Richard A. Huot Named Recipient of AGD's 2026 Mark S. Ritz Advocate for Dentistry Award
The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) is pleased to announce Richard A. Huot, DDS, FAGD, ChFC, the recipient of its 2026 Mark S. Ritz Advocate for Dentistry Award. The award will be presented at AGD's 2026 Annual Meeting on November 13 in Chicago.
Named for Dr. Mark S. Ritz, a respected AGD leader known for his advocacy and service to the profession, the award is reserved for individuals who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through visible, effective and impactful advocacy efforts at the national level, while also reflecting a strong commitment to advancing dentistry at the state and local levels.
Huot chaired the AGD Legislative & Government Affairs Council through November 2025 and has represented Region 20 at the AGD House of Delegates. His advocacy work also extends to the American Dental Association (ADA), where he served on three national councils: Government Affairs, the ADA Political Action Committee (ADPAC) and Insurance/Retirement Plans.
Huot's commitment to advancing dentistry spans decades and multiple states. Early in his career, in his home state of Maine, he served as president of the Maine Dental Association and as a delegate to the ADA House of Delegates. After relocating to Florida in 1994, he continued that advocacy work while building his private practice, ultimately merging three additional practices before selling to an associate.
A Maine native and graduate of Northwestern University Dental School, Huot was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force and served at Osan Air Base in South Korea before completing two additional years of active duty in Arizona. He went on to a 27-year career in the Air Force Reserve Dental Corps, including assignments at the Air Force Surgeon General's Office, Lackland Air Force Base and the Pentagon, and later commanded the 920th Aeromedical Staging Squadron, a 240-member medical squadron that deployed worldwide in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired from the Reserve in 2012.
Outside clinical dentistry, Huot served as an advisor and chief of business development for Velmeni, an artificial intelligence company.He is also the founder of Beachside Dental Consultants and is currently a financial planner with Radius Wealth Management, where he helps health care professionals with practice transitions, retirement planning and tax-aware strategies. His writing has appeared in Dental Economics, Dentistry Today, AGD Impact and ADA News, among other publications.
“Huot's career reflects exactly the kind of advocacy the Ritz Award was created to honor,” said AGD President Marc J. Worob, DDS, FAGD. “From his leadership of our Legislative & Government Affairs Council to his decades of service in Maine, Florida and the U.S. Air Force Reserve, he has consistently put the interests of general dentists first. We are proud to recognize him with this honor.”
He and his wife, Joanne, live in Florida, and have a son Patrick who lives in Virginia, and works on Capitol Hill.