Welsh Carson Acquires Smile Brands

GeoDigm investor buys dental offices.

Private equity investment firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe purchased a majority interest in Smile Brands Group Inc, the largest dental support services organization in the US. Providing general, preventative, and specialty dental care, Smile Brands operates 325 dental offices in 18 states, under three primary brands: Bright Now! Dental, Castle Dental, and Monarch Dental. Its rapid expansion continued in 2010 with 23 new offices. “The management team has done an outstanding job of growing the company for many years, and we are pleased to become their strategic partner and a long-term investor in Smile Brands,” says D. Scott Mackesy, general partner at Welsh Carson.

This is the second major investment Welsh Carson has made in the dental industry. In 2009, the firm invested $100 million in GDC Holdings, a holding company of GeoDigm Corp. Last year, GDC purchased National Dentex Corp, the owner and operator of 44 dental laboratories throughout the US.