Succession Planning Isn't About Selling. It's About Not Going Out in a Wheelchair

Succession Planning Isn't About Selling. It's About Not Going Out in a Wheelchair

You're 55. You have a good practice. You haven't thought about succession because you plan to work until 65. What happens if you have a stroke at 60? Your family has no plan. Your practice shuts down. Your staff loses income. Your patients disappear.

Succession planning isn't sexy. It's insurance. It's a one-page document that says: if I can't work, this associate takes over. If my associate can't take over, the practice sells to this buyer. If the buyer falls through, we wind down and pay staff severance.

The baseline: identify an associate who could eventually run the practice. Have a conversation. Not a job offer. A real conversation about what they want and what you're building toward. Does your practice have systems that don't depend on you clinically? If not, build them. That's year one of succession planning.

Year two, have your associate work more complex cases under your supervision. Build their confidence and their connection to your patients. Year three, draft a buy-sell agreement. Get it reviewed by a dental-specific attorney (important: not a general attorney).

Cost: maybe $3K for legal review of an agreement. The alternative is your family scrambling when you're gone.

Action: Identify your potential successor this month. Have coffee and talk about the future. See if there's actual alignment. That conversation changes everything.

Sources: Dental practice transition planning guides, succession planning case studies, legal framework documentation