Franchising has become quite popular in the recent times. In fact, almost every business and individual is going the franchise way. Both the franchisor and the franchisee would reap quite a number of benefits from franchising. The heath sector has not been spared either. You actually may have come across a dental franchise or any other health facility franchise. However, there have been questions as to whether dentists would be best placed working in dental franchise. Of course, there are obvious advantages that they would obtain especially as pertaining to operating under a time-proven brand and utilizing operational strategies of the particular company. However, the question remains, what are the downsides or the disadvantages if they actually work in those places? The first disadvantage comes with respect to the branding advantage. As much as the dentists would benefit from the established and renowned brand name, you will acknowledge that they would not be able to have their own reputation or brand in the community. Actually, customers would be more likely to remember the healthcare facility name rather than the professional. This is unlike establishing your own business where the clients would refer their friends and family to you by name. In addition, if the company gets a snappy reputation in the future, your business would be affected even if it has nothing to do with you. One other thing that you would note about a dental franchise is that the dentists would not have the creative responsibility. You actually cannot put into place your own advertising strategies and materials, incorporate distinctive office layout or even have exclusive services suite. In this case, the probability of your personality shining would be greatly hampered. On the same note, dentists who work in dental franchise have relatively limited opportunities for growth. As much as they may choose to run more units under the brand, they would not be allowed to establish a network of interconnected offices. This is unlike their counterparts operating their own businesses as they would be able to open a number of outlets under one company to serve wider regions. Expansion prospects of the franchised units would be quite limited. Another issue that you would look into is the issue of succession. When you own a dental franchise, you will have quite a Herculean task passing on the business after you retire. Chances are you would look for another entrepreneur to whom you will sell it once you retire. For your own business, you would still be part of it. You can pass the business to your family then relegate to the managerial position by appointing directors. These are just some of the fears that you may need to look into when determining whether to invest in a dental franchise or to start your own business.