Founded on the principle that all children should have access to professional dental care, the associated network of Small Smiles and other dental centers are the nation’s premier dental practices focused on quality care for children from America’s low-income families.
The Small Smiles and other associated Dental Centers provide care for children from underserved communities, including those who receive Medicaid, SCHIP and other forms of government healthcare assistance.
Small Smiles traces its roots to Pueblo, Colorado, and a single dental office that opened in 1928. After serving the Pueblo community for almost four decades, the dental office was among the nation’s first to offer treatment to children covered under Medicaid when dental care became a covered benefit in 1967. The original owners of the Pueblo office built four Small Smiles Dental facilities in Colorado and New Mexico in the 1990s to meet the growing demand for dental services.
In 2000, the company began to expand the mission of providing dental care to children across the United States. Less than six years later, 47 Small Smiles and other associated practices such as Children’s Dental Clinic, Indian Springs Dental Clinic and Topeka Dental Clinic had opened in 16 states, providing unprecedented access to quality dental care for many of the nation’s children.
In September 2006, new owners relocated the company to Nashville, Tennessee, where new leadership launched initiatives to improve care, strengthen compliance and provide a more positive dental care experience for children and parents. As part of the initiative to expand access to care, several other associated offices were opened across the United States, including Oklahoma Smiles, Texas Smiles and Wild Smiles Dental Centers.
With an ongoing commitment to children’s dental health, the Small Smiles and other associated dental centers’ mission remains unchanged: to ensure that America’s children have the smiles they deserve.
