistency is what creates leverage.

So if you’re growth-minded and thinking about acquiring another practice, here’s the mental shift I want you to make before you ever look at another listing:

Stop asking, “What could this practice become?”
Start asking, “What am I buying the day I take over?”

That one question will save you years of frustration, protect your core practice, and put you much closer to the kind of growth that actually compounds.

Potential feels good. But discipline builds value.

If this way of thinking feels different than most of what you hear in dentistry, that’s intentional. The Growth and Exit world doesn’t operate on hype or “potential.” It operates on what insiders are actually seeing, doing, and paying attention to right now.

If you want a clearer view into how buyers, DSOs, and growth-minded owners are really thinking, not the watered-down version, that’s exactly why I publish the Dental Growth & Exit newsletter. It’s where I share what’s happening behind the scenes, what’s changing in the market, and what dentists need to understand before they make growth or exit decisions.

You can start with the first two months free. You’ll also receive a Welcome Box with practice-building bonuses designed to help you think and operate like an owner, not just a clinician. No pressure, just perspective.

[Subscribe to the Dental Growth & Exit Newsletter]

To your success,

Your Team at Everything DSO