Small Smiles Dental Centers was a privately-owned US chain of dental clinics focused on serving children from low-income families. The parent company, Church Street Health Management (CSHM), has its headquarters in Suite 520 of the Castner-Knott Building in Nashville, Tennessee. As of 2010, Church Street (previously known as Forba Holdings LLC or FORBA) was the largest dental management company in the United States, and for a period it was the largest dental chain for children in the United States. As of March 2014, Small Smiles had 53 offices, and it stated that it served hundreds of thousands of children annually. As of September 2021, Small Smiles appeared to have one location in Reno, Nevada.
Throughout the chain's history, it faced accusations of providing unnecessary dental care and improper restraint of child patients. In January 2010, it gained national attention when FORBA settled False Claims Act allegations with the United States Department of Justice for $24 million. As of January 1, 2011, FORBA changed its name to its current name, Church Street Health Management. The new name was a reference to the street address of the company's corporate headquarters. It filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 5, 2015.
Small Smiles clinics operated under multiple names, including Children's Dental Clinic, Indian Springs Dental Clinic, Oklahoma Smiles, Small Smiles Dentistry, Texas Smiles, and Wild Smiles.
History
As a family practice
Small Smiles originated from a dental office that was opened in 1928 in Pueblo, Colorado. Initially Small Smiles was a family-owned business headed by the Italian American DeRose family of Pueblo and a Denver, Colorado dentist named William Mueller. Bruno DeRose, the founder of the practice, had graduated from dental school in 1928. The DeRose Dental Clinic opened that year. In 1961 Edward DeRose, the father of Michael DeRose began practicing dentistry. After Medicaid was established in 1967, the Pueblo DeRose office was one of the first ones to accept Medicaid. Michael DeRose, a graduate of the Creighton University dental school began practicing at Small Smiles in 1982. According to Michael DeRose, Dan DeRose provided some management and marketing services. Mueller and Adolph Padula, an uncle of Michael DeRose, each had some financial interest in some clinics.
In 1995, the second Small Smiles clinic opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Business increased after the clinic opened. Throughout the 1990s, three additional Small Smiles offices opened in Colorado and New Mexico. Michael DeRose subsequently bought into a chain of dental clinics in North Carolina, Medicaid Dental Centers, operating Smile Starters and Carolina Dental Center clinics.
In 2000, the Small Smiles company began expanding throughout the United States. During that year, FORBA, LLC (FOR Better Access) was formed, providing dental care to children across the United States.
In May 2004, the DeRose family had a financial stake in 21 dental clinics in eight states, including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The clinics altogether employed 70 dentists. By May 29 of that year, the dental clinics that had most recently opened were in Florence, South Carolina and Kansas City, Kansas. Vogrin said that the DeRose family "built something of a dental dynasty." As of October 2004, within the State of Colorado, Small Smiles had clinics in Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, Pueblo, and Thornton. As of that year, the vast majority of low income children on Medicaid in El Paso County went to Small Smiles. The company also had an advertising agreement with Colorado Springs School District 11. As of May 20, 2004, the Colorado clinics had 25 dentists. Two were pediatric dentists and the others were general dentists. According to a phone survey from the Colorado Springs Gazette, aside from Small Smiles, few other Colorado Springs dental offices took patients who were on Medicaid.