Southern Orthodontic Partners (SOP), a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, announced that it added three orthodontic practices to its network: Lowcountry Orthodontics, Gerlein Orthodontics and Smile at the World Orthodontics.
Lowcountry Orthodontics operates out of three locations in South Carolina: St. George, Goose Creek and Summerville. There is one physician on staff, Dr. Roland Fulcher.
Based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Gerlein Orthodontics is run by Dr. Eduardo Gerlein and a team of 12 employees, including orthodontic assistants and lab technicians.
Smile at the World Orthodontics has one location in Temple, Texas. According to its website, the orthodontic practice is run by Dr. Joshua M. Knowles and a team of 10 employees.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, SOP works with orthodontic practices to provide expertise in finance, marketing, recruiting, benefits and other practice administration to allow orthodontists to focus on patient care.
This marks SOP’s fourth transaction of the year. The financial terms were not disclosed.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this transaction represents the 343rd Physician Medical Group (PMG) acquisition of 2025 and the 175th in the dental specialty. To date, dental accounts for slightly more than 51% of PMG deals and nearly 12% of all healthcare deals that have been reported in 2025. There were 242 dental transactions reported in 2024, and 180 in 2023. So far in 2025, there have been eight PMG deals reported in South Carolina, 10 in Maryland and 20 in Texas.
