Center For Advanced Dental Education

What Center For Advanced Dental Education does

The Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE) is an academic department within Saint Louis University (SLU), a private Jesuit university founded in 1818 in St. Louis, Missouri. CADE operates as a graduate dental education and clinical care center, offering four Master of Science in Dentistry programs with specialty certificates in orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry. The center also runs Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University, a four-clinic patient care operation that delivers specialty dental services — braces, root canals, gum disease treatment, implants, and pediatric dentistry — to adults and children at reduced costs relative to private practices. As a non-profit academic unit, CADE is not independently owned or financed; it operates under SLU's governance with no external venture capital or private equity involvement.

CADE's core physical infrastructure comprises four state-of-the-art treatment clinics, an imaging center equipped with cone beam 3D imaging technology, an 18-station technique laboratory, a multimedia auditorium, classrooms, and specialized dental libraries. Residents train under the direct supervision of what the institution describes as world-renowned clinical faculty. Scale indicators include 1,000+ alumni cumulatively trained, approximately 63 current residents enrolled across the four specialty programs, and roughly 35,000 patient visits annually.

The business model is dual-revenue: (1) graduate dental tuition from residents enrolled in multi-year specialty programs (recurring subscription-like revenue), and (2) professional services revenue from patient care delivered at the four clinics. Patient acquisition relies on referrals from general dentists and healthcare providers plus direct outreach, while resident acquisition flows through SLU's university admission channels. The center markets primarily through the SLU institutional website, the SLU application portal, and academic program listings, with no disclosed digital advertising, paid acquisition, or commercial partnerships. No pricing data, headcount figures, or financial statements are publicly available, and CADE has no disclosed subsidiaries, M&A activity, or independent funding rounds.

Name

Center For Advanced Dental Education

Legal name

Saint Louis University

Website

https://cade.slu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1818

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE) is an academic department of Saint Louis University that trains dental residents in four specialties — orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry — and operates four treatment clinics delivering specialty dental care to patients in the St. Louis region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dental Education and Specialty Dental Care Services

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Offices of Dentists (621210)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Dental Schools (EDAHAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Pediatric Dentistry Academic/Teaching Clinics (HLABAGAL)

Keywords

• Graduate dental education
• Dental specialty training
• Orthodontics residency
• Endodontics residency
• Dental clinic services

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Graduate Dental Education Tuition: Revenue from graduate-level dental education programs including Master of Science in Dentistry degrees with certificates in orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry.
2. Patient Care Services: Revenue generated from patient care services including braces, root canals, gum disease treatment, implants, and general children's dentistry provided at Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University clinics.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE) at Saint Louis University provides graduate-level dental education programs awarding a Master of Science in Dentistry with certificates in four specialties: Endodontics, Orthodontics, Periodontics, and Pediatric Dentistry. The center also operates the Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University clinics, delivering advanced dental care including braces, root canals, gum disease treatment, implants, and pediatric dentistry to adults and children at reduced costs compared to traditional practices.

Product overview

The Center for Advanced Dental Education (CADE) at Saint Louis University is an educational institution offering Master of Science in Dentistry programs with certificates in four dental specialties: Endodontics, Orthodontics, Periodontics, and Pediatric Dentistry. These graduate programs prepare dentists to become multidisciplinary clinicians. In addition to academic training, CADE operates Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University, a network of four state-of-the-art treatment clinics that provide patient care services, including an imaging center with cone beam 3D technology. The institution also maintains an 18-station technique lab for hands-on resident training.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Endodontics Program Master of Science in Dentistry with a certificate in endodontics, preparing dentists to become specialists in root canal treatments and related procedures. Designed for licensed dentists seeking advanced specialty training.
• Orthodontics Program Master of Science in Dentistry with a certificate in orthodontics, training dentists in braces and aligner treatments for teeth alignment. Designed for licensed dentists seeking advanced specialty training.
• Periodontics Program Master of Science in Dentistry with a certificate in periodontics, specializing in gum disease treatment and dental implants. Designed for licensed dentists seeking advanced specialty training.
• Pediatric Dentistry Program Master of Science in Dentistry with a certificate in pediatric dentistry, focusing on dental care for children. Designed for licensed dentists seeking advanced specialty training.
• Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University Patient care clinics providing endodontic, orthodontic, pediatric dentistry, and periodontic care from accomplished dentists supervised by expert clinical faculty, offering advanced care at lower cost than traditional practices for adults and children.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,000+ alumni trained
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Columbia University College of Dental Medicine: University-based dental school offering advanced specialty training programs (endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, pediatric dentistry) combined with faculty-supervised patient care clinics in an academic medical center setting, directly comparable to CADE's integrated teaching-clinic model.
• University of Michigan School of Dentistry: Top-ranked U.S. dental school with graduate specialty programs in orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, and pediatric dentistry, supported by faculty practice clinics. Comparable in offering advanced specialty certificates paired with supervised clinical training.
• University of Iowa College of Dentistry: Public university dental school with specialty residency programs and teaching clinics offering advanced dental care. Directly comparable to CADE as a long-standing specialty training and clinical care provider within a U.S. dental school.
• University of Southern California (Ostrow School of Dentistry): Private university dental school offering specialty certificates and graduate degrees in the same four disciplines as CADE, along with patient care clinics staffed by faculty and residents. Operates a directly comparable academic specialty training model.
• University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine: Private university dental school offering specialty graduate programs and faculty-supervised patient care across the same disciplines CADE covers. Comparable in scale, prestige positioning, and integrated teaching-clinic delivery model.
• UCLA School of Dentistry: Public university dental school with specialty residency programs and faculty-supervised specialty care clinics. Directly comparable to CADE in combining graduate dental education with clinical service delivery in a major academic medical setting.
• Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine: Private university dental school with graduate specialty programs in orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry, paired with faculty-supervised patient care. Comparable integrated academic-clinical operating model to CADE.
• NYU College of Dentistry: Largest U.S. dental school with extensive specialty residency programs and high-volume patient clinics. Operates the same graduate dental specialty training plus clinical service model as CADE, scaled to a major urban academic medical center.

Broad incumbents

• Aspen Dental: Large multi-site dental practice organization offering general and specialty dental services at scale. Comparable as a high-volume provider of specialty dental care (including orthodontics, endodontics, and implants), though it is a commercial operator rather than an academic institution.
• Heartland Dental: Largest U.S. dental support organization providing non-clinical support to general and specialty dental practices. Comparable as a scaled provider of specialty dental care delivery infrastructure, though it operates commercially rather than as an academic program.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SLU_Official
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/SaintLouisUniversity
• Facebookfacebook.com/SaintLouisU
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/center-for-advanced-dental-education
• Instagraminstagram.com/slu_official
• TikToktiktok.com/@slu_official

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center For Advanced Dental Education