Franchise Facts Report → brands → Smile Source
Smile Source franchise — is it worth it?
Medium risk Growing network
Smile Source operates in the health & wellness sector, specifically dental services, with a substantial existing network of 663 outlets.
Everything below is free, read straight off Smile Source's registered filing. The $99 report is the part a single FDD can't give you: the fee and churn detail, and where every number lands against health & wellness peers.
The numbers above tell you what Smile Source discloses. The report tells you whether that's good:
- What the missing Item 19 means here — how many health & wellness franchisors do disclose, so you know whether this silence is ordinary or not.
- Where every number ranks — investment, fees, royalty, earnings and churn against health & wellness median and quartile. This is the part no single FDD, and no AI reading one, can produce.
- What's driving the medium risk read — the specific figures behind it, not the label.
- The litigation, split properly — each case, and which ones franchisees brought against the franchisor rather than the reverse.
- The questions to ask before you sign — drawn from what Smile Source's own filing leaves open, in the words to use on the call.
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Compare 3 brands — $249 See a sample reportFigures above are as disclosed in Smile Source's most recent FDD (registered 2023). Source: California Dept. of Financial Protection and Innovation — Franchise Registration · filing app-27249 — check it yourself. The Item 19 figures, where each number ranks against peers, and the litigation & churn detail are in the full report.
Smile Source franchise profit — what the FDD discloses
Plainly: Smile Source does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for Smile Source — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (many health & wellness franchisors do disclose), and the full report reads the risk signals Smile Source's FDD does contain — fees, litigation, and outlet churn — against peers. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Health & wellness franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.
Smile Source lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)
Smile Source's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2023) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.
Smile Source closures & failure rate
Before you sign, Smile Source will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Smile Source's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a health & wellness of this kind.
The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Smile Source's latest tables show a growing franchised network. The actual closure and termination counts, and how Smile Source's churn ranks against health & wellness peers, are in the full report.
What the fee, litigation and churn signals imply, every number ranked against health & wellness peers, and the litigation and churn detail — delivered instantly, yours to keep.
Not useful? Reply to your delivery email within 14 days for a refund — no forms, no argument.
Who owns Smile Source?
Smile Source's franchise is offered by Smile Source L.P. — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2023), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at CA DFPI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.
Compare Smile Source head-to-head
Health & wellness franchises at a similar investment level
Anyone weighing Smile Source is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.
Smile Source franchise — frequently asked
Who owns Smile Source — who is the franchisor?
Smile Source's most recently filed FDD (2023) names Smile Source L.P. as the franchisor — the entity you would actually sign the franchise agreement with, as stated on the disclosure document itself. A registry filing names the franchisor, not necessarily its ultimate parent company.
How much does a Smile Source franchise cost?
Smile Source's most recently filed FDD (Item 7) puts the total estimated initial investment at $60,500 – $435,000 and a 1.5% royalty. That price is the franchisor's own estimate of what it takes to open, not a quote. The full report breaks down every fee line and benchmarks it against health & wellness peers.
How much profit does a Smile Source franchise make?
Smile Source makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-disclosed revenue or profit figure for Smile Source at all — and profit would never be disclosed even where earnings are, because it depends on your rent, labor and how you operate. Any profit figure quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure.
Does Smile Source disclose financial performance (Item 19)?
No — Smile Source's most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation. Its absence is worth weighing; the report focuses on the verifiable risk signals instead.
Are there lawsuits against Smile Source?
No — Smile Source's most recently filed FDD (2023) discloses no litigation in Item 3. Franchisors must disclose material litigation involving themselves, their predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 is a genuine signal rather than an omission.
Is Smile Source a good franchise to buy?
Nobody can answer that from Smile Source's numbers alone — it comes down to how its investment, earnings, litigation and franchisee churn stack up against health & wellness peers, which is what the full report is for. Our read on this filing is medium risk, stated free above. For $99 you get the figures driving that read, the actual Item 19 earnings (absent from this FDD — and how unusual that is for the category), where every figure ranks against peers, and the specific questions to ask the franchisor before you sign.
A Smile Source franchise is a $60,500 – $435,000 decision you make once, on a ten-year agreement, usually with a personal guarantee behind it. For $99 you get an independent read of the document that decides it: what the absent Item 19 earnings imply, and how unusual that absence is for the category, every figure ranked against health & wellness peers, the litigation split into franchisee and corporate matters, the churn behind the outlet count — and the questions to put to the franchisor before you sign. If it tells you nothing new, reply within 14 days and we'll refund it.
Not useful? Reply to your delivery email within 14 days for a refund — no forms, no argument.
Compare 3 brands — $249Get a free email when something changes on Smile Source or health & wellness: a new FDD registration, a new lawsuit, an outlet count that shifts, or Item 19 earnings going from undisclosed to disclosed. Pulled straight from the same registries every report is built on.