How much does a dental practice owner make?
A general dentist who owns a practice earned $228,980 on average in 2025 and $199,140 at the median, according to the ADA Health Policy Institute's Survey of Dental Practice. Specialist owners averaged $372,460 (median $259,550). Employed general dentists averaged $164,510, so on these figures owning a practice added about $64,000 a year on average and about $34,000 at the median.
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Definition
In the ADA's Survey of Dental Practice, an owner's income is net income from the main practice: what the dentist takes home after practice expenses and before personal income tax, counting salary, bonuses and the practice's profit, plus payments into a retirement plan.
The detail
The ADA's headline figure, $215,320, is its 2025 average for every general dentist in private practice, owners and non-owners together. Split by ownership, the same survey says more. Owner general dentists averaged $228,980, and half of them earned $199,140 or less. Solo owners averaged $207,520. Owners working alongside at least one other dentist averaged $262,880, which fits what a group owner can do and a solo owner cannot: earn on an associate's production and spread rent and front-desk costs over more chairs.
Read an owner's income in two parts: what you would earn treating the same patients as an employee, and what ownership adds for running the business and carrying the loan. Employed general dentists earned a median $165,520 in 2025, so the median owner's premium was $33,620 (Sorso arithmetic on the ADA figures). The spread is wide. A quarter of owner general dentists earned $137,010 or less, below the employed median, while the top quarter earned $295,370 or more. Owners also work 2.5 more hours a week than employed dentists, according to the ADA.
That premium has been shrinking. Comparing 2011 to 2015 with 2021 to 2025 in inflation-adjusted dollars, the ADA found that incomes of owner general dentists fell by $23,000 while non-owner incomes were essentially unchanged. The ADA's explanation is a fiscal squeeze: over a five-year period, revenues rose 1.4% and expenses rose 4.9%.
Can an owner make $500,000? It is possible, but it sits above the top quarter of both owner general dentists ($295,370) and owner specialists ($436,420). Specialist owners averaged $372,460 in 2025. Pediatric dentists, owners and employees together, averaged $328,500; the ADA's sample was too small to report the other specialties on their own.
BLS data, the other common source, put the median general dentist at $170,950 in May 2025. BLS wage figures leave out unincorporated owners, year-end bonuses and retirement-plan payments, all of which the ADA survey counts, so they understate what owners take home.
To find your own premium, add up everything the practice paid you last year: salary, distributions, retirement contributions and personal costs run through the business. Subtract what an associate would cost to cover your chair time. If what is left is thin, start with overhead and collections before chasing more production; the dental profit margin benchmarks show where to look. Ownership also builds an asset you can sell, which this yearly comparison leaves out, and dental EBITDA multiples cover that side.
| Dentist type | Average | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner general dentists, all | $228,980 | $137,010 | $199,140 | $295,370 |
| Solo owner general dentists | $207,520 | $115,200 | $179,360 | $270,210 |
| Owner general dentists working with other dentists | $262,880 | $171,230 | $217,490 | $318,090 |
| Employed general dentists | $164,510 | $129,280 | $165,520 | $191,470 |
| All general dentists | $215,320 | $133,700 | $185,010 | $249,810 |
| Owner specialists, all | $372,460 | $190,820 | $259,550 | $436,420 |
Source: ADA Health Policy Institute, 2026 Survey of Dental Practice, Table 1 (2025 incomes). Net income is before personal income tax and includes retirement-plan payments; figures are not adjusted for inflation. The survey had 1,113 responses (a 1.9% response rate), weighted to the national population, and the employed row rests on 65 responses. The owner premiums in the text are Sorso arithmetic on these rows.
Owner general dentists earned $228,980 on average in 2025 (median $199,140); employed general dentists earned $164,510 (median $165,520).
Source: ADA Health Policy Institute, Survey of Dental Practice, Table 1, 2026
The average net income for general dentists in private practice was $215,320 in 2025, and $346,520 for specialists.
Source: ADA Health Policy Institute, Dental practice research, 2026
Comparing 2011 to 2015 with 2021 to 2025, inflation-adjusted incomes fell by $23,000 for owner general dentists, while non-owner incomes were essentially unchanged.
Source: ADA Health Policy Institute, Trends in Dentists' Income, Revenue, and Hours Worked, 2026
Over a five-year period, dental practice revenues went up 1.4% while expenses went up 4.9%.
Source: ADA Health Policy Institute, Trends in dentists' income, revenue and hours worked, 2026
The median annual wage for general dentists was $170,950 in May 2025. BLS wage data do not include self-employed workers.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Dentists, 2025
What this means for clinic owners
From Sorso
If your practice collects $2M or more, you most likely work alongside other dentists, so compare yourself with that group of owners: $217,490 at the median and $318,090 at the top-quarter mark in 2025. Take your total take-home, subtract what an associate would cost for your chair time, and look at the remainder. That is your pay for carrying the loan, the payroll and the management work. When it is close to zero, you are taking an owner's risk for an employee's income, and the overhead lines are the first place to look.
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What is the average EBITDA multiple for dental practices?
FOCUS Investment Banking publishes a ladder by adjusted EBITDA with the buyer type named on each rung: under $1M at 5–7×, $1M to $3M at 7–9×, $3M to $5M at 9–11×, and $5M+ at 10–12× in select cases. McLerran & Associates puts platform-grade groups above $5M in adjusted EBITDA at 10x to 12x or more and leaves its lower tiers unnumbered. Neither firm publishes an absolute multiple for orthodontics, oral surgery or pediatric dentistry; McLerran says only that specialty practices run roughly 1 to 3 additional turns of EBITDA above general dentistry at the same size tier. Scale, not clinical quality, is what moves you up the ladder.
What is a good profit margin for a dental practice?
A healthy general dental practice keeps 35 to 45 percent of collections for the owner (pre-tax profit plus owner pay). That is a Sorso estimate: it is what remains after the 55 to 65 percent overhead range ZenOne cites from Overjet's 2025 data, and Overjet's national median overhead of about 62 percent leaves about 38 percent. Pay the owner a market salary for the dentistry and the normalized EBITDA margin is lower, and it rises with practice size.
What is a good overhead ratio for medical practices?
A good overhead ratio depends on the specialty: 55 to 65 percent of collections in general dentistry, with a national median near 62 percent (ZenOne, citing Overjet's 2025 data), 72.9 percent of net revenue in medical dermatology and 75.1 percent in cosmetic (FTI Consulting), and 80.8 percent in outpatient physical therapy (U.S. Physical Therapy's FY2025 10-K). An 80.8 percent ratio is normal in physical therapy and would be far too high in dentistry, which is why a single cross-specialty target is worse than none.
What is the average revenue per provider?
There is no single average: revenue per provider depends on specialty, and the one broad survey that reports it, MGMA's, is a paid product. The published figures you can check are narrower. FTI Consulting's 2019 benchmarks put median revenue per FTE physician at $1.3 million in medical dermatology and $1.8 million in cosmetic dermatology, and in a Sorso calculation from CMS's 2024 provider-level data the median ophthalmologist received $167,145 in Medicare payments and the median orthopedic surgeon $96,684, from Medicare alone.
Sources
- ADA Health Policy Institute, Dental practice research (2025 income and billings FAQ)
- ADA Health Policy Institute, Survey of Dental Practice: income, gross billings, expenses, 2025 results (XLSX)
- ADA Health Policy Institute, Trends in Dentists' Income, Revenue, and Hours Worked, 2026 (PDF)
- ADA Health Policy Institute, Trends in dentists' income, revenue and hours worked
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Dentists
Founder of Sorso and a CFA charterholder. Before Sorso, Stan spent 19 years in corporate finance at institutions including UniCredit and Société Générale — managing a $450M loan portfolio and making senior partner at a major mezzanine lender by 29 — then built a fractional CFO firm exclusively for outpatient healthcare clinics.
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