Who can own a dental practice, and what it means for your sale

It depends on the state. In Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina, owning or running a dental office counts as practicing dentistry, with exceptions. Arizona requires a practice with any non-dentist owner to register with its dental board.

Last updated October 14, 2026

General information, not legal or tax advice. It covers nine states (Pennsylvania in part); confirm how the rules apply with a dental-practice attorney in your state and your CPA.

Can a non-dentist own a dental practice?

In Arizona, a practice with a non-dentist owner may offer dental services if it registers with the state dental board and licensees perform the services. Of the other eight states here, some treat owning the office as practicing dentistry, some reserve professional entities for licensed dentists, and some limit what a non-dentist may control.

Who may own a dental practice, in nine states

Statutes and board rules read October 14, 2026, from the copies under Sources; Pennsylvania in part.
State	Ownership	Notable rule
Texas	Owning or running the office counts as practicing	Board rules can't bar MSO contracts
California	Running the office counts as practicing; dental corporations allowed	SB 351: on listed decisions, PE may assist; dentist decides
Florida	Only dentists or dentist PCs/LLCs may employ dentists	Non-dentist control of treatment, records, pricing, ads: felony
New York	PC shares: NY licensees practicing there; PLLCs not checked	No %-of-income fees for space, staff, equipment
Illinois	Dental PC, association, LLC or LLP; no other corporations	MSOs: non-clinical services within the Act
Pennsylvania	Not settled by the rule checked	Fictitious-name filing lists the owner
Ohio	Prof. association shares: Ohio dentists; for-profit corps (Ch. 1701)	Running the office counts as practicing
North Carolina	Owning counts as practicing; PC shares to licensees	No profit- or revenue-based fees
Arizona	Non-dentists, if the practice registers with the board	No dental insurer owners

Owning or running the office counts as practicing dentistry. In Texas, a person who owns or operates an office that employs or contracts with someone to practice dentistry is treated as practicing dentistry. So is a person who controls or interferes with a dentist's independent professional judgment on diagnosis or treatment (Occupations Code section 251.003(a)(4) and (a)(9)).

California's Business and Professions Code section 1625(e) says the same of anyone who manages or runs a place where dental operations are performed, as manager, proprietor, conductor, lessor or otherwise. A dental corporation that complies with the Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act is entitled to practice dentistry, and the estate rule below is another exception.

Ohio's Revised Code 4715.01 covers anyone who employs dentists or runs a dental office as its manager, proprietor, operator or conductor, and a dentist who works for an unlicensed proprietor can have the license suspended or revoked. Ohio's R.C. 4715.18 also lists a Chapter 1701 for-profit corporation among the forms a practice may take, and shares of a dental professional association may go only to Ohio-licensed dentists.

In North Carolina, owning, managing, supervising, controlling or conducting an enterprise where dental procedures are done is practicing dentistry and takes a North Carolina dental license, under G.S. 90-29(b)(11).

New York, Illinois and Florida limit the entities that may practice. In New York, a professional service corporation, the general form that applies to dental PCs, may issue shares only to New York licensees who practice, have practiced or will within 30 days practice in the corporation. Voting power over the shares may go only to another shareholder or to a person who would be eligible to be one if employed there (Business Corporation Law 1507(a)). New York's rules for dental PLLCs were not reviewed for this guide.

Illinois bars corporations from practicing dentistry, but its Dental Practice Act does not prohibit dental professional corporations, associations, LLCs or LLPs, or management service organizations providing non-clinical business services that do not violate the Act. A corporation that breaks the rule commits a Class A misdemeanor, and each day is a separate offense (225 ILCS 25/44).

In Florida, only a licensed dentist, or a professional corporation or LLC of dentists, may employ dentists or dental hygienists in a dental office (Florida Statutes 466.0285).

Arizona registers non-dentist owners. A practice with any non-dentist owner must register with the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners (A.R.S. 32-1213 and 32-1201(4)). Practices owned entirely by Arizona-licensed dentists are exempt, registrations expire after three years, and dental insurers and their holding companies may not hold any ownership interest.

Pennsylvania was checked only in part. The one rule checked is the State Board of Dentistry's fictitious-name rule. It asks a dentist practicing under a fictitious name to register it with the Board and identify the facility's owner if that is someone other than the registering dentist, but it does not say whether the owner must be a dentist. Ask Pennsylvania counsel before you assume a non-dentist buyer can own your practice.

What may a DSO's management company control?

Non-clinical business services, and several of these states limit some of those too. Joseph W. Gallagher, a consultant with The Health Care Group writing in AAOMS Today in 2024, describes the DSO model as a contract in which the clinical practice pays the DSO's management services organization a percentage of practice collections for administrative and operational work. The fee and the clinical decisions are where these states draw lines.

New York. Board of Regents rules make it unprofessional conduct to let anyone other than listed professional colleagues, such as a partner or employee in the practice, share in professional fees. That includes paying for space, facilities, equipment or personnel as a percentage of, or otherwise dependent on, practice income (8 NYCRR 29.1(b)(4)). It is not a ban on management fees in general.
North Carolina. A management arrangement may not let the management company control transfers of ownership in the practice, own or take exclusive control of patient records, or control the hiring and firing of clinical staff. It also may not pay the management company a fee that rises or falls with the practice's profits or revenues, though fees tied to cost savings are allowed (21 NCAC 16X .0101).
Arrangements signed, modified or renewed on or after July 7, 2026 no longer need the dental board's prior review, but the written-agreement requirements and these limits still apply, and the board can still review an arrangement when it investigates a complaint (Session Law 2026-41).
Illinois. Management service organizations may provide non-clinical business services that do not violate the Dental Practice Act. A dentist may not let anyone other than another dentist direct, control or interfere with clinical judgment. Under 225 ILCS 25/38.1, clinical judgment includes, among other things:
- Choice of treatment
- Limits on patient referrals
- Content of patient records
- Refund policies where the refund would be reportable to the National Practitioner Data Bank
- Warranty policies
- The clinical content of advertising
- Final decisions relating to the employment of dental assistants and dental hygienists
California. Since January 1, 2026, Health and Safety Code section 1191, added by SB 351, bars a private equity group or hedge fund involved with a dental practice from interfering with dentists' professional judgment and from controlling listed matters. They include owning or determining the content of patient records, selecting, hiring or firing dentists and clinical staff based on clinical competency, setting the terms of payer contracts, coding and billing decisions, and approving equipment and supplies.
The same section lets those firms assist or consult on those matters if the dentist keeps ultimate responsibility for, or approval of, the decisions. It also voids clauses in their management or asset-purchase contracts that bar a provider from competing after leaving the practice, while preserving an otherwise enforceable sale-of-business non-compete.
Florida. Through a relationship with a dentist, a non-dentist may not control the course of treatment, patient records, pricing and advertising policy, or personnel and office hours (Florida Statutes 466.0285(2)). Contracts that break the statute and were entered into or renewed on or after October 1, 1997 are void, and violations are a third-degree felony.
Texas. The dental board may bar contracts that let a non-dentist influence a dentist's independent professional judgment, but it may not adopt rules that stop a dentist from contracting with a management service organization (Occupations Code section 254.0011). That limits the board's rulemaking power. It does not give an MSO a right to own or run a Texas practice.

On May 7, 2026, California's Attorney General announced a proposed settlement with Aspen Dental Management over alleged violations of the state's ban on the corporate practice of dentistry. It included $2 million in penalties, $300,000 in restitution, and bars on owning practice property, owning or managing dental offices, and basing service fees on revenue, sales or profits. The settlement was subject to court approval, and its terms bind Aspen Dental, not every DSO.

If a DSO offer is on your desk, read the management or business services agreement as closely as the price, starting with the questions at the end of this guide.

What happens to a dental practice if the owner dies or becomes incapacitated?

Where the law allows it, the estate may keep the practice open for a limited time by hiring licensed dentists. Texas, California, Illinois and Arizona each allow up to a year. Illinois lets its regulator extend that period, and in Arizona an executor who runs the practice longer than a year must register as a business entity. In New York and North Carolina, the rules instead deal with the deceased dentist's shares, with windows of six months to a year.

Deadlines when a practice owner dies, by state

Each rule has conditions, such as notice to the board or to patients; see the notes below.
State	Who acts	Time limit
Texas	Estate or legal rep. hires a dentist	Up to 12 months
California	Estate, conservator, guardian or trustee	Up to 12 months or until sold
Illinois	Estate or guardian; solo practices	1 year or until sold; up to 3 extensions
Arizona	Estate hires a dentist	Up to 1 year; notify board in 60 days
New York PC	Corporation buys or redeems shares	6 months after appointment
North Carolina PC or PLLC	Corporation or licensed dentists	1 year; report in 30 days
Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania	None found in the dental statute	None found

Texas. Under Occupations Code section 260.001, the executor or administrator of a deceased dentist's estate, or a person legally acting for a dentist a court has found mentally incompetent, may employ a licensed dentist to carry on the practice or to wind it up, including selling its assets. A dental board rule, 22 Tex. Admin. Code 101.11(c), last amended in 2019, caps that period at 12 months from the death or the incompetency determination. The statute covers death and a court finding of mental incompetence, not disability in general.

California. When a sole proprietor or the sole shareholder of a professional dental corporation dies or becomes incapacitated, the executor, administrator, conservator, guardian or a qualifying trustee may contract with licensed dentists to keep the practice running for up to 12 months or until it is sold, whichever comes first (Business and Professions Code 1625.4).

The conditions include filing a notification with the Dental Board, using dentists whose licenses are current and undisciplined, and mailing notice to each current patient of record within 30 days, so notify the board before relying on the rule.

Illinois. The executor or administrator of a deceased dentist's estate, or the guardian or representative of an incapacitated dentist, may contract with other dentists to keep a solo-owned practice running for one year or until it is sold, whichever comes first (225 ILCS 25/38.2, as amended effective January 1, 2026).

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation may extend that by up to three more 12-month periods, on a petition granted before the current period ends. Operations may not begin until a notification is filed with the Department and notice is mailed, within 30 days, to each patient seen in the previous 12 months.

Arizona. The executor or administrator must notify the dental board within 60 days of the death and may employ a licensed dentist for up to one year to keep the practice running or wind it up, including selling its assets (A.R.S. 32-1270). An executor who runs the practice for more than a year must register as a business entity.

New York. When a shareholder of a professional service corporation dies, the corporation must buy or redeem the shares within six months after the estate's executor, administrator or other legal representative is appointed, at book value as of the end of the month before the death (Business Corporation Law 1510).

The certificate of incorporation, the bylaws or an agreement among the corporation and all shareholders can set a shorter period or a different price, and the purchase is not required if the shares are sold or transferred to another professional under Section 1511 within the same period. No New York statute letting an estate run a dental practice for a set period was found.

North Carolina. A dental professional corporation must report a shareholder's death to the licensing board within 30 days. Within one year of the death, the shares must be transferred to and acquired by the corporation or by persons qualified to own them, which for a dental corporation means licensed dentists. If the deceased owned all the shares, the heirs may hold them as long as needed to liquidate the corporation (G.S. 55B-7(b) and 57D-2-02(a), which apply the same rule to dental PLLCs).

Without an agreement that sets the value, the statute prices the shares at fair market value, but not less than book value, as of the end of the month before the death.

Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. No estate-continuation rule was found in Florida's dental statute, Chapter 466, though Board of Dentistry rules were not searched for one. When a Florida dentist dies, a board rule requires the estate to place the dental records with another Florida-licensed dentist within 90 days and publish notice (Fla. Admin. Code R. 64B5-17.001, effective June 25, 2024). No estate-continuation period was found in Ohio's dental statute or in Pennsylvania's Dental Law.

Plan for it now. The ADA's 2013 guide to valuing a practice says a purchase and sale agreement or a buy-sell agreement can provide for a purchase if an owner dies or becomes disabled, and that it is prudent to base the price in such agreements on a professional valuation. It cautions that a simple rule of thumb in a buy-sell agreement, such as a percentage of gross revenue, has led a surviving partner to pay a deceased partner's estate substantially more than fair market value.

If you have partners or an associate who wants to buy in, a buy-sell agreement priced from a professional valuation names the buyer before your family needs one. If you practice alone, a written plan for who would treat your patients and who would sell the practice gives your executor something to act on inside these deadlines. Have your attorney and CPA draft or review any buy-sell agreement or estate plan for the practice.

What do these rules mean for who can buy your practice?

Another dentist. In New York, Ohio and North Carolina, shares in a dental PC or professional association go only to licensed dentists (see the table above), so a buyer licensed only in another state needs your state's license before taking shares.

If your buyer uses an SBA 7(a) loan, the SBA's SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, asks the lender to document that a business needing professional licenses has an ownership structure that meets state requirements. The SOP does not mention dental practices. The guide to selling to an associate or another dentist covers how those buyers finance a practice.

A DSO. The ADA's guide to business services agreements with DSOs, updated January 2021, says that depending on state law a dental practice may need to be owned by a PC or PLLC that is itself owned by licensed dentists. In the closely aligned arrangement the guide describes, the practice is often sold to a professional entity, such as a PC or PLLC, that already has a relationship with the DSO. The ADA says a sale of this kind is generally irrevocable.

In that structure, a sale often means signing several agreements at once:

A purchase agreement for the clinical assets, with the professional entity
A purchase agreement for the non-clinical assets and goodwill, with the DSO
Your employment agreement with the professional entity
The management agreement between the practice and the DSO's management services organization, where the state limits above apply

The guide to selling a dental practice to a DSO covers how those offers are paid. In California, if a private equity group or hedge fund is involved, the SB 351 limits on control and on provider non-competes described above apply.

A non-dentist investor. Arizona allows non-dentist owners through the board registration described above. In other states, ask counsel whether a non-dentist investor can use the DSO structure the ADA describes.

Questions to settle with counsel before you sign

Who will own the entity that buys your clinical assets, and do its owners meet your state's licensing rules?
How is the management fee calculated?
Who will own and control the patient records after closing?
Who makes final employment decisions for your hygienists and assistants?
If you practice in California and a private equity group or hedge fund is involved, does any contract give it control of a listed decision, or bar you from competing after you leave the practice?
If you have partners, does your buy-sell agreement price the shares from a professional valuation or from a rule of thumb?

The dental practice due diligence checklist lists the documents buyers and lenders ask for, and how to sell a dental practice walks through the whole sale. To see what your practice could sell for, request a free, confidential valuation.

Sources

All sources accessed October 14, 2026.

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