Dr. Jim Scapillato founded the Special Smiles Foundation to break the barriers that prevent people with special needs from receiving quality dental care. After years of treating patients others turned away, he saw how often society imposes helplessness—not through inability, but through inaccessibility.

Inspired by one of his first special needs patients, Oscar Montville, Dr. Scapillato created the foundation to fund dental treatment for patients with physical or developmental challenges who otherwise could not afford it. Each patient treated receives their own Oscar the Elephant, the foundation’s mascot. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the elephant symbolizes the remover of obstacles, a fitting emblem for the foundation’s mission.

Just as young elephants are conditioned to believe they can’t break free from a simple rope, many people with special needs are conditioned to believe quality care isn’t for them. The Special Smiles Foundation exists to prove otherwise, helping patients receive the same compassionate, professional treatment anyone deserves, and reminding them they are not defined or limited by their circumstances.

Every smile restored is one more chain broken, and one more life changed.