Originally appearing in Becker’s Dental + DSO Review
While competitors raced to rack up acquisitions, Little Rock, Ark.-based Rock Dental Brands chose a different bet: building real value before growing bigger. That patience is now paying off.
As other DSOs took advantage of their ability to acquire practices, Rock Dental Brands decided to take a step back and invest in other means that could strengthen its ability to support doctors, including technology, workforce recruitment and revenue cycle management. This move was driven by the company’s belief that if it couldn’t make a practice better, it shouldn’t partner with the practice at all.
“I think many people questioned that approach at the time. Today, I think the market has really validated that it was the right choice to make,” CEO Kristi Casey told Becker’s. “I think the conversation has shifted from how many practices do you have, to how much value can you create for the practices you support? That’s where we’ve built our competitive advantage.”
Now, the company is seeing increased interest from dentists who want to strengthen their practices. Rock Dental Brands achieved record growth during the first half of 2026, adding nine providers and six practices to its network. The specialty DSO now supports more than 110 practices, with additional partnerships planned for later this year in the Southeast, South Central and Mountain West regions.
Ms. Casey said the company has three key advantages: its doctors, strong data and its culture. This, along with intentional partnerships, has set the DSO up for continued success.
“Our philosophy has always been that the right partnership is more important than the fastest partnership, so we’ll continue to be disciplined and measured. We’re not going to go outside of our footprint that we think is best able to support our doctors, but we’re going to continue to invest heavily in that footprint.”
