Are Non-Competes Enforceable for Dentists and Dental Staff in Colorado?

For an associate dentist, no. SB 25-083 removed dentistry from Colorado's high-earner exceptions, so a covenant restricting the practice of dentistry is void no matter how much the dentist earns — for covenants entered into or renewed on or after the law's August 6, 2025 effective date.

For hygienists, dental assistants and office managers, the dentist rule does not reach them: the health-care-provider definition names licensed dentists — alongside physicians, advanced practice registered nurses and certified midwives — but not hygienists or assistants.

Their covenants fall under Colorado's general regime — a non-compete only for a worker earning at least the highly compensated threshold when signed and when enforced, and only to protect trade secrets.

The state labor division's 2026 PAY CALC order sets that highly compensated threshold at $130,014 a year, and the statute keys the non-compete threshold to the division's figure.

A void covenant is not free to hand out: presenting, entering into or trying to enforce one carries a $5,000 penalty per worker or prospective worker harmed, plus actual damages.

For the national picture, see non-competes for dental staff nationally; for the worker's side, dentist non-compete agreements.

Colorado's rule is written into statute, and the statute starts from void: C.R.S. § 8-2-113(2)(a) makes any covenant not to compete that restricts an individual's right to receive compensation for labor void, except as the statute allows.

Two laws set the current regime.

House Bill 22-1317 rebuilt the statute effective August 10, 2022 — pay threshold, trade-secret purpose, written notice — and applies to covenants entered into or renewed on or after that date.

Senate Bill 25-083, effective August 6, 2025, added the dentistry carve-out below with the same forward reach.

The covenant's date decides which rules judge it: an agreement signed in 2024 is measured against the 2022 regime, one signed or renewed today against both.

Renewal re-dates a document under the newer law — check the date before reusing an old covenant.

SB 25-083 worked by subtraction: the high-earner exceptions that permit a non-compete or customer non-solicit for other workers do not apply to covenants restricting the practice of dentistry in Colorado, so no income level makes such a covenant valid under them.

Colorado's health-care-provider definition is a closed list: an individual licensed to practice medicine, registered to practice advanced practice registered nursing, licensed as a certified midwife, or licensed to engage in the practice of dentistry.

Hygienists and assistants are not named, so their covenants stay under the general rules.

"Practice of dentistry" takes the same meaning as "dentistry" in Colorado's Dental Practice Act, C.R.S. § 12-220-104(6) — the licensed practice behind our guide to dentist licensure in Colorado.

Section 8-2-113 itself counts a covenant as restricting dental practice when it bars a departing provider from telling patients they treated about their continuing practice, new contact information, or the patient's right to choose a provider.

Colorado starts from void rather than from reasonableness.

The statute's exceptions carry their own written conditions, and a covenant that fits none of them is void — so the question is which exception, if any, a covenant satisfies:

• Who. For a worker outside the dentistry carve-out, a non-compete is available only if that worker earns at least the highly compensated threshold when it is signed and again when it is enforced.
• Why. The covenant must be for the protection of trade secrets — the legitimate business interest the statute names.
• How broad. A customer non-solicit must be no broader than reasonably necessary to protect that trade-secret interest.
• What form. A permitted covenant is void without notice in a separate document, in clear terms, signed by the worker — before a new hire accepts the offer, or at least 14 days before it takes effect for a current employee.
• How long. One duration rule the statute supplies concerns a minority owner who received equity as compensation: the maximum term in years is the sale consideration divided by average annualized cash compensation.

Draft against those conditions, not a reasonableness argument — and have employment counsel confirm the exception first.

For associate dentists, the non-solicit route is narrow: the 2025 carve-out reaches customer non-solicits restricting the practice of dentistry, voiding them regardless of pay, and a clause that stops a departing dentist telling patients they treated about their continuing practice, new contact information or right to choose a provider counts as restricting practice too.

For staff, a customer non-solicit can work — narrowly: only if the worker earns at least 60% of the highly compensated threshold, only to protect trade secrets, and only as broad as that interest requires.

A staff-to-staff non-solicit is a distinct question for employment counsel.

Our guide to patient and staff non-solicits covers how these clauses work.

Confidentiality does not depend on a covenant surviving.

The federal Defend Trade Secrets Act adds a route that needs no covenant at all: the owner of a misappropriated trade secret related to a product or service in interstate commerce can sue in federal court, and a patient list can qualify — but only if you took reasonable measures to keep it secret and it has independent economic value from not being generally known.

The remedy has limits: an injunction cannot stop someone taking a new job, and conditions on it must rest on evidence of threatened misappropriation, not merely on what the person knows.

Start by auditing what you use: covenants entered into or renewed on or after August 6, 2025 fall under the dentistry carve-out, and those from August 10, 2022 to August 5, 2025 under the 2022 regime.

Pull clauses restricting an associate's practice — or what they may tell patients — from your templates now.

• Sale-of-practice and ownership covenants. Colorado still permits a non-compete tied to the purchase and sale of a business or an ownership share that restricts competition by its owner — the route for an associate buying in; where a minority owner received the equity as compensation, the duration formula above caps the term.
• Training repayment. Colorado allows recovery of the reasonable cost of training that is distinct from normal on-the-job training, prorated down over the two years after the training — see our guide to training repayment agreements.
• Narrow staff non-solicits for workers earning at least 60% of the threshold, tied to trade secrets and no broader than that interest requires.
• Confidentiality backed by real security — access-controlled logins, a patient list nobody exports: the protection you can enforce is the protection you can show you built.

Finally, compete on continuity: a covenant cannot stop a departing dentist telling patients where they now practice — Colorado counts that as restricting dental practice and voids it regardless of pay — so put the energy into the handoff itself, starting with a warm introduction to the successor.