Phase 1: Search and pre-qualification (1–3 months, or ongoing)
For buyers, the search phase begins with getting pre-qualified with a dental lender (usually 1–2 weeks, free) and defining your practice criteria — location, specialty, collections range, real estate preference. Active search means monitoring listings, signing NDAs on practices of interest, and doing preliminary evaluations.
This phase has no hard end — a buyer who knows exactly what they want in a well-inventoried market may find their practice in weeks; a buyer with very specific criteria or a low-inventory geography may search for a year or more. Broad criteria and alerting tools that notify you when matching listings appear reduce time in this phase considerably.
Phase 2: NDA and preliminary evaluation (1–2 weeks per practice)
After a practice catches your interest, you sign a confidentiality agreement (NDA) and receive the full details: practice identity, financials, patient data summary, and tour scheduling. This phase is fast when the broker has a complete information package ready; it can drag when financials are poorly organized or the seller hasn't completed their preparation.
A practice tour typically takes 30-90 minutes. The buyer meets the staff (often under a 'consultant' or 'specialist' cover story to maintain confidentiality), sees the facility, and evaluates equipment condition and staff culture.
Phase 3: Letter of Intent (LOI) and acceptance (1–3 weeks)
A Letter of Intent is a non-binding document that sets the proposed purchase price, structure (almost always asset sale), what's included, transition terms, and timeline to close. Buyers usually draft the LOI with their attorney; sellers respond with counter-terms.
Negotiation can be quick (a few days) or prolonged if the parties are far apart on price, transition length, or seller concessions. An experienced broker representing the seller usually keeps this phase tight. First-time buyer-seller transactions without experienced deal representation sometimes stall here.
Phase 4: Due diligence (3–6 weeks)
Once the LOI is accepted, due diligence begins. The buyer verifies the financials (tax returns vs. reported collections, SDE add-back schedule), reviews the lease, inventories equipment, evaluates patient base, and checks compliance. The lender is simultaneously reviewing the same materials for underwriting.
Running due diligence and lender underwriting in parallel — rather than sequentially — is how buyers compress timelines. The two processes overlap significantly and sharing the same document package once speeds both.
Phase 5: Financing approval (4–8 weeks, running in parallel with due diligence)
Lender underwriting for a dental practice acquisition typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from submission of a complete package. The speed depends on the lender's specialty (dedicated dental lenders move faster than generalist banks), completeness of the financial package, and whether the practice is straightforward or has complexity (multi-location, complex ownership structure, etc.).
A pre-qualification done before the search makes the formal underwriting phase faster and more predictable. The lender already knows the buyer; the submission is about the practice, not re-establishing buyer creditworthiness.
Phase 6: Lease assignment (2–8 weeks, often the slowest step)
Landlord consent to assign the lease is legally required in most commercial leases and is frequently the rate-limiting step in a dental practice closing. Some landlords respond quickly; others take weeks to review the request, require financial verification of the buyer, or use the conversation as an opportunity to renegotiate terms.
Starting the landlord conversation as early as possible — ideally shortly after the LOI is signed, not when everything else is done — gives this process maximum runway. An attorney who regularly handles commercial lease assignments can often accelerate the landlord's response.
Phase 7: Closing and transition (1–4 months post-close)
Closing is a documents-and-wires day: the purchase agreement is signed, funds are transferred, and the new owner takes possession. Staff typically learn of the change on or immediately after closing day.
A transition period — where the selling doctor works alongside or is available for questions — is standard and typically lasts from a few weeks to a few months. Longer transitions (3+ months) are common in practices where the seller has a strong personal following among patients or where the specialty requires a more gradual hand-off. The transition terms are negotiated in the LOI and formalized in the purchase agreement.
What causes deals to take longer (or fall apart)
The most common delays: a landlord who is slow or obstructive on the lease assignment; incomplete or disorganized financial records from the seller that stall underwriting; a gap between buyer and seller on transition expectations discovered late rather than in the LOI; or financing that takes longer than expected because of complexity or a generalist lender unfamiliar with dental deals.
Deals that fall apart most often do so over: an unassignable lease with a landlord who insists on re-leasing at current market rates; due diligence findings that reveal the financial picture is materially different from what was represented; or a buyer who loses financing after the LOI is accepted (pre-qualification before the search reduces this risk significantly).