Dr. Brennan had been running his general dental practice in coastal Massachusetts for over 30 years. The practice served that community even longer – 75 years in the same downtown location. He’d purchased it from the original owner and built the kind of patient loyalty that takes decades to earn.
By his early sixties, Dr. Brennan wasn’t looking to retire. He had another 5-10 years of practicing in him, maybe more. But he was thinking about what would be next. The practice had been his life’s work. Getting the transition right mattered.
When a regional DSO approached him, the conversation felt productive. They knew the New England market. They had practices throughout the region. The offer was straightforward: acquire the practice, keep him on as long as he wanted to stay, and provide the operational support that comes with being part of a larger organization. The terms seemed fair. The timeline made sense.
Dr. Brennan knew his share of practice owners who’d sold and regretted it – misaligned expectations, cultural clashes, buyers who said one thing during courtship and did another after closing. The offer he had in hand didn’t raise any red flags. It felt like a reasonable path forward.
He was close to moving forward when a longtime friend, someone who’d known him for 30 years, told him not to make any decisions until he talked with PTG.
Opening Up the Market
The friend connected Dr. Brennan with Brian, a PTG advisor working in the New England dental market. Brian’s take was direct: Dr. Brennan could do better – better structure, better alignment, better economics.
Dr. Brennan was already talking with the regional DSO. Brian and Thomas were confident they could beat that offer. Thomas walked him through what the full spectrum of value could look like beyond what was on the table. Within two weeks, Dr. Brennan signed on with PTG.
The practice had clear strengths – prime downtown location, decades of patient relationships, and staff who’d been there for years. It also carried the realities of a practice that had found its rhythm decades ago. Paper records. Practice management software that hadn’t been updated in years. A team comfortable with how things worked. The right buyer would need to see the underlying value and want to partner with Dr. Brennan long-term, not just acquire the patient base.
PTG brought in several groups. Two buyers stood out.
Two Very Different Conversations
The Chicago-based buyer made a strong financial offer. Their meetings focused on multiples, earnout structures, and financial upside. The economics were competitive.
The local Massachusetts buyer took a different approach. Within the first meeting, he and Dr. Brennan discovered they knew many of the same people – mutual connections through youth hockey, shared ties to Dr. Brennan’s hometown. But the relationship went beyond personal rapport.
This buyer was building a dental group around a clinical partnership, not just acquiring locations. He saw Dr. Brennan as someone who could help shape what the organization became – and his offer reflected that vision.
Beyond acquiring the practice, he offered Dr. Brennan equity in the parent company, a clinical partnership role, and the option to take equity stakes in future acquisitions the group made. Every time the group bought another practice, Dr. Brennan could participate. His equity position would compound with the organization’s growth.
Dr. Brennan had two legitimate offers on the table. The Chicago buyer brought strong economics. But when he looked at the local buyer’s structure, he saw something different: what his next decade of work could actually look like.
He chose the partnership.
Closing the Deal
They moved forward, expecting to close in six months. It took over a year.
The landlord attempted to rewrite the lease during assignment and increase costs. The topco equity structure required far more complex legal documentation than a standard acquisition. Midway through, the buyer brought in an associate to reduce clinical concentration risk, which meant negotiating another set of partnership terms.
Each complication had the potential to kill the deal. Brian pushed back on the landlord’s attempts to rewrite terms. The legal teams worked through the topco documentation carefully – rushing it would have created problems later. When the associate partnership came into play, it added weeks to an already extended timeline.
Dr. Brennan’s response when Brian updated him on delays stayed consistent: these things take time. He’d chosen the partnership structure because the upside was worth the complexity.
Just before the year ended, everything was in place. The deal closed.
What Changed
Dr. Brennan could have taken the regional DSO’s offer and been done months earlier. Many practice owners in his position would have. The terms were fair, the buyer was credible, and the process was already underway.
Instead, he’s now a clinical partner in a growing dental group. When the organization acquires another practice, he has the option to participate – adding to his equity position with each deal. He’s helping identify practitioners and practices in his network who might be good fits. The buyer calls him for input on decisions about how the group develops. His next 5-10 years of work look completely different than it would have as an employed dentist working for the DSO.
PTG found the buyer who saw that potential and structured the deal to make it possible. The DSO offer would have made him an employed dentist with a paycheck. This made him an equity partner with a growing stake in something he’s helping build.
Note: Details have been anonymized to protect client confidentiality.