Author: PerioFoundation
PerioDash Starts in Your Neighborhood
When PerioDash began more than a decade ago, the goal was to bring people together in support of the AAP Foundation and the specialty of periodontics. That remains true as the program enters its twelfth year. Every PerioDash event starts with a local team, but its impact extends far beyond the event itself.
In 2025, 527 participants across 36 teams took part in PerioDash. The program looked a little different in each location. The examples below show a few of the ways different groups have adapted the program to fit their goals and communities.
The L.A. Team, representing UCLA, USC, and the West Los Angeles VA, has participated since the start of PerioDash, helping build a tradition that continues to attract residents, faculty, alumni, and supporters each year. As Drs. Flavia Pirih and Beatriz Bezerra shared, “It’s a morale booster every year. Running, walking, and celebrating together outside of the clinic strengthens our sense of community and pride in the specialty.”
At the University of Utah, dental students and faculty embraced PerioDash despite not yet having a periodontal residency program. With support from periodontal department leaders, the event generated interest in the specialty while building goodwill and visibility for the department within the dental school. As Dr. Okano noted, “Students talk about PerioDash throughout the school year. Immediately following this year’s event, many were already asking about next year and wanting to participate again.”
Private practices have found opportunities to make PerioDash their own as well. Dr. Walt Colón and his team have used the event to bring together referring dentists and their teams, predental students, former staff members, family, and community supporters. Dr. Colón noted that “assistants from other practices made PerioDash their annual event and encouraged their doctors to join the following year.”
The Foundation has expanded resources to support participants. The PerioDash Participant Resource webpage features participant spotlights, educational handouts, talking points, social media resources, and opportunities for customized local press outreach. These resources help teams continue conversations about periodontal and peri-implant health long after race day.
As PerioDash becomes part of the AAP Foundation’s Levi-Richman Integration Initiative, the program will continue to build community while helping raise awareness about the connection between oral health and overall health. Participants will have additional opportunities to highlight periodontal health as the oral-systemic link and educate patients and the public about periodontal and peri-implant diseases, the importance of treating them, and the dedicated specialists who can help.
Support from the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative will also provide participant gear, including custom team shirts and medals, allowing 100% of every PerioDash registration fee to directly support the AAP Foundation’s mission and impact.
Whether teams participate to promote wellness, strengthen professional connections, engage their local communities, or raise awareness about oral-systemic health, every PerioDash event starts with a local team. We hope yours will be next.
Advocating for Periodontal Health at Endocrine Society Meeting
Diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome are closely linked to periodontal inflammation and oral dysbiosis. Susceptibility to periodontitis is increased by approximately threefold in people with diabetes and individuals with metabolic syndrome demonstrate approximately 40–70% greater odds of periodontal disease. Meanwhile, definitive treatment of periodontal inflammation and dysbiosis is associated with improved glycemic control, and periodontitis treatment is associated with a decrease in HbA1c that is similar to that seen with pharmacologic treatment in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
On June 13-15, 2026, the AAP Foundation’s Levi-Richman Integration Initiative championed periodontal health by presenting information to more than 7,000 endocrinologists and attendees at ENDO 2026. Sukirth Ganesan, BDS, PhD, led the delegation alongside two graduate students from the University of Iowa, Gloria Moses Fiifi-Yankson, BDS, MPH, and Priscilla Remulla, BDS, MPH. The team engaged with hundreds of attendees and enrolled nearly 250 individuals to receive additional information on periodontal and endocrine disease connections.
Dr. Ganesan noted that “many clinicians shared that they typically only think about oral health in the context of joint replacement, cancer therapy, or medication-related osteonecrosis” and appreciated the opportunity to expand discussions regarding obesity and metabolic health impacts on periodontal conditions.
The team promoted an upcoming November 19 webinar titled “Working Together to Stop Diabetes,” part of a series funded by the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative. The Initiative was established through gifts from Patty and Dr. Paul Levi and Dr. Colin Richman, with additional support from PDS Health. Future outreach includes the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026 in Chicago, November 6-9.
Levi-Richman Integration Initiative Advocates for Smoking Cessation
The American Academy of Periodontology Foundation participated in the inaugural “Working Together” webinar series on June 4, made possible through a donation from Patty and Dr. Paul Levi. The program, titled “Working Together to Stop Tobacco and Nicotine,” brought together worldwide specialists examining tobacco’s effects on periodontal health.
The initiative included 21 national and regional periodontology organizations across more than 40 countries conducting localized sessions. The U.S. component emphasized “the role that dental clinics can play in curbing tobacco and nicotine use,” featuring Dr. Benjamin W. Chaffee and Dr. Alexandra Tsigarida, moderated by Dr. Purnima Kumar.
Beyond this webinar, the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative previously supported the AAP’s Best Evidence Consensus on peri-implant disease prevention (May 15-17). Planned activities include advocacy at endocrinologist and cardiologist conferences, plus a November 19 diabetes-focused webinar honoring World Diabetes Day.
Session recordings are available at workingtogether.site, with additional initiative details at periofoundation.org.
PDS Health Joins Levi-Richman Integration Initiative
PDS Health has joined the AAP Foundation’s Levi-Richman Integration Initiative as a research partner and major charitable donor. The integrated healthcare support organization will collaborate with the Initiative’s grantees to develop and execute research projects examining the relationship between periodontal disease, its prevention, and systemic health outcomes, consistent with the AAP Foundation’s support of science-based research and its integration into clinical practice. PDS Health will also continue its longstanding philanthropic support of the Foundation with $250,000 in funding over five years, including major support of the Levi-Richman Integration Initiative and sponsorship of the Foundation’s annual donor appreciation events.
PDS Health has been a longtime advocate for dental-medical integration, including the implementation of integrated electronic health records that support greater collaboration between oral health and medical providers.
The partnership includes statements from PDS Health Founder and CEO Stephen E. Thorne IV, AAP Foundation President Dr. Christopher Richardson, and Dr. Mia Geisinger, Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Periodontology, discussing the partnership’s significance for advancing research on oral-systemic health connections.
The Levi-Richman Integration Initiative, named for its founding donors, will leverage $2.5 million in existing and new investments to champion periodontal health through research, education, and advocacy over a five-year commitment period.