But that is getting more and more difficult as well. With dental offices popping up everywhere it becomes harder to build a strong patient base. Also, a lot of people really don't care that much and will just go to wherever their "insurance" tells them.

Some dentists like the insurance clinic atmosphere. It's nice to have a steady stream of patients and they are fine playing the "insurance" game. The private practice people are a lot of the times the ones that get hit hard with rising costs because they are not part of a large corporation that gets discounted products due to its number of offices

With that said, there is still and I believe always will be a place for the regular private practice. There are people that see value that relationship. I work in both. 2 days in corporate and 3 days in a private. I still believe private is the best long term. Just takes work and the correct approach.