Dental Non-Compete Laws in Texas: What Dentists Need to Know (2026)
Dental Non-Compete Laws in Texas: What Dentists Need to Know (2026)
> The short answer: Texas now limits dental non-competes to a five-mile radius, one-year duration, and requires a mandatory buyout option capped at your annual salary. These rules apply to any contract signed or renewed after September 1, 2025, under Senate Bill 1318.
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If you're a dentist in Texas, the rules changed in your favor and most people haven't caught up yet.
Senate Bill 1318, signed by Governor Abbott on June 20, 2025, rewrote how non-competes work for dentists in this state. Before SB 1318, Texas had no specific restrictions on dental non-compete agreements. Employers could impose whatever terms they wanted, and enforceability came down to whether a court considered the scope "reasonable." That gave employers a lot of room. Two-year restrictions, 15 to 20 mile radiuses, no buyout clause. All of it was potentially enforceable.
That's over. Starting September 1, 2025, dental non-competes in Texas have hard ceilings.
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What SB 1318 actually requires
The law creates Section 15.501 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code, which applies specifically to dentists licensed by the State Board of Dental Examiners (along with nurses and physician assistants). For any non-compete agreement signed or renewed on or after September 1, 2025, three mandatory limits apply:
Five-mile radius maximum. The geographic restriction cannot exceed five miles from your primary practice location at the time of termination. Not five miles from every office the employer operates. Five miles from where you primarily work. If your contract says 10 or 15 miles, it doesn't comply with the law.
One-year maximum duration. The non-compete expires no later than one year after your contract or employment ends. A two-year non-compete signed after September 1, 2025 is unenforceable on its face.
Mandatory buyout capped at your annual salary. Your contract must include a buyout option that lets you pay to be released from the non-compete. The buyout price cannot exceed your total annual salary and wages at the time of termination. This replaces the old "reasonable price" standard and eliminates the option for the employer to push the buyout amount to arbitration.
All three of these limits must appear in clear, conspicuous written language. If your non-compete doesn't meet all three requirements, it's not enforceable under SB 1318.
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What about contracts signed before September 2025?
SB 1318 is not retroactive. If you signed your current contract before September 1, 2025, the old rules still apply to that agreement. Your existing non-compete is governed by the law in effect when you signed it.
But here's the catch that trips people up: auto-renewal. If your contract has an automatic renewal provision and it renews after September 1, 2025, the renewed agreement falls under SB 1318. That means your 15-mile, two-year non-compete becomes unenforceable at renewal unless the employer updates it to comply with the new limits.
Check your contract's renewal date. If it renewed after September 1, 2025, you may already be under the new law whether your employer acknowledged it or not.
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What "enforceable" looked like before SB 1318
For context, Texas courts historically applied a "reasonableness" test to non-competes under Section 15.50 of the Business and Commerce Code. A non-compete had to be ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement, and the restrictions had to be reasonable in scope, duration, and geography.
In practice, Texas courts were more willing to enforce non-competes than courts in many other states. Radiuses of 10 to 15 miles and durations of 1 to 2 years were commonly upheld for dental associates. Texas courts also have the power to "reform" (modify) an overbroad non-compete rather than throwing it out entirely, meaning even an unreasonable non-compete could be narrowed by a judge and then enforced in reduced form.
SB 1318 removes the guesswork. Instead of arguing about what's "reasonable," the statute sets hard limits that both sides can read.
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Employment vs. practice sale non-competes
One area where the law is still being worked out: does SB 1318 apply to non-competes in dental practice sales?
The Texas Dental Association has flagged this as an open question. The statute's language refers to restrictions "relating to the practice of dentistry" for dentists, which could be read to include non-competes in practice sale agreements. Practice sales have traditionally been treated differently by courts. Longer durations and larger radiuses are more commonly enforced in sale situations because the buyer paid for the goodwill of the practice.
Until the courts provide specific guidance, the safest assumption is that SB 1318's limits (one year, five miles, salary-capped buyout) also apply to dental practice sale non-competes. If you're buying or selling a practice in Texas, get an attorney involved on this specific point.
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What to watch for in your Texas contract
Even under SB 1318, there are still ways a non-compete can cause problems.
Primary practice location. The five-mile radius runs from where you "primarily practiced." If your contract doesn't define your primary practice location, or if you split time between multiple offices, there could be a dispute about where the five miles starts. Make sure your contract identifies one specific location as primary.
Measurement method. SB 1318 says "five-mile radius" but doesn't specify whether that's driving distance or straight-line. I know an orthodontist in another state whose non-compete measured distance "as the crow flies," and the straight-line measurement put a practice he wanted to buy inside the zone even though it was 20 miles away by road. His employer bought the practice out from under him. In Texas, get the measurement method in writing.
Buyout calculation for collections-based dentists. The buyout is capped at "total annual salary and wages at the time of termination." If you're paid on collections or production rather than a salary, the calculation of your "annual salary and wages" could be disputed. Is it your last 12 months of collections? Your average over the contract term? The statute doesn't specify. Clarify this in your contract before you sign.
The "good cause" protection (physicians only for now). SB 1318 voids physician non-competes if the physician is terminated without "good cause." This protection is written into Section 15.50 for physicians but is not explicitly replicated in Section 15.501 for dentists. Whether dentists will receive the same protection through case law or future legislation remains to be seen. For now, if you're a dentist terminated without cause in Texas, your non-compete is still technically enforceable (within the SB 1318 limits).
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What to do right now
If you're a dentist in Texas with a non-compete:
Check when your contract was signed or last renewed. If it was signed or renewed after September 1, 2025, SB 1318 applies. If it was signed before that date, the old "reasonableness" standard governs unless and until it renews.
Compare your terms to the SB 1318 limits. Is your radius more than five miles? Duration more than one year? No buyout option? If any of these apply and your contract was signed or renewed after September 1, 2025, the non-compete may not be enforceable.
Make sure your primary practice location is defined. If it's not in your contract, ask for it to be added. This prevents disputes about where the five-mile radius begins.
Check for auto-renewal provisions. If your pre-SB 1318 contract auto-renewed after September 1, 2025, the new limits likely apply.
Your non-compete is one piece of your contract. DentalUnlock's free AI analysis grades your entire agreement on 8 dimensions, including non-compete scope, in under 60 seconds.
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Related guides:
- Dental Non-Compete Clauses: Is Yours Actually Enforceable? (National Guide)
- Dental Associate Contract Red Flags
- Dental Non-Compete Laws in Oklahoma
- Dental Non-Compete Laws in Louisiana
- Dental Non-Compete Laws in New Mexico
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This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Non-compete enforceability is a complex, state-specific legal question. The information here reflects our understanding of current law as of March 2026. Consult with a qualified attorney licensed in Texas for advice specific to your situation.
Published by the DentalUnlock Team. Last updated March 2026.
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