Apple Tree Dental

Location: Minnesota, US
Grant Amount: $25k 

Apple Tree Dental, a non-profit dental clinic, has been seeking ways to overcome barriers to oral health for underserved populations across Minnesota for more than 40 years. In 2025, they launched a pilot project in collaboration with the Altair Foundation to provide more accessible dental care for people with disabilities, funded by a $25,000 grant from the DTA Foundation. Through this project, Apple Tree Dental is now seeing patients at Dungarvin group homes, so people with disabilities can receive quality dental care without the financial and physical barriers of traveling to a brick-and-mortar clinic. Apple Tree Dental is collecting valuable data on how this in-home care reduces the often-overlooked costs associated with patients traveling to a dental clinic, including transportation and caregiver time. In the next steps of this project, Apple Tree Dental will conduct additional in-home visits to evaluate how essential these services are for people who face barriers to care. You can learn more about Apple Tree Dental in our newest impact video. 

Keystone Human Services

Location: Harrisburg, PA, US
Grant amount: $25k 

Keystone Human Services, a non-profit that provides comprehensive community services to those with disabilities in Pennsylvania and Delaware, was the recipient of a $25,000 DTA Foundation grant in 2025. By the close of 2025, nine individuals with intellectual disabilities have received the dental care they need, with more to come. These individuals received necessary and recommended dental services to maintain good oral health that were not covered by their state-provided insurance. That, combined with limited income, had made it impossible for these individuals to complete the dental work. With the help of the DTA Foundation grant, this new project enabled those nine individuals to receive over $15,000 worth of dental care provided to them. As an added benefit, they have also established new relationships with local dental providers who understand the care needs of this population. Keystone Human Services is breaking barriers and bringing appropriate, timely, restorative, and preventative dental care to people with disabilities, including access to sedation dentistry.   

Midvale Community Building Community

Location: Midvale, UT, US
Grant Amount: $25k 

As a non-profit in Midvale, Utah, Midvale Community Building Community saw a need for a new project to deliver comprehensive dental care to underserved, low-income, Spanish-speaking immigrant communities. The DTA Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to enable them to apply an Integrated Wellness Model to help meet this population’s dental needs by training dental assistants to become Certified Community Health Workers. Through strategic partnerships, continuous community engagement, and evidence-based practices, the project seeks to improve access to dental care for adults and children while addressing broader social determinants of health.   

University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Dentistry

Location: Baltimore, MD, US
Grant amount: $25k 

The University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Dentistry is embarking on an innovative research project with the help of a $25,000 DTA Foundation grant. Targeting the 10,000+ individuals born with cleft lip and/or palate each year, this project aims to design a novel regenerative therapy option for these patients. As there is currently no off-the-shelf option to help the palate to heal, patients must go through extensive, repeated surgical procedures to harvest bone from the hip to then implant into the palate defect. They’re hoping to prove there’s a better option. If successful, their solution could drastically lessen the global burden of cleft lip and/or palate care on patients, their families, and the healthcare system. Data from this pilot project will be crucial for their next step of submitting an application for a phase 1 clinical trial.  

The DentSquad & National Brush Day 

Have you met our dental superheroes yet? The DentSquad was created to spark curiosity, encourage healthy habits, and bring oral health education to life for families across the country. First introduced as part of National Brush Day, these friendly characters help simplify important messages—like the value of daily brushing—through storytelling and visual engagement. Observed on November 1, the day after Halloween, National Brush Day provides a perfectly timed opportunity to remind children and caregivers to brush away sugary treats and protect their smiles. In 2025, the DentSquad continued to expand its reach and deepen engagement through creative resources, community participation, and positive public response—reinforcing its role as a powerful tool in DTA’s ongoing oral health advocacy efforts.