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DSO Spotlight
A brief history of SGA Dental Partners:
➡️ In 2009, Garner Dental Group, headquartered in Hattiesburg, MS, was launched by Dr. Lake Garner to provide dental care to residents of Mississippi and Alabama.
➡️ Dr. Jay Williams built a practice in Lee County, Georgia in 1995.
➡️ After seeing unprecedented growth in his rural South Georgia dental practice, Dr. Zack Bently formed South Georgia Dental Management in 2018. The move enabled expansion into additional markets throughout Georgia.
➡️ In 2022, Dr. Lake Gardner, Dr. Zack Bentley and Dr. Jay Williams combined operations to form SGA Dental Partners, a Thurston Group portfolio company. The new company established itself with dozens of locations in communities across the Southeastern United States. The DSO’s core values are F.I.R.E.: Family, Integrity, Respect, and Empower Improvement.
During 2022, SGA Dental partnered with 28 practices comprised of 55 total locations and expanded its footprint into seven new states. Its acquisitional growth in 2022 was largely fueled by internal referrals, a strategy that SGA believes is critical to sustainable growth. This growth represented a revenue and EBITDA annual growth rate greater than 110%. In addition, partnerships under SGA management for greater than a year experienced an organic growth rate of 13%.
SGA Dental’s geographic expansion was coupled with growth into specialty services, partnering with 7 periodontist locations in 4 states. SGA leadership is intensely focused on growing its presence in the specialty services, specifically implants and periodontics, in 2023.
“We have an incredible group of general practitioner partners throughout the Southeast with a massive referral base and a commitment to the best long-term clinical outcomes for our patients. Our partnership with the best periodontists in the Southeast is a symbiotic relationship and it will enable us to continue to deliver world-class care,” said SGA Cofounder Dr. Jay Williams.
“We have an incredible group of general practitioner partners throughout the Southeast with a massive referral base and a commitment to the best long-term clinical outcomes for our patients. Our partnership with the best periodontists in the Southeast is a symbiotic relationship and it will enable us to continue to deliver world-class care,” Their strategic shift into periodontist partnerships is championed in large part by its private equity sponsor, Thurston Group, who pioneered the dental specialty market beginning with the founding of Smile Doctors in 2015, U.S. Oral Surgery Management in 2017, and US Endo Partners in 2018.
“We have the benefit of tapping into a wealth of knowledge and experience in specialist partnerships through our relationship with Thurston Group. As a result, we are uniquely positioned to provide individualized support to both general practitioners and specialists,” said Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Kyle Hollis.
“We have the benefit of tapping into a wealth of knowledge and experience in specialist partnerships through our relationship with Thurston Group. As a result, we are uniquely positioned to provide individualized support to both general practitioners and specialists,” said Chief Clinical Officer Dr. SGA Dental’s performance and growing reputation in the Southeast has positioned the organization to exceed their 2022 growth rate in 2023. So far in 2023, SGA has completed 13 new acquisitions, adding 15 locations and 19 new doctors in the company. The DSO has just announced it has recently partnered with its 100th location and is expanding its footprint across the Southeast.
“I am very proud of the growth we experienced in 2022 and we are poised for another tremendous year in 2023. Although the centennial mark is a notable accomplishment, we are bringing the same level of hunger and humility to build this organization today as we did five years ago,” said Chief Executive Officer, Jordan DiNola.
“I am very proud of the growth we experienced in 2022 and we are poised for another tremendous year in 2023. Although the centennial mark is a notable accomplishment, we are bringing the same level of hunger and humility to build this organization today as we did five years ago,” said Chief Executive Officer, SGA’s growth strategy focuses on ‘partnering with high-performing clinicians and developing an operating system that cultivates clinical autonomy for its providers.’ This core belief has resulted in many internal referrals from existing SGA partners. This is a strategy that SGA believes will allow the organization to continue to expand across the Southeast.
“We work diligently to support our partners and team members throughout the Southeast, and believe that strengthening local brands, local doctors, and local culture is at the core of who we are as SGA,” said Chief Development Officer, Dr. Zack Bentley.
“We work diligently to support our partners and team members throughout the Southeast, and believe that strengthening local brands, local doctors, and local culture is at the core of who we are as SGA,” said Chief Development Officer, Dr. Throughout this period of exponential growth, SGA’s commitment to preserving the unique identity and culture of its partner locations has remained a cornerstone.
Key executives:
- Dr. Zackary L. Bentley, Chief Development Officer & Cofounder
- Dr. Lake Garner, Cofounder
- Dr. Jay Williams, Cofounder
- Jordan DiNola, CEO
- Dr. Kyle Hollis, Chief Clinical Officer
- Myles McAllister, COO
- Jim Paul, CFO
- Ron Kerensky, CIO
- Jonathon Mikalionis, VP of M&A
- Brandon Montgomery, Sr VP, Operations and Integrations
- Lanthea Magum, RDH, Sr VP of Operations
- Pam Mullis, Sr VP of Finance
- Dr. Nicole Yates, President of the Clinical Affairs Advisory Board
