You became a dentist by being a victor. Getting into dental school, surviving dental school, passing board exams, and owning a practice puts you in the elite top 4-5% of the population intellectually. Yet many dentists feel trapped by insurance companies, believing they have no choice but to accept PPO plans and accept the terms insurance companies dictate. This belief transforms victors into victims. But the choice to reclaim your power is still yours.
Understanding the Victim Mindset
A victim mindset is characterized by one core belief: you have no control over your circumstances. In the context of dental practice ownership, this manifests as the belief that you must accept PPO plans because there's no alternative. "That's just how dentistry works," practitioners say. "Everyone's in-network. I don't have a choice."
This belief generates real consequences. When you feel like you have no control, you experience genuine negative impacts—reduced profitability, reduced autonomy, and reduced satisfaction with your practice. But here's the critical insight: the negative consequences aren't caused by the actual constraints of the situation. They're caused by your belief that you're constrained.
Insurance companies have engineered this belief deliberately. They've spent decades and billions of dollars marketing the narrative that dentists need PPO plans. They've convinced an entire profession of accomplished, intelligent people that the opposite of the truth is actually true.
Who Really Needs Whom? The Fundamental Power Dynamic
Let's start with a basic fact: at the most fundamental level, insurance companies need dentists far more than dentists need insurance companies.
Why? Simple: if no dentists signed up as participating providers, insurance companies would have nothing to sell. Their entire business model collapses without dentists willing to accept their plans. They literally cannot exist without provider networks.
Yet insurance companies have successfully convinced dentists of the opposite: that dentists need insurance companies. They've flipped the power dynamic on its head through masterful marketing, and they've been pulling off this trick since the 1970s.
This is the first step to reclaiming your power: objectively examining who actually needs whom. The answer may surprise you if you've internalized insurance company messaging.
The Massive Market Shift You Haven't Heard About
Around 2016-2017, something significant happened in the United States dental market. For the first time in modern dental history, more adults did NOT have dental insurance than DID have dental insurance. This inflection point marked a fundamental shift in the market landscape—and it continues accelerating.
The percentage of American adults with dental insurance has been declining precipitously and shows no signs of reversing. This trend has several drivers:
The Gig Economy
More than half of new jobs in the United States are created by small businesses. Freelancers, Etsy owners, Airbnb hosts, Uber drivers, eBay sellers, and independent contractors—entrepreneurs are everywhere. Most of these workers don't have employer-sponsored dental insurance. They're too busy building their own enterprises to work for corporations offering benefits.
Self-Employed Professionals
The explosion of entrepreneurship over the last 20-30 years means fewer people work for large corporations with traditional benefits packages. Those big employers with thousands of employees and comprehensive dental plans are becoming increasingly rare.
The Retiree Population
A generation ago, retirement meant your company benefits continued for life. That's no longer true. Modern corporations eliminated this liability, and retirees are on their own. This growing segment of the population has no dental insurance and no realistic expectation of getting it.
When you add these groups together, the math is clear: the majority of potential patients in the United States do NOT have dental insurance. This is the opposite of what insurance companies have told dentists for 50 years.
The Roger Bannister Moment in Dentistry
In 1954, English runner Roger Bannister did something scientists said was impossible: he ran a four-minute mile. Before this, published scientific papers claimed it was physically impossible—that the human body didn't have enough oxygen delivery capacity to sustain that speed.
Bannister ran 3:59:89. Not only did he prove the scientists wrong, but within three months, three other runners broke the four-minute barrier. Human physiology didn't change in three months. What changed was the belief about what was possible.
Today, less than 60 years later, the world record is 3:43. High school athletes routinely break the four-minute barrier. Why? Because once someone proved it was possible, others could envision it, and once you can envision something, you can achieve it.
Dentistry is experiencing a similar moment. We have our Roger Bannisters—dentists who have successfully dropped PPO plans and built thriving, profitable practices from scratch. Three remarkable examples:
Lincoln Parker
Opened a fee-for-service practice in Orange County, California. Everyone told him it was impossible: his banker, his accountant, his attorney. They were wrong.
Brian Baliwas
Opened a fee-for-service practice in downtown San Francisco—arguably one of the most expensive markets in the United States. Conventional wisdom said it couldn't work. It does.
Paymen Raisy
Opened a fee-for-service practice from scratch in Nashville, Tennessee in 2018. Same skepticism from every advisor. Same successful outcome.
When these practitioners asked advisors if they could build a successful fee-for-service practice, what do you think they were told? "You can't do this. It's not possible."
But they didn't believe it. They said two words: "Watch me."
Your Victor Story Began Long Before This Moment
You didn't get into dental school by listening to people who said it wasn't possible. Getting into dental school requires victorious thinking. You survived dental school with that same mindset. Statistically, you had a snowball's chance in hell of being admitted to a dental program, but you did it. You passed board exams. You either started or acquired a dental practice. That puts you in the elite of the elite.
This isn't your first time being told something was impossible and doing it anyway. This is just the next iteration.
The Elevator Experiment
If you look up the "elevator experiment" online, you'll find this observation about human behavior: three paid actors face the back of an elevator instead of the front. When new people enter, they look at the actors facing backward and then turn around themselves. Humans take massive cues about what's possible from other humans. We look at what others are doing and follow.
Currently, 95-98% of dental practices are insurance dependent. That's the "people facing the back of the elevator" in dentistry. But the people facing the front (the fee-for-service dentists) are proving a different way is possible.
The Data Behind the Mindset Shift
The evidence that you have more power than you believe:
- Market Demographics: More adults don't have dental insurance than do. The pool of fee-for-service patients is larger than the insured patient pool.
- Existing Proof: Thousands of practices have successfully reduced or eliminated insurance dependence. These aren't special cases; they're proof of concept.
- Insurance Company Behavior: Why do insurance companies spend billions marketing to dentists if they don't need dentists? They need you. They're fighting to keep you. That's a sign of power imbalance in your favor.
- Economic Reality: Dentists who drop insurance often see significant income increases. If insurance dependence were inevitable, this wouldn't be possible. The fact that it's possible means you have alternatives.
What It Means to Choose Victor Over Victim
Choosing the victor mindset doesn't mean denying challenges. It means responding to challenges with agency rather than resignation. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Victim Response:
"Insurance companies have me trapped. I don't have a choice. I have to accept PPO plans or I won't have patients. That's just how dentistry works."
Victor Response:
"Insurance companies would prefer I believe I'm trapped. But the data says otherwise. The majority of potential patients don't have insurance. I can either build a practice dependent on their whims, or I can build a practice that attracts patients who choose me for other reasons. I'm choosing the latter."
The victor mindset isn't arrogant or dismissive of challenges. It's clarity about where your power lies.
Three Concrete Steps to Shift From Victim to Victor
Step 1: Acknowledge What You've Already Overcome
You're already a victor. You've already proved your ability to accomplish things that seemed impossible. Getting into dental school should have been impossible. You did it. Owning a practice should have been impossible. You did it. This is just the next step, and you're already equipped with the mindset to do it.
Step 2: Reject the Insurance Company Narrative
Stop accepting the messaging that you're dependent on insurance. Stop internalizing it. Start looking at the actual data: most people don't have dental insurance, insurance companies need dentists more than dentists need them, and successful practitioners have already proved that reducing insurance dependence works.
Step 3: Find Your Roger Bannisters
Surround yourself with people who've already done what you want to do. Listen to their stories. Let them show you that what you're considering is possible. Some people will tell you that reducing insurance dependence can't be done. But you'll also hear from people who've done it. Listen to those voices, not the naysayers.
The Freedom of Choice You Already Have
One of the greatest benefits of living in the United States is the freedom of choice. There are no laws, no regulations, no rules that say you must accept PPO plans. You're free to build your practice however you choose.
That's not empty rhetoric. That's literally your situation. You have the freedom to choose your path. The only thing stopping you is whether you believe you have that freedom.
Building Your Support System
The transition from victim to victor mindset is easier when you're not alone. That's why the Reducing Insurance Dependence Academy (RIDA) exists: to provide community, resources, and proof that what you're considering is possible.
RIDA brings together dentists and team members who are actively reducing insurance dependence. Members share strategies, celebrate wins, and support each other through challenges. You're surrounded by people who've already answered the question "Victim or Victor?" with their actions.
The water is warm. Come join us.
The Real Competition Isn't Insurance Companies
If you feel threatened by insurance companies, you're looking at the wrong threat. The real competition is practices that are actively building brand loyalty, attracting ideal patients, and creating systems that don't depend on insurance company whims.
Your competition isn't the insurance companies. Your competition is other dentists who are building victor practices while you're still thinking like a victim.
Your Moment to Decide
This isn't subtle. This is a direct question: Will you be a victim or a victor?
You already know the answer. You've been a victor your entire career. The obstacles that would have stopped most people didn't stop you—because you didn't believe they could. You navigated dental school, board exams, and practice ownership with a victor mindset.
The only question is whether you'll apply that same mindset to this next challenge. Nothing about you has changed. Your capabilities are the same. Your intelligence is the same. Your resilience is the same. The only thing that changes is your choice about how you'll respond to this moment.
Choose victor. Start behaving like one. Take the steps.
Join the Community of Victors
Become a member of the Reducing Insurance Dependence Academy and connect with thousands of dentists building thriving, independent practices.
Join RIDA Today (Free)Get the Victor's Roadmap
Download our free guide: "From Victim to Victor—Your Path to Insurance Independence." Includes real examples, actionable steps, and the mindset framework that successful practitioners use.
This article draws from the experiences of coaches who've worked with thousands of dentists and from the real-world successes of practitioners who've chosen the victor mindset. Your choice matters. Your power is real.
Reviewed by
Naren Arulrajah
CEO & Founder, Ekwa Marketing
Naren Arulrajah is the CEO and Founder of Ekwa Marketing, a 300-person dental marketing agency that has helped hundreds of practices grow through SEO, reputation management, and digital strategy. A published author of three books on dental marketing, contributor to Dentistry IQ, co-host of the Thriving Dentist Show and the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast, and a member of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants. He has spent 19 years focused exclusively on helping dental practices succeed online.