Southern Association of Orthodontists

What Southern Association of Orthodontists does

The Southern Association of Orthodontists (SAO) is a nonprofit professional membership association founded in 1921 and headquartered at P.O. Box 1154, Brandon, FL 33509. SAO is a constituent organization of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) and represents orthodontists practicing across 11 Southern and Mid-Atlantic U.S. states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana (east), Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Its primary functions are continuing education, political advocacy at the state and national level, annual meeting programming, and the provision of member resources that support orthodontic practice and patient care.

The organization's core deliverables are services rather than technology products. These include continuing education programs, access to the annual meeting, networking opportunities with regional orthodontic peers, advocacy representation, and formal delegate representation at the AAO House of Delegates. A published roster of 2026 SAO Delegates to the AAO names 11 state delegates plus a New & Young Delegate and an Alternate Delegate. The SAO does not operate proprietary software, APIs, or technology platforms; its digital footprint consists of the saortho.org constituent site and the ssortho.org Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO) shared-operations site.

The revenue model is a traditional nonprofit membership dues structure with quote-based pricing that is not publicly disclosed. In June 2024, SAO combined operations with the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists (SWSO) under the Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO) brand, sharing resources for meetings, programs, and member services while preserving separate recognition and delegate representation at AAO. The organization operates with 1-10 employees and is governed by delegate leadership rather than commercial management; it has no disclosed venture, private equity, or public ownership.

Name

Southern Association of Orthodontists

Legal name

Southern Society of Orthodontists

Website

https://saortho.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1921

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Southern Association of Orthodontists is a nonprofit constituent of the American Association of Orthodontists that provides continuing education, political advocacy, and member services to orthodontists across 11 Southern U.S. states, operating jointly with SWSO under the Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO) since June 2024.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brandon

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Southern Association of Orthodontists is a nonprofit constituent society of the American Association of Orthodontists that provides continuing education programs, political advocacy at state and national levels, annual meetings, and member resources to orthodontists practicing across 11 Southern U.S. states. Since June 2024, the SAO has combined operations with the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists to operate as the unified Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO), sharing resources for meetings and member services while maintaining separate recognition at the AAO House of Delegates.

Product overview

Southern Association of Orthodontists is a constituent of the American Association of Orthodontists that operates alongside the Southwestern Society of Orthodontists as the unified Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO) since June 2024. The organization offers a portfolio consisting of its constituent membership organization (SAO), the combined operations entity (SSO), and member services including continuing education, political advocacy, annual meetings, and member resources. While SAO and SWSO maintain separate representation at the AAO House of Delegates, they share operational resources for enhanced member services through the SSO brand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Member Benefits and Resources

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• American Association of Orthodontists (AAO)coreOthers · 1 June 2024SAO is a constituent of the American Association of Orthodontists. At the national level, SAO maintains separate recognition and representation at the AAO House of Delegates. The SAO provides delegates to represent member orthodontists at AAO annual meetings.
• Southwestern Society of Orthodontists (SWSO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2024SAO and SWSO combined operations in June 2024 to form the Southern Society of Orthodontists (SSO). This combination allows the two constituents to share resources for enhanced meetings, programs, and member services while maintaining separate recognition at AAO.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• American Dental Association (ADA): The largest US dental professional membership association. While not specialty-specific to orthodontics, it competes for orthodontists' dues and engagement and shares the same nonprofit professional-membership, advocacy, and CE business model as SAO/SSO.
• American Association of Orthodontists (AAO): The national parent organization of which SAO is a constituent. Operates a much larger, broadly scoped version of the same membership, advocacy, and CE model, and is both an oversight body and a structural counterpart to the SSO at the national level.

Direct peers

• Northeastern Society of Orthodontists (NESO): AAO constituent covering the Northeastern US. Comparable in mission, governance, and product set (CE programming, advocacy, annual meeting) for member orthodontists, with parallels to SAO as a long-standing regional component society.
• Rocky Mountain Society of Orthodontists (RMSO): Smaller AAO constituent covering the Rocky Mountain region. Provides the same regional specialty association services to orthodontists as SAO/SSO, making it a structurally identical peer at a different geographic scale.
• Midwestern Society of Orthodontists (MSO): Sister AAO constituent serving orthodontists across the Midwestern US. Mirrors SAO's structure as a regional nonprofit that delivers CE, networking, and advocacy for member orthodontists through an annual session and delegate representation at the AAO House of Delegates.
• Great Lakes Association of Orthodontists (GLAO): Another AAO constituent society covering orthodontists in the Great Lakes region (IN, MI, OH, western PA, Ontario). Operates the same regional membership, annual meeting, CE, and advocacy model as SAO/SSO, making it the closest functional peer.
• Southwestern Society of Orthodontists (SWSO): AAO constituent that combined operations with SAO in June 2024 to form SSO while retaining separate House of Delegates recognition. Operationally intertwined with SAO but historically a directly comparable regional constituent society.
• Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists (PCSO): AAO constituent serving orthodontists on the West Coast. Operates the same nonprofit membership, annual meeting, and advocacy framework as SAO/SSO, giving it strong functional comparability in member services and delegate representation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/saoinfo
• Facebookfacebook.com/ssosmiles
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southern-association-of-orthodontists

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Southern Association of Orthodontists