Private equity groups continued to hold steady interest in DSOs and certain dental procedures in 2025 as they identify new opportunities for growth and emerging technologies continue to shift the dental industry.
Here’s what three leaders told Becker’s in 2025 about how private equity is changing the DSO space:
Barry Lyon, DDS, dental director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and Dental Care Alliance: Private equity firms have energized the growth of DSOs because they recognized how stable, profitable and recession proof dentistry is. As a result, their added capital has led to even more growth and an increased utilization of the newest technologies. PE investment also allows DSOs to quickly acquire more practices, achieve economies of scale, hire more staff and renovate existing infrastructure.
Jason Auerbach, DDS, the co-CEO of Hackensack, N.J.-based MAX Surgical Specialty Management: I think more and more people are seeing oral and maxillofacial surgery as really a tremendous opportunity. It’s a healthy business. There are strong margins, and it’s a nuanced business. I do think you’re going to see some private equity investors that are maybe not as aware of the nuances of this specific specialty, who may or may not do as well, and then those who really understand the surgeon mentality and the focus on the surgeon, not just the focus on EBITDA and analytics and things like that, are going to start separating themselves clearly from the pack. As long as the macro economy continues to be strong, you’re going to start to see a continued interest in the field.
Haim Haviv, the founder and CEO of Hudson Dental in New York City: I think it’s been interesting to see how smaller platforms still get the appetite of private equity investors, whereas it used to be the aggregation, and you buy a lot and you have private equity groups coming after you. We’re seeing private equity groups going after the smaller groups that have that potential and are willing to come in earlier than to come in when you have 100 or more locations. We’re seeing private equity coming at an earlier stage, and willing to go with these smaller groups that are more nimble.
