A study of private equity and dental practices: "Percentage Of Dentists And Dental Practices Affiliated With Private Equity Nearly Doubled, 2015-21" - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39102603/
The abstract: "Over the course of the past twenty years, private equity (PE) has played a role in acquiring medical practices, hospitals, and nursing homes. More recently, PE has taken a greater interest in acquiring dental practices, but few data exist about the scope of PE activity within dentistry. We analyzed dentist provider data for the period 2015-21 to examine trends in PE acquisition of dental practices. The percentage of dentists affiliated with PE increased from 6.6 percent in 2015 to 12.8 percent in 2021. During this period, PE affiliation increased particularly among larger dental practices and among dental specialists such as endodontists, oral surgeons, and pediatric dentists. PE-affiliated dental practices were more likely to participate in Medicaid than practices not affiliated with PE. Future research should investigate whether PE's role in dentistry affects the affordability and quality of dental services."
Is it generally true that a dental practice that is a franchise is private-equity backed? The original article mentions Aspen Dental. If I wanted to know about (say) SmileBuilderz, how could I find out?
The abstract: "Over the course of the past twenty years, private equity (PE) has played a role in acquiring medical practices, hospitals, and nursing homes. More recently, PE has taken a greater interest in acquiring dental practices, but few data exist about the scope of PE activity within dentistry. We analyzed dentist provider data for the period 2015-21 to examine trends in PE acquisition of dental practices. The percentage of dentists affiliated with PE increased from 6.6 percent in 2015 to 12.8 percent in 2021. During this period, PE affiliation increased particularly among larger dental practices and among dental specialists such as endodontists, oral surgeons, and pediatric dentists. PE-affiliated dental practices were more likely to participate in Medicaid than practices not affiliated with PE. Future research should investigate whether PE's role in dentistry affects the affordability and quality of dental services."
The original article is paywalled - only the abstract is available - so here's an article which summarizes it: https://adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2024/august/private-equity-...
And sort of related to get an idea of the money involved: "Selling up for millions: Equity arbitrage increasing wealth of US dentists, but not for long" - https://www.dental-tribune.com/news/selling-up-for-millions-...
Is it generally true that a dental practice that is a franchise is private-equity backed? The original article mentions Aspen Dental. If I wanted to know about (say) SmileBuilderz, how could I find out?