Helping Entrepreneurs Realize their Dream
Northeast Dental is a multi-unit dental service organization with affiliated clinics in seven states along the “Amtrak Corridor” stretching from Virginia to Massachusetts. NEDM provides administrative staffing, human resources, purchasing, financial, and IT support services to 65 locally branded dental offices. NEDM’s affiliated offices provide high-quality dental care to 200,000 patients annually and offer a full suite of best-in-class general and specialty dental services, including general dentistry, oral hygiene, oral surgery, periodontics, pedodontics, and orthodontics.
Background
NEDM was founded by Dr. Craig Abramowitz in 2003 when he acquired a single office in New Jersey from a large dental service organization. Dr. Abramowitz saw the opportunity to build a regional dental service organization in the Northeast, an area where the dental practice industry lagged the consolidation trends in other parts of the country. Dr. Abramowitz and his team acquired several multi-office practices in adjacent states, and by 2012, NEDM had grown to 29 affiliated offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. At that point, Dr. Abramowitz’s private equity partner was ready to monetize its investment and gave him the opportunity to find a new partner to help continue NEDM’s growth. Dr. Abramowitz selected Sentinel because of our proven record in dental services and the strong relationship we had built with him and NEDM’s management team.
Opportunity
- To partner with a highly motivated, successful executive and establish NEDM as the leading dental service platform in the Amtrak Corridor
- To help an experienced entrepreneur attract management talent and build the necessary infrastructure to support rapid growth
Accomplishments
Developed Acquisition Infrastructure: Sentinel helped Dr. Abramowitz expand NEDM’s business development function, significantly enhancing NEDM’s acquisition pipeline and strengthening its capabilities to systematically source, execute, and integrate affiliations.
Supported an Aggressive Growth Strategy: Under Sentinel’s ownership, NEDM completed 24 add-ons while substantially growing its acquisition pipeline. NEDM increased its office density in existing states and expanded into three adjacent states.
Strengthened NEDM’s Office Support Capabilities: To serve a rapidly growing group of affiliated dental practices, Sentinel and Dr. Abramowitz worked together to further develop NEDM’s back-office infrastructure and add talent in finance, purchasing, IT, and marketing. A new integrated IT system simplified reporting and streamlined data analytics.
Outcome
In less than four years, NEDM grew its base of affiliated offices from 29 to 65, added three new adjacent states to its footprint, and more than doubled revenue and EBITDA. In 2016, having accomplished our investment objectives, Sentinel sold NEDM to strategic buyer Dental Care Alliance in a highly successful transaction. As part of the transaction, Dr. Abramowitz maintained an ownership stake in the combined business and became a senior executive at Dental Care Alliance, an organization that supports more than 230 dental practices in 12 states.