Welcome to HEROLAND

Attendees explored HEROLAND, an interactive experience about the 
real-life barriers kids face when they need dental care, and the ways the 
AAPD Foundation and our grantees help kids overcome those barriers!

One of the main barriers to dental care for kids is transportation. Patients and families need reliable access to and from appointments to maintain healthy smiles. Not everyone owns a reliable vehicle and public transportation can be lacking or tricky to navigate. To aid this transportation trouble, Access to Care Grants have paid for patients’ bus fare, rideshares, or gas cards! Another common barrier to dental care is long waitlists at clinics, and kids must wait in pain for months before treatment. Foundation funding often helps support additional clinic hours to meet community needs and help more kids.

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Mission Status

HeroLand conquered, barriers confronted, and 
our league of Healthy Smile Heroes are keeping 
up the good fight.

Welcome Reception

The Welcome Reception was a rockin’ rodeo with a mechanical bull, 
trick ropers, line dancing, face painting, and so much more!

We lassoed in the fun with BBQ, mechanical bulls, and a neon cosmic cowboy dance party that rocked the National Western Complex. Zac Barnett, Uncle Kracker, and Mark McGrath brought the house down with SixWire in true festival fashion!

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Big thanks to everyone for bringing the energy, the smiles, and the swagger—Denver-style.

Donor Appreciation Reception

The Dr. Beverly A. Largent Access to Care Innovator Award, sponsored by Elevate Oral Care, recognizes excellence in providing dental care to children, especially vulnerable populations.

Sponsored by

The award is named for Dr. Beverly Largent, the first woman president of the AAPD Foundation and trailblazer pediatric dentist. She addressed the crowd at the Foundation’s Donor Appreciation Reception in Denver, thanking her colleagues for their support and impressing upon us all that the time to be a philanthropist is not an imaginary date in the future. The time 
to be a philanthropist is NOW.

After Dr. Largent’s invigorating speech, President of the Foundation Dr. Mario Ramos introduced the 2025 Dr. Beverly A. Largent Access to Care Innovator Award winner: Dr. Maria Rita Z. Bernardo of FamilyCare Health Centers in West Virginia! Dr. Bernardo’s tireless dedication to 
the dental health of children and families of Appalachia is inspiring to us all. She launched 
and continues to lead FamilyCare’s Miles of Smiles Mobile Dental Unit, a school-based mobile program delivering preventive and restorative care to children in rural Appalachia who would otherwise go without care. She often travels up to 120 miles round trip to ensure that even small numbers of students receive treatment, prioritizing equity and compassion in every community she serves.

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Thank you to all supporters of the Foundation 
for making this important work possible.

Take Care, Dr. Smith!

One of our favorite Healthy Smile Heroes Dr. Scott Smith stepped down from the Board of Trustees, and we’re feeling a little less bright without him. Thank you, Dr. Smith, for sharing 
your invaluable time, wisdom, and that infectious cheery spirit! Your dedication to healthy 
smiles and positive energy made every meeting better.

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Thank you ALL for a fantastic AAPD 2025

We hope to see you for more heroic fun at AAPD 2026 in Las Vegas!