Three family dental practices in Washington and Ozaukee counties have a new corporate parent but the same familiar faces behind the chair. Effective October 26, 2026, a Monday, Oakbrook Dental in West Bend, Jackson Family Dentistry in Jackson and Sauk Trail Dental in Saukville joined the First Choice Dental network, pushing the Wisconsin dental group to 20 locations across the southern and southeastern part of the state.
The move, announced in a news release, pairs First Choice Dental with Milwaukee Dental Partners, a three-practice dental group serving Washington and Ozaukee counties, according to prnewswire.com. As Greater Milwaukee Today reported, the three Milwaukee Dental Partners practices will keep their existing names and continue accepting the same insurance plans their patients already use. Patients will keep seeing the same doctors, hygienists and team members they have come to know, with no disruption to day-to-day care.
What changes is the backup patients can tap into. Those at the three practices will now have access to First Choice Dental's broader network of dentists and specialists, including orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics and oral surgery.
First Trip North of Milwaukee
The partnership marks First Choice Dental's first locations in communities north of Milwaukee, a geographic milestone for a company that was founded in 1996 and has spent three decades serving Wisconsin families. Milwaukee Dental Partners itself was founded in 2019 by Dr. Pako Major and now provides comprehensive general and family dentistry to more than 6,600 active patients, per the release.
Major said the partnership aligns with his organization's priorities, offering patients broader care and giving staff room to grow while preserving the personal attention patients are used to. Kelly Thompson, First Choice Dental's president and chief operating officer, said Milwaukee Dental Partners' practices are important to their communities and that First Choice Dental will support the existing teams while expanding its reach to more Wisconsin communities.
A Pattern of Acquisitions Beyond Dane County
This is not First Choice Dental's first step outside its home turf. The company opened its first office in Rock County earlier this year and brought on a corporate development specialist specifically to handle mergers and acquisitions, according to wisbusiness.com. Thompson told the outlet the company wanted to expand its opportunities outside Dane County and had its sights set on moving closer to the Milwaukee market.
That earlier expansion included a Janesville office, which the company described as its first expansion outside Dane County, according to madison.com. That office saw its first patient on June 15, bringing the group's total to 15 locations at the time — a number that has now climbed to 20 with the addition of the three new Wisconsin practices. The company is also targeting another new office in the Pewaukee area, with a location already scheduled to open there in December.
Clinical Decisions Stay With the Doctors
Thompson has said First Choice Dental's role is to provide doctors with training, resources and operational support while leaving clinical decisions in the hands of the doctors themselves — a structure meant to let dentists focus on patient care rather than back-office logistics. Thompson has also pointed to staffing pressure as a driver behind the group's growth strategy, noting that the more rural an area gets, the more challenged it becomes with provider staffing.
First Choice Dental's expansion fits into a broader pattern of consolidation in the dental industry. An affiliate of The Beekman Group, which manages $1 billion in assets and has completed more than 175 transactions since its inception, previously announced the recapitalization of FCDG Management, the entity behind First Choice Dental. Before this week's addition, First Choice Dental was described as a leading multi-specialty dental practice group in the Greater Madison market with eleven practice locations, a footprint that has since roughly doubled through a string of moves into new Wisconsin counties.
