For years, dentists have been told that joining a dental group means sacrificing independence.
That narrative usually lumps all groups into one bucket — corporate DSOs, private-equity-backed rollups, and “partnership” models that still feel centralized from the top down.
But here’s the twist most private practice owners don’t realize:
Doing everything alone doesn’t make you independent — it makes you busy.
True independence in practice ownership isn’t about controlling every task.
It’s about controlling the things that actually matter – clinical decisions, patient experience, culture, team, and the financial trajectory of the practice.
And this is where joining the right kind of dental group can actually expand your independence instead of shrinking it.
The False Version of Independence: Doing Everything Yourself
If you’re a private practice owner, this will probably sound familiar:
- You’re the clinician
- You’re the CEO
- You’re the HR director
- You’re the marketing department
- You’re the supply chain manager
- You’re the CFO
- You’re the office culture coach
- You’re the recruiter
- You’re the IT department
- You’re the complaint department
Congratulations — you’re basically running a small city. But here’s the problem:
When you’re responsible for everything, you’re free to do nothing.
Meaning:
- No real downtime
- No headspace to think strategically
- No margin to grow
- No path to cut back clinically without sacrificing revenue
- No clean way to exit without the practice falling apart
This isn’t independence. It’s being dependent on yourself for everything.
The Real Version of Independence: Control + Support
True independence looks more like this:
✔ You choose how dentistry is done
✔ You choose how patients are treated
✔ You own the business
✔ You shape the culture
✔ You make clinical decisions
✔ You decide your growth path
…and at the same time, you get support for the parts that don’t make you a better dentist, leader, spouse, or parent.
For example:
Scenario A – The Solo Doctor (No Support)
Dr. Smith wants to add an associate. That means:
- Recruiting
- Interviewing
- Onboarding
- Updating scheduling
- Negotiating comp
- Training clinical systems
- Updating ops protocols
- Changing insurance routing
- Rebuilding workflow
Dr. Smith is now buried before the associate even arrives.
Scenario B – The Supported Doctor (SPP Model)
Dr. Jones wants to add an associate. The group handles:
- Recruiting
- Comp design
- Onboarding
- Scheduling structure
- Systems & clinical workflow
- Practice capacity modeling
- KPI tracking
All Dr. Jones has to do is lead, integrate, and keep practicing the way he wants.
Same clinical autonomy.
Completely different workload.
Independence Without Support Is Slippery
Here’s a simple analogy:
Owning a cabin in the mountains feels peaceful… unless you also have to cut the firewood, plow the road, maintain the generator, and repair the roof. Suddenly it’s a full-time job.
Private practice is the same:
Dentistry = the peaceful cabin
Admin = plowing the mountain road every week
Support turns the “cabin dream” back into what you imagined it would be.
Where Dental Groups Differ (And Why It Matters)
Not all groups are the same. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Corporate DSO Models
Doctors often give up:
- Autonomy
- Ownership
- Hiring/firing control
- Clinical decisions
- Schedule control
- Culture shaping
This is where the idea of “losing independence” comes from — because in many DSOs, you do.
Dental Partnership Groups (DPGs) Like SPP
Doctors maintain:
✔ Majority ownership
✔ Clinical autonomy
✔ Business decision control
✔ Practice culture and identity
✔ Brand and patient experience
And they gain:
✔ Strategic support
✔ Recruiting + HR help
✔ Marketing engines
✔ Operational systems
✔ Better purchasing power
✔ Access to financial upside
This flips the independence equation.
Real Example: Independence Through Support
Consider Dr. Alder, an actual SPP partner.
Before joining SPP:
- Wanted to grow
- Wanted to add Invisalign
- Was drowning in admin
After joining:
✔ Expanded to a second location
✔ Gained access to Diamond Plus lab pricing (saving ~35% per case)
✔ Reduced overhead through economies of scale
✔ Kept full autonomy + majority ownership
✔ Didn’t have to become a part-time COO to make it happen
He didn’t lose independence.
He gained capacity.
Why Support = More Freedom (Not Less)
Here’s what most private doctors really want more of:
- Personal Time
- Family Time
- Financial upside
- Clinical mastery
- Growth without burnout
Those things don’t come from doing more tasks. They come from doing fewer things — strategically.
When someone else handles:
- Credentialing
- Marketing
- HR
- Billing systems
- Hiring
- Scheduling
- Negotiating vendor contracts
- Tech implementation
- Insurance follow-up
- Practice analytics
…you get to practice dentistry and run the vision, not the paperwork.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Support empowers independence. Control without support creates dependency.
Most dentists are trapped in the latter.
The ones who thrive choose the former.
The Bottom Line
If you pick the wrong group, you can absolutely lose independence.
If you pick the right one, you gain more of it than you’ve ever had.
That’s why SPP was built:
✔ To preserve clinical autonomy
✔ To preserve practice ownership
✔ To preserve patient experience
✔ To preserve culture
✔ To preserve choice
…while giving private doctors the support system that corporate dentistry has been using for decades.
Because independence shouldn’t mean doing everything yourself — it should mean having the freedom to do what matters most.