From the British Army to Building a £24M Dental Group | Mark Aichroth #46

Can a dental practice owner sell part of their business without surrendering its culture, identity or day-to-day control?In this episode of The Business of a Clinic, Jared Aron speaks with Mark Aichroth, co-founder and CEO of DeNovo Dental Partners, about a different model for dental consolidation: shared ownership.Mark’s career has taken him from 10 years as an officer in the British Army to hospital administration with Humana and HCA, health insurance, the early team at Circle and, eventually, dental acquisitions. Those experiences shaped his belief that healthcare businesses work best when clinicians have genuine ownership and influence.Mark explains how DeNovo grew to 16 practices, approximately £24 million in revenue and more than 300 employees. He breaks down how its partnership structure works, including its combination of cash and parent-company shares, incentives for EBITDA growth and the balance between practice autonomy and financial accountability.Jared and Mark also discuss why the traditional “buy, combine and sell” rollup model is becoming less effective, why simply acquiring more practices is vanity without operational growth, and how shared ownership can improve culture, succession and staff retention.They cover: How military leadership translates into healthcare  Earning trust and credibility with clinicians  Building a dental group from an idea  The economics of shared ownership  Why dentists resist top-down consolidation  Practice autonomy and EBITDA accountability  Shared services and dentist-led knowledge sharing  Staff ownership and retention  Measuring clinical excellence  What makes a dental practice attractive to DeNovo  The importance of chemistry during an acquisition  DeNovo’s ambition to grow beyond 100 practices  AI, digital imaging and the future of dentistry A conversation for dental practice owners, healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and operators looking for a more durable way to build healthcare groups.