Dallas-based Smile Doctors is entering its next phase of growth with $125 million in capital, a new CFO and plans to capitalize on the adult orthodontic market.
The orthodontic support organization outperformed its growth plan in the first half of 2026, driven by high single-digit same-store growth, new orthodontist affiliations, seven de novo practice openings and increased adult demand for orthodontic services. The company now expects to surpass 600 total locations by the end of the year.
In addition to securing an additional $125 million in capital, the organization also recently hired former CVS Health executive Jeff Knudson as CFO to support the company’s growth.
Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Kaufman recently spoke with Becker’s to discuss Smile Doctors’ goals for 2026 and its approach toward the shifting orthodontic market, patient expectations and operational efficiency.
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How would you describe the company’s growth this year?
Jonathan Kaufman: Fantastic. We’re seeing high, single-digit same-store growth, which is pretty spectacular. Our de novo and affiliation growth is really doing quite tremendous. We acquired myOrthos last year, and the performance of those locations has just been outstanding. The providers have been outstanding, and we’re seeing significant and sizable growth there as well. It’s a super exciting time to be at Smile Doctors.
Q: What factors do you attribute to the company’s growth?
JK: It genuinely starts with our overall provider and practice base. We have really great providers and really great practices. There’s nothing that can substitute that. Our turnover is incredibly low, so from a cultural standpoint, we retain a significant amount of our doctors for years and years and years. It starts there.
I think one of the really cool things that I would argue we do the best, or if not better than many, is just the underlying operational technologies — things that help us understand data, understand patients and segmentation, and then meet both the patients and the staff with tools and technologies that really help them do a good job and be able to serve the patients well. I can’t really remember the study, but there was this Nordstrom model where the thing Nordstrom did really great was they made it as easy on the staff as they did on the customer, so there were the same number of steps for someone to purchase a product at Nordstrom as it was to return. They really focused on the staff and making the team’s life easy, making it simple and understandable with a series of tools and processes. I think we do that really well. I think we’re way ahead in the operational toolset.
We’ve seen a lot of growth related to the adult market. I think the adult market has really been underserved. Kids and teens, they need tons of treatment, and they’re always going to need treatment — that’s kind of your core segment — but adults who looked at SmileDirectClub or Candid or something like that in the past, and either did it and were disappointed, or really wanted orthodontist-led care — the adult segment has been really strong for us, and I think we’re capturing a really nice portion of that with the Smile Express product we have and some other things.
Q: What are your goals for organic and inorganic growth for the rest of this year?
JK: We have always been in the market for great orthodontic practices. We are always looking for great fits, whether that’s a single orthodontist location, whether that’s three locations under a team, or whether that’s something much larger that fits in well from provider integration, cultural integration, or geographic integration. We are constantly looking for growth through that inorganic affiliate acquisition model. We constantly have that toolbox open to us, so I think that’s the first place.
The second is de novo [growth.] We are really focused on our de novo model. There are two really good areas where we’re focusing. One is, we look at our providers and our teams that are already in the market, and [ask,] “Where can we add de novo locations where there’s a patient need and where we’ve got a really strong provider or practice awareness that we can tap into?” Coming soon is something we’ll call Smile Studios, which are adult-focused, smaller footprint but really aligner-focused studios that allow us to tap into some new technologies, some new simulations [and] just a new approach to the adult market and really trying to capture more of that swath.
From an organic standpoint, the number one thing we look at is, how can we make it as easy as possible on the patient? Patients and consumers live in the era of “now,” so we look at a lot of things around scheduled opportunities and where we can improve our schedules so that we can get patients in for the care they want quicker. That’s super key to that growth strategy. We’ve got $125 million. We’re always looking at great opportunities to refinance if that becomes something that looks attractive to us. I always liken that to, if you could refinance your house and get a better interest rate, you would absolutely do that. So, we look at opportunities to add additional cash that way. We’re in a really good financial position right now, and we’ve got not only $125 million but plenty of other capital opportunities for us to tap into.
Q: How will Smile Doctors benefit from Jeff Knudson’s financial expertise as he begins his new role as CFO?
JK: I think he just brings a new level of depth across how you run a disciplined, high-growth, multi-location healthcare business. It is such a dynamic atmosphere, especially in orthodontics, where you recognize revenue over a different time period than if somebody buys a hamburger and gives you $5. He gives us a tremendous amount of sophistication and experience around revenue cycle operations and [financial planning and analysis.] His experience just allows us to tap into a broader depth of experience and knowledge that can help focus our growth, but also position us to take advantage of opportunities when they come about in a faster way and in a more dynamic way. We’ve spent a lot of time with Jeff over the last few months, and he is just a tremendous individual and financial operator, and he’s just one of those individuals who’s just going to take you to the next level and make everybody’s lives easier with that level of experience. He’s positioning us for growth. There’s no doubt about it.
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