Have you ever received a letter from a dental insurance company, dental board or a disgruntled employee asking for something or asking you to respond? Did you know what to do? These letters can be intimidating and can create fear of litigation.

Framed in the simplest terms possible, legal disputes are expensive. They waste valuable time and money, and can cause a wealth of other issues along the way. The best way to stop this problem is to try and completely avoid disputes and work to minimize risks. By memorializing your dental practice’s business agreements in contract, you can limit the possible amounts of mitigation you will need to do later. You can even avoid trials by including binding language regarding mediation and arbitration. Overall, making sure that your contract language is both clear and detailed is the first step towards successfully memorializing your business agreements.

Opening a new dental office is a dream come true for 80 percent of dentists in America. For many dentists, excitement about opening a new practice begins to build long before they complete their degree and training. But if you are like many new dentists, you might be unsure about the steps you need to take to obtain funding and achieve a successful opening. Fortunately, a business plan can help you achieve both of these goals. Below is a look at the important role a business plan plays when opening your dental office and the key elements that you should include in your business plan.

If you are the owner of a dental practice, knowing what to look for and what to include in an associate contract is critical in protecting your best interests. Several main components that an associate contract should include are the salary and benefits package, the terms of employment, and what happens in the case of a separation. Below are several key items that you should include or keep an eye out for when negotiating associate contracts.

If you are the owner of a dental practice, you inevitably have to consider the long-term vision of your business. This can include self-evaluations of your practice, whether you want to sell and when, as well as the impacts each of these decisions might have on your finances. As these can be life-altering choices for your future and retirement, you should consider a number of thoughts along the way.

Dental practice buy-ins and the partnership agreements they often require can be challenging issues for any practice, and carry with them a number of potential problems and legal ramifications for the unprepared. Understanding the legal aspects of practice buy-ins and partnership agreements will encourage you to solve problems even before they start. Like any change to a business, preparation is key. Once you have completed your due diligence, valued the practice, and agreed upon a purchase price and financing structure, a partnership agreement will need to be agreed upon and drafted.

What does a non-competition agreement mean?

There are usually three scenarios when non-competition agreements or as some refer to as, restrictive covenants come into play.

Shareholder agreements: what, exactly, are they? How will they help you form the backbone of your dental practice? If you're thinking about forming a partnership with another dentist, especially if you're thinking about forming a partnership with several dentists, it's important that you understand the distinction between shareholder agreements and partnership agreements--and how shareholder agreements can help improve the functionality of your practice. 

Properly classifying your staff is one of the most crucial aspects of managing a practice. In fact, failure to do so can result in major problems; this includes fines and penalties from local, state, and federal agencies. Further, improper classifications can result in unpaid overtime, back pay of wages, interest, and your time. In escalated situations, a lawsuit or class action lawsuit could be filed against you, resulting in hefty additional attorney’s fees. The best approach to preventing any of these nightmarish possibilities from occurring is being proactive in familiarizing yourself with the meaning and understanding of classifications in relations to independent contractors and employee exemptions.

Once you have decided that you would like to sell your dental practice, there are a number of steps that you can take which will aid you in the success and compliance of the sale. You will undoubtedly want to get the most “bang for your buck” with the least hassle. Further, you will likely want to make the transfer as seamless as possible. With the ability to properly prepare in advance, you can easily make a sale and transfer your practice and be confident in those actions.