Selling One Practice Without Leaving Dentistry Behind
Katie and Malcolm Campbell did not set out to become vendors. They built their first practice in 2017, then added a second in 2021, and the timing of that expansion collided almost immediately with the demands of family life and a newborn child. The strain of managing two practices while raising young children changed the calculation around ownership. What had once looked like the natural next step in growth became a far more complicated question about energy, control and sustainability.
For practice owners, the appeal of independence is obvious. It gives room to shape the patient journey, set the standard of care and build a team culture that reflects personal values. It also carries the burden of every operational failure, refurbishment delay, staffing challenge and financial pressure. Katie and Malcolm’s experience sits squarely in that tension. They remained deeply invested in the identity of the practice, but the cost of holding everything themselves became harder to ignore.
One sentence captures the turning point: the quality of life was out of kilter.
When Growth Outran Capacity
The second practice was not a simple bolt-on acquisition. It came with an established patient base, a building in poor condition and a full renovation and refurbishment ahead. That combination would test any owner. For a couple already managing one practice, two young children and the ordinary unpredictability of clinical life, the workload became overwhelming. The business was growing, but the personal bandwidth needed to sustain that growth was shrinking.
Their instinct was not to hand the practice over to a traditional corporate group. The couple were clear that patient experience and close oversight mattered too much for a model that might dilute their involvement. They also were not ready to sell both practices. A partial sale offered a middle ground: relief from some of the operational weight without severing the professional and emotional ties that had been built over years.
That is where DeNovo Dental Partners entered the picture. The model initially seemed unfamiliar, particularly the share structure, but the couple took time to understand it rather than dismiss it. In practice ownership, unfamiliarity often triggers caution, and rightly so. A sale reshapes not only governance but also the emotional relationship between founder and business. Katie and Malcolm approached the decision like clinicians do with a complex case: they asked questions, sought advice and tested whether the arrangement made sense in real life, not just on paper.
Why Cultural Fit Mattered More Than Speed
The decision did not turn on price alone. It turned on people.
Katie and Malcolm repeatedly returned to the quality of the conversations they had with DeNovo leadership. Caron Best, the chief operating officer, was described as having a strong grasp of the realities of their businesses. Kristen Pope, the chief integration, partnership and communication officer, became the main point of contact during the sale and was central to making the process feel transparent and manageable. Communication was direct, concerns were handled quickly and the tone stayed measured rather than aggressive.
In a sector where practice sales can feel transactional, that mattered. Owners often worry that a larger group will treat a long-established practice like a line item rather than a living clinical community. Their experience with DeNovo was the opposite. The process felt collaborative, and the couple felt heard rather than processed. For owners who have spent years investing in staff loyalty, patient relationships and local reputation, that distinction carries real weight.
The choice to partner with DeNovo was also shaped by the couple’s appreciation of control. They were not looking to disappear from the business. They wanted to remain involved while stepping back from some of the day-to-day pressures that ownership had come to represent. In effect, the sale created a new clinical and commercial rhythm: less administrative strain, more room to focus on the parts of dentistry they valued most.
A Different Shape for Ownership
Since the sale at the end of December last year, the couple have found reassurance in the broader network around them. Their interactions with other Partners and DeNovo team members reinforced the sense that they had entered a partnership rather than surrendered autonomy. The collaborative atmosphere was not a marketing slogan in their account; it was something they encountered repeatedly in day-to-day contact.
That matters because the success of a practice sale is rarely measured on signing day. The real test comes later, when the former owners see whether the new structure supports their work, their team and their personal lives. Katie and Malcolm describe the work-life balance as the most obvious gain. They are still involved, still connected to the practice they built and still able to shape its direction, but without carrying the same burden alone.
For many practice owners, the emotional barrier to selling is the fear of losing identity. A practice is not just an asset; it is years of clinical judgment, staff management, patient trust and personal sacrifice. A sale can feel like an ending. Their experience suggests another possibility: a structured partnership can preserve continuity while reducing exhaustion. In this case, the move allowed them to protect what mattered most while loosening the grip of everything that no longer fit family life or professional sustainability.
The result is not withdrawal. It is recalibration.
What Their Experience Says to Other Owners
Every practice sale begins from a different starting point. Some owners are ready to exit completely. Others want to grow. Some want succession planning. Others need help absorbing the strain of expansion, refurbishment or staffing pressure. The Campbells’ decision sits in the middle of those realities. They were not driven by a single crisis, but by the accumulation of demands that made a different ownership model feel sensible.
Their account also shows why future arrangements in dentistry increasingly depend on alignment of values. Shared ownership, cultural compatibility and open communication can be as important as financial terms. A deal that ignores those elements may look efficient on paper and fail in practice. Here, the partnership worked because it respected the identity of the practice and the priorities of the people who built it.
For owners weighing their own next move, the lesson is straightforward: a sale does not have to mean stepping away from everything. It can mean choosing a structure that makes continued involvement possible without sacrificing family life or personal sustainability. In a profession where burnout is often discussed but not always solved, that option will matter to many more owners than the headline suggests.