A dental hygienist doing teeth cleaning on young boy.A dental hygienist doing teeth cleaning on young boy.

The Smile Newsletter: October 2022 

Newsletter • October 2022

The Radical Generosity of Pediatric Dentists

It’s hard to believe that autumn is already upon us. As our thoughts turn to the holidays, The AAPD Foundation is preparing to launch its 2022 Giving Tuesday campaign. Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a simple idea by folks at the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center, in New York. Committed to innovation and social impact, the team wanted to create “a day that encourages people to do good.”1 

By their very nature, pediatric dentists do good every day by using their skills to prevent and treat pain and suffering so many children needlessly experience as a result of caries and tooth decay. More than 70 percent of AAPD members report providing non compensated care. Many of those same pediatric dentists choose to broaden their reach to less fortunate kids by supporting the AAPD Foundation. The AAPD Foundation is the charitable arm of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), the nation’s leading association of dental specialists committed to optimal oral health for all children. The Foundation is a separate nonprofit that does not derive sustaining support from the Academy. Instead, the bulk of Foundation support comes directly from people like you. 

Your support helps to ensure critical funding for community-based initiatives providing Dental Homes to children from families that cannot afford dental care. Since 2010, The AAPD Foundation has issued nearly $8 million in grants and commitments to 153 organizations in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Thanks to you, Foundation grantees have helped provide Dental Homes to more than 700,000 children. 

As you know from being on the front lines, many kids did not receive the dental care they needed during the pandemic induced shut-down. Due to pandemic-related job loss, more kids than ever are under or uninsured and now rely upon com- munity health programs and services for their dental care. AAPD Foundation grants are essential for many of these programs and services to exist. 

The AAPD Foundation’s Giving Tuesday goal this year is to raise $300,000 through Giving Tuesday related activities to ensure that we can continue to make a difference in the fight for optimal oral health for all kids. And YOU can help.  

In the coming weeks you will see opportunities to support the AAPD Foundation in print, online, and via direct mail. If you have given to the AAPD Foundation before, THANK YOU. We hope you will consider supporting our work again with as radically generous a gift as you can. 

If you have yet to partner the AAPD Foundation in its mission of providing Dental Homes for kids, please join us by making your first gift. When you support the AAPD Foundation, 100 percent of your gift benefits children directly! 

Since 2010, The AAPD Foundation has issued nearly $8 million in grants and commitments to 153 organizations in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

There are many ways to show your support for the AAPD Foundation’s work. You can make a one-time gift online, you can contact us about establishing a major gift pledge or to include the Foundation in your estate planning, or you can host a social media fundraiser by using the AAPD Foundation website link directly in your Facebook feed and asking your friends to credit their gift to you in the comments section on our donation page. Just copy your browser link and add it to a post on your favorite social media channel telling your friends why you support the AAPD Foundation, and asking them to support it this Giving Tuesday too. Don’t forget to tag the AAPD Foundation and to “like” and share! 

Our goal of $300,000 may be modest compared to other nonprofits you might hear from this Giving Tuesday, but the gift you give will be priceless to the recipients of our grants, and the nearly 1 million kids in their care.  

On behalf of the kids whose smiles are healthier because of your radical generosity, and the thousands more the AAPD Foundation aims to help, thank you! 

Source: https://www.givingtuesday.org/about/

Dental hygienist doing teeth cleaning on young boy.

Leadership Institute applications for Cohort VII available in the fall

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and AAPD Foundation are excited to welcome applications for Cohort VI of Leadership Institute this upcoming fall. 

Partnering with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a class of 30 individuals will enroll in an educational engagement focusing on an array of topics important for leadership development. The program requires a three-year commitment; more specifically, a four-day on-campus experience at Kellogg each December, starting in 2023. Enrollees will participate in learning experiences with some of the best and brightest minds in leadership development. The curriculum is designed to apply to those in private practice, academia, and any other professional pursuits with leadership components. 

Call for applications will be announced in future e-blasts. For more information, please contact Jasmine Williams at jwilliams@aapdfoundation.org 

From the President

Grant Recipient Spotlight – Erie Family Health Center 

As a practicing pediatric dentist at a Federally Qualified Health Care Facility, I know firsthand the challenges community based dental clinics face. It’s one of the reasons why I’m proud to be President of the AAPD Foundation, where the mission is to provide access to care for all kids by ensuring they have a Dental Home where they can receive the treatment they need, regardless of their parent’s or caregiver’s ability to pay for services. 

One of those clinics is Erie Family Health Center in the Chicago metro area. Erie is a busy place. In 2021, the clinic provided health care services to more than 80,000 patients, via 350,000 patient encounters, at its 13 Chicagoland locations. Like the patients where I work, the patients Erie cares for are among the most vulnerable. Seventy-two percent are Hispanic, 63 percent are women, and 47 percent are pediatric patients under age eighteen. Nearly all (87 percent) of Erie’s patient population are under or uninsured.1  

Among those cared for by Erie’s dedicated staff were 12,500 dental patients, 3,634 of which are children. Thanks to your support, Erie Family Health Center received a $225,000 Access to Care Grant from the AAPD Foundation, which allows the center to promote optimal oral health through regularly scheduled preventative appointments and comprehensive, culturally appropriate patient education. 

Nearly half of Erie’s patients are best served in Spanish. Because of you, these patients now have a Dental Home, a trusted place where they can receive the pediatric dental care they need. Thank you for choosing to support the AAPD Foundation. With your continued support, we can help more children in more communities across the United States and its territories achieve optimal oral health. 

Sincerely, 
Douglas B. Keck, DMD, MSHED 
President
AAPD Foundation

Source: https://www.chcchronicles.org/explore/erie-family-health-center-inc

A portrait of AAPD Foundation president Douglas Keck.
An illustration of our Healthy Smile Hero, wearing a pink cape, purple mask and skirt, and holding a dental floss lasso.

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With your help, we can give more children the dental care they need—and the healthy smile they deserve.