ANALYSIS

Why the dental business became more and more like pulling teeth

The increased financial strain on Mydentist has caught the eye of the City, which is asking if the pain will ever end
The increased financial strain on Mydentist has caught the eye of the City, which is asking if the pain will ever end
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If you are an NHS dental patient, there is a better than one in ten chance that you are a customer of Integrated Dental Holdings, better known as Mydentist.

The private equity-owned dental practice owner has grown nationwide in a dozen years of debt-fuelled buying that has made it the biggest dental services company not merely in Britain but Europe. In the past seven years alone, Mydentist has acquired 237 dental practices, increasing its network to more than 600.

Yet having grown so rapidly in the recent past, questions now are being asked about its future. Results last month showed why, as revenues fell for the third straight year, while pre-tax losses nearly doubled to £144 million. With more than £1 billion of debt, including