ORANGE COUNTY

Safeguard Health Enterprises Inc. said it has named W. Bruce Steever as chief financial officer.

He succeeds Stefan Dietrich, who was dismissed in April for what the company said then was a “lack of progress in implementing certain improvements in the accounting department.”

Steever had been vice president-finance for Anaheim-based Laura Scudder’s Inc.

Anaheim-based Safeguard operates dental plans in nine states and recently received regulatory approval to operate in two more.