Making the case for rural and remote dental practices in Canada.

As a dental practice appraiser and broker, my goal has always been to do the best I can for the vendor dentist whose practice I represent. Doing one’s best usually means undertaking measures to get an offer to purchase that includes the best price for the practice with the fewest conditions and that closes within a time frame that suits the owner. In locations where there is high demand and often an insufficient supply, selling practices is not without challenges. Both vendors and buyers may have high expectations and transactions may move quickly with multiple players involved as several prospective buyers compete for a practice. However, representing dental practices in rural and remote Canada (and I am not sure where these boundaries start and stop) presents a different challenge. In these “geographically challenged” situations, simply getting the vendor (usually a retiring dentist) any offer, for any price and with any conditions that the buyer wishes to impose is sometimes as good as it gets. The economic drivers supply and demand are certainly at work here — and, if I might suggest, are to blame for this. Although many successful dentists and dental practices — successful according to whatever measuring stick one wishes to use — exist in non-urban settings across Canada, there are, unfortunately, not as many practitioners prepared to move into these communities and take over and operate these practices. Why is this? It could be because of some ill-informed negative stereotype of small town life (i.e., fewer cultural and entertainment opportunities, decreased ability to practise one’s faith, smaller schools). There may also be a perception that financial success is not possible (due to less disposable income for health care in general or no demand for comprehensive care). In my company’s experience, it seems that the desire of a high percentage of today’s young practitioners to live in an urban setting is so strong that it virtually excludes any other possibility.