Steve Perlman, DDS
AADMD Past President 2012-2014; Clinical Professor of PEdiatric Dentistry, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine
Dr. Steven Perlman is a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. For the past 40 years, he has devoted much of his private practice as well as his teaching, to the treatment of children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Dr. Perlman is a past president of the academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, the Massachusetts Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry.
He is a Fellow of the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities, A fellow of the American College of Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry.
Dr. Perlman was the first dentist in Massachusetts to receive the Exceptional Physician Award. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the Boston University Goldman
School of Dental Medicine and the first graduate in the history of the Dental School to also be recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Boston University.
He is the recipient of the Harold Berk Award from the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and the Manny Album Award from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Both awards are the highest honors of the organizations recognizing lifetime achievement in the care of people with disabilities.
Dr. Perlman has also been honored by the Pierre Fauchard Academy and in 2002, the American Dental Association presented him with their Access Recognition Award.
In May 2002, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation named Dr. Perlman Dentist of the Year for his significant contributions to the dental profession and the specialty of pediatric dentistry over an entire career of distinguished service.
He has published over 300 articles, co-edited a textbook Treating the Dental Patient with a Developmental Disorder and was a contributor to the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in 2001.
In 2005, Dr. Perlman received the Exceptional Parent Maxwell J. Schileifer Distinguished Service Award for dedication to improving the lives of individuals with special needs and disabilities as well as the Trudi Birger Community Service Award from Alpha Omega for extraordinary contribution to children with special needs all over the world.
In 1993, Dr. Perlman founded Special Olympics Special Smiles, an oral health initiative for the athletes of Special Olympics International. It now has over 200 events each year taking place in every state in the United States and in over 100 countries. He currently serves as their Senior Global Clinical Advisor.
Dr. Perlman is cofounder and past president of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD) and in 2005 and 2006 served as an advisor to the President’s Committee for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.
In 2008, in Shanghai, China, Special Olympics honored Dr. Perlman with a special Lifetime Global Leadership Award in promoting human dignity. Among the 12 individuals honored were; Nelson Mandela, Deng Pu Fang, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, Yao Ming and Nadia Comaneci.
In 2009, A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health presented Dr. Perlman with the honorary degree: Doctorate of Humane Letters.
On February 26, 2009, the Chicago Dental Society presented Dr. Perlman with the 2009 George Cushing Award for promoting awareness of the importance of oral health.
In July 2009, the Academy of General Dentistry honored Dr. Perlman with their Humanitarian Award.
In 2010, Massachusetts Special Olympics honored him with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver “Let Me Be Brave” award at a banquet honoring his achievements.
Dr. Perlman is an Adjunct Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at the A. T. Still University of Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, the Lutheran Medical Centers,
the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Jamaica School of Technology.
He was the 2013 recipient of the Dr. Robert E. Cooke Achievement Award Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service and the Allen Crocker, M.D.
Health and Services Award from the state of Massachusetts.
He is the 2013 Holyoke Award recipient for his dedication to improving the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities from the North Shore Medical Center, which has over 1,000 physicians on their staff.
In 2014, in Berlin, Germany, International Association for Disability and Oral Health awarded him an Honorary Lifetime Membership.
In 2017, in Graz, Austria, he received the Golisano Global Leadership Pioneer Award.
On September 3, 2018, he received the Honorary Lifetime Member of Arabic Society of Disability and Oral Health.
On October 27, 2018, the University of Louisville School of Medicine dedicated an symposium to Dr. Perlman for being an American Healthcare Hero.
On May 26, 2019, he received the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Ann Page Griffin Humanitarian Award.