Premier Dental Holdings, Inc., parent of Western Dental Services, has completed the purchase of a Dental Service Organization supporting 63 offices in Texas, California, and Alabama from The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America®.

The acquisition adds 36 supported offices in Texas currently branded South Texas Dental, 13 in Northern and Central California under the Access Dental brand, 8 in Northern and Southern California branded Blue Hills Dental, and 6 offices in Alabama branded Vital Smiles.

The transaction closed December 31, 2018. Terms were not disclosed.

The transaction brings to 312 the number of Western Dental and Brident supported offices in five states. It vaults Western Dental’s Texas business to a total of 68 offices and a position as the state’s second-largest DSO and the leading Medicaid dental provider.

It adds Alabama to the firm’s footprint with six very attractive and strong performing offices. And, it complements Western Dental’s already strong presence in California, including in Northern and Central California, bringing the total number of offices in the state to 221 and adding to the company’s leadership role in serving Denti-Cal patients.

“This is a very complementary strategic combination that will create more treatment options for patients and more career opportunities for team members of both firms,” said Daniel D. Crowley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Western Dental. “As we make these quality offices part of our organization, there will be opportunities to expand orthodontic and other specialty dental services consistent with our comprehensive Dental Home model, which is dedicated to expanding access to high quality, affordable dentistry, including for patients covered by Medicaid and, in California, Denti-Cal.”

Mr. Crowley added: “Western Dental has completed acquisitions of more than 100 offices since March of 2017. The acquisitions have been very synergistic and have performed well as our experienced management team brought them onto our platform and implemented our Dental Home model. Western Dental is a natural consolidator and we believe there are significant additional opportunities for continued acquisition growth, as well as infill de novo opportunities, which have also been very successful for our firm.”

ABOUT WESTERN DENTAL

Western Dental (with its affiliates, including Brident Dental & Orthodontics, Access Dental, Blue Hills Dental, South Texas Dental and Vital Smiles) is one of the nation’s largest dental providers and is the leader in accessible, affordable oral healthcare, serving approximately 2.9 million patient visits annually in 312 affiliated offices throughout California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Alabama. In addition to general dentistry, Western Dental offers orthodontics, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, periodontics and endodontics in its offices, creating a convenient full service “Dental Home.”

In California, Western Dental is the leading provider of services to both adults and children in the Denti-Cal program – part of the Medi-Cal public insurance program that provides health care benefits for more than 13 million low-income individuals and families. Western Dental dentists provided care to more than a half-million Denti-Cal beneficiaries in 2017 and is committed to continuing to partner with the State to improve the program. In Texas, Western Dental is the leading provider of Medicaid services and recently entered into a first-of-its-kind agreement to participate in a value-based care and payment model under the state’s Medicaid program.

All of Western Dental’s services are backed by a unique quality assurance system that electronically monitors all patient visits, treatments, dental staff and clinical performance to enable high-quality care. To learn more about Western Dental or inquire about an office in your community, visit www.westerndental.com or call 1-800-6-DENTAL.