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States do not regulate one uniform legal object called a “DSO.” Depending on the jurisdiction, the regulated party may be a support company, a dental business manager, the entity offering care, or a non-dentist practice owner. Ordinary entity formation and foreign qualification do not satisfy those dental-specific requirements. Use this guide to identify the filing path, then confirm the current statute, rule, form, and trigger through the linked primary authority.

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Texas: annual Secretary of State registration

Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 73 (S.B. 519, effective September 1, 2015) requires any entity that provides two or more business support services to a Texas dentist under an agreement to register with the Secretary of State.1
1

Determine coverage

Two or more business support services to any Texas dentist triggers the duty. Exemptions are narrow: an accountant providing only accounting, an attorney providing only legal counsel, an insurance company providing only policies (§ 73.003).
2

File, and calendar the renewal

Register annually with the Secretary of State by January 31 (§ 73.005); an entity first meeting the definition mid-year files within 90 days of executing the services agreement.
3

Disclose what the statute requires

The filing names the DSO, each dentist receiving services and their location, every owner holding 10% or more, whether dentist or non-dentist, and the services provided to each dentist (§ 73.004).
Failure to file draws a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day, each day a separate violation (§ 73.006), and the Secretary of State shares registration data with the dental board (§ 73.007).

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Nevada: business-manager registration and a percentage-fee restriction

Nevada’s framework contains two separate obligations:
  1. Registration. “A person who manages the business of a dental practice, office or clinic shall register with the Board.” The registration includes the manager’s name and business address, practice addresses, and the identity of the dentist or entity whose business is managed. NRS 631.388.2
  2. The support-services safe harbor conditions. A non-licensee may provide support goods and services only if it does not take “payments based on a percentage or share of revenues or profits of the dental practice” and does not exercise authority or control over clinical practice. NRS 631.215(2)(i), 631.3455–.3456.2 Lay ownership or control of a Nevada dental practice can constitute illegal practice under NRS 631.395(10), and the board may seek revocation of a violating support company’s state business license under NRS 631.3457.
Use a nonpercentage methodology in the documents and operations. A fixed or cost-plus formula may fit the percentage restriction, but neither is an automatic safe harbor from Nevada’s separate clinical-control and illegal-practice rules, and registration does not cure a noncompliant fee.

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Kansas: board registration plus statutory contract limits

Kansas’ 2011 package (L. 2011, ch. 114) has two operative sections:3
  • K.S.A. 65-1470: registration. A non-dentist entity contracting to provide dental-office administrative services must register with the Kansas Dental Board. The filing identifies the company, contacts, responsible person, and dentist practice-owners served. It is due within 30 days after executing a contract, and changes must be reported within 30 days. The entity must also keep copies of administrative-services contracts available for board inspection.
  • K.S.A. 65-1471: contract limits. An agreement may not give a non-dentist control over treatment, patient acceptance, delegation of professional services, ownership of patient records, ownership of dental equipment and materials except through permitted leases or financing, or supervision of clinical staff. The statute identifies administrative services such as purchasing, billing, payroll, advertising, and recruiting that may be performed with the dentist’s consent. Indemnification clauses for dental-practice-act violations are void.
Remember Kansas’ unusual practice-side rules while you’re there: the owner-dentist must be personally present at least 20% of patient-treatment time, and office counts are capped (K.S.A. 65-1435).

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New Mexico: the non-dentist owner itself is licensed

New Mexico licenses the non-dentist owner. An individual or corporate entity within the statutory definition that employs or contracts with dentists or hygienists must obtain a license from the Board of Dental Health Care (NMSA 1978, §§ 61-5A-3, 61-5A-5(H), and 61-5A-5.1); operating without complying is a misdemeanor under § 61-5A-18(C).10 The Board materially amended 16.5.9 NMAC effective April 21, 2026. The current rule reaches telehealth; requires 30-day reporting for specified ownership, entity, officer, director, agent, licensee, and discipline changes; and calls for detailed application disclosures about the applicant, parent, owners, facility manager, discipline, civil actions, and bankruptcy. Facility and manager changes have a separate 60-day reporting rule. The license is nontransferable, location-posted, and renewed triennially. Exemptions include specified governmental, educational, FQHC, nonprofit-community, hospital, and hygienist-owned settings, plus a one-year surviving-spouse window. Determine exemption from the exact text rather than from the organization’s tax status alone.

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Arizona: business-entity registration plus continuing duties

Arizona takes a different approach. A.R.S. § 32-1213 allows a business entity of otherwise lawful ownership to offer dental services if it registers with the Board of Dental Examiners. The filing discloses services, the responsible dentist and records custodian for each office, and the entity’s officers and directors, and it is renewed every three years.4 Operating a dental business without the registration is a felony under § 32-1261. Registration does not replace the statute’s other requirements or any entity, professional-license, facility, payer, or local filing. Section 32-1213 also addresses change reporting, record custody, clinical judgment, and lawful business policies. Arizona enacted H.B. 2308 as 2026 Laws chapter 89. Its new § 32-1213(O)–(P) restriction on ownership by a dental insurer or its holding company is scheduled to take effect September 12, 2026. It is a targeted insurer-affiliation restriction, not a repeal of the general registered-business-entity pathway; insurer-affiliated transactions therefore require date-specific analysis.4

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Other filings and filing-adjacent rules

The compliance calendar should also carry these professional-entity, care-delivery, trade-name, and contract requirements. They are not all DSO registrations, and the identity of the filer matters:

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Verify it worked

  • Every state where the DSO serves a dentist checked against the state table. Analyze the law where the dentist practices, not only where the DSO was formed.
  • Texas: filed by January 31, owners ≥10% disclosed, renewal calendared
  • Nevada: board registration current, and no percentage-of-revenue fee anywhere in the Nevada stack
  • Kansas: registration current, contract copies inspection-ready, MSA conforms to 65-1471
  • Arizona: business-entity registration per office, triennial renewal calendared, records custodian current
  • Arizona insurer-affiliation restriction tested against the transaction date and September 12, 2026 effective date
  • New Mexico: non-dentist owner license or exact exemption confirmed before covered operations; 30-day and 60-day change clocks calendared
  • Registration disclosures consistent with the MSA, the franchise/trade-name filings, and what the practices’ websites say

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Sources

  1. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 73. S.B. 519 enrolled text; official statute PDF.
  2. NRS 631.215, 631.3455–631.3457, 631.388, and 631.395, NRS ch. 631 (official).
  3. K.S.A. 65-1470; K.S.A. 65-1471; K.S.A. 65-1435.
  4. A.R.S. § 32-1213; A.R.S. § 32-1261; board registration instructions; H.B. 2308, 2026 Laws chapter 89; Arizona general effective-date notice.
  5. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-40.2, enacted by S.L. 2012-195; 21 NCAC 16X .0101 (PDF); NC Board of Dental Examiners, management arrangements page.
  6. Mississippi Board of Dental Examiners, Regulation 55.
  7. Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, Oklahoma Statutes as of July 1, 2026 (PDF), §§ 328.31, 328.31a.
  8. Ala. Code §§ 34-9-7.2, 34-9-9, in the Dental Practice Act of Alabama (2024 recompilation).
  9. Colo. Dental Board Rule 1.7 under S.B. 25-194 (2025), Colorado Secretary of State eDocket 2026-00138 and current 3 CCR 709-1.
  10. Dental Health Care Act §§ 61-5A-3, -5, -5.1, and -18, New Mexico OneSource; current 16.5.9 NMAC; April 21, 2026 filed amendments.
Last modified on August 21, 2026