Dr. Larry D. Gould D.D.S. is a highly trained and experienced General Dentist serving Mountain Home, Arkansas, and surrounding states since 1980. Dr. Gould has trained all over the world and offers a full spectrum of expertise to his patients, allowing them the opportunity to have one Doctor perform most (or all) of their treatment without leaving his office.
Known for his compassionate chair-side (bedside) manner and dedication to personalized treatment plans, Dr. Gould helps patients achieve their cosmetic dreams of beautiful customized smiles. Likewise, an emphasis is always placed on function and longevity suited to the patient's age, priorities, and financial limitations. Numerous treatment plan options are always provided during assessment presentation, and treatment never begins without the patient's questions answered in detail and fully understood.
This is only a superficial scratching of the surface of what Dr. Gould offers his patients so let me proffer with the expression "The Best is Yet to Come" as you read further.
Education
Dr. Gould graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry in 1977 and has practiced Dentistry at the same location in Mountain Home, Arkansas since 1980. Prior to his move to Arkansas, he spent a year doing Cosmetic Dentistry for the Screen Actors Guild in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) AAID Implant Surgery Maxi Course — a one year Comprehensive Training Program in Implant Dentistry. He is a Founding member of the International Stomatognathic Honorary Alliance. A Life Member of the American Dental Association and a Life Member of the Arkansas Dental Association. A member or previous member of the Academy of General Dentistry, The American College of Oral Implantology, The International Congress of Oral Implantologists, The Academy of Osseointegration, and the American Academy of Implant Dentistry.
Dr. Gould graduated from the Medical College of Georgia's mini-residency program in Implant Placement and IV Sedation, the Department of Anesthesiology and Peri-Operative Medicine's Advanced Cardiac Life Support in-Hospital Training Program (ACLS Certification). His training took him to Columbia, South America where he trained in "Comprehensive Sinus Augmentation Surgery and grafts, Nasal and Sinus Lifts, and Implant Placement." Dr. Gould was honored to be one of fifteen selected from the United States to be invited to France to study abroad with Dr. Hilt Tatum (Founder of the Sinus Graft and Pioneer of Dental Implant Surgery and Bone Grafts). He further trained in Florida with Dr. Michael A. Pikos, Oral Surgeon, on Symphysis (Chin) donor block grafts. He has thousands of hours of C.E. training in all disciplines.
Dr. Gould is currently the Medical Director for Advanced Aesthetics, Holistic Medical Spa serving as a full service Face, Mind, and Body facility offering the public numerous non-surgical FDA approved options for their over-all Wellness and Health — see details under Holistic Medical Spa Services contained in our menu.
In His Youth
In his youth, he was one of the youngest Boy Scouts to reach Eagle Scout with Palm, Order of the Arrow, Co-Captain of his High School Football Team and the Most Valuable Player. He has numerous athletic accomplishments including being a college quarterback for the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico where he attended in an effort to receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and play football as did his Hero "Roger Staubach", who attended N.M.M.I. and then played for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis where he went on to win the Heisman Trophy and eventually played for the Dallas Cowboys.
Dr. Gould was the quarterback for the United States Military Academy Prep School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He was selected as the "Athlete of the Cycle" during military training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, a two-time Soldier of the Month in the Medical Corps while serving during the Viet Nam War, and became the acting Registrar for the N.A.T.O.-S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) Dispensary in Brussels, Belgium where he first became interested in Medicine and Dentistry. Upon returning to the States and having served his Country, Dr. Gould began his return to education and academia with the intent to gain acceptance into the University of Southern California School of Dentistry.
Highlights
In the 1960s and 1970s a typical search for establishing goals and dreams were forged through a variety of impactful events starting with High School summers spent as an Ironworker working on bridges, channels, and buildings in the Southern California area making good money to save for College, and toughening his body up for football. During this same time, Dr. Gould became interested in becoming a pilot so he earned his Private Pilot License, IFR Rating, Commercial Pilot License, and eventually passed his Instructor's license test and flew wherever he lived in order to build hours towards employment working for the Airlines someday.
Knowing he needed multi-engine time in larger aircraft, he answered an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times newspaper searching for Pilots to fly for "Air America" overseas. He saw this as his opportunity to build more flight hours working towards an ATP rating. Little did he know that this was actually a CIA covert operation and fortuitously life took him another direction. Years later, through the major motion picture "Air America" starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. (1990) — depicting pilots flying missions in Laos during the Viet Nam War without realizing they were flying Heroin and Guns in an undercover CIA operation — Dr. Gould realized had he gone, he probably would have not returned.
The 1970s narrowed his search more after serving in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and subsequently after securing his acceptance into Dental School at the University of Southern California, his career path was solidified so he focused on clinical excellence. While in Dental School he was selected as a Research Assistant at Children's Hospital Los Angeles then pioneering treatment in Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus, and Hemophilia. Upon graduation from USC School of Dentistry in 1977, Dr. Gould focused on Cosmetic Dentistry, eventually making a move to Arkansas in late 1979 where he opened his current Practice in 1980 and has practiced in the same building ever since.
In the 1980s Columbia Pictures purchased the Legal Rights to Dr. Gould's Life Story and filmed preliminary documentation in California and here in Mountain Home by filmmaker/producer Doug Jackson, who at the time was involved with numerous TV productions some of which were centered around Arkansas (Mr. Jackson was at the time involved with Designing Women, Evening Shade, and many other films).
In 2004, tragedy hit Dr. Gould's life with the horrific murder of his daughter Rebekah Gould in Melbourne, Arkansas where she had mysteriously gone missing while visiting her boyfriend — one week later her body was found. At that time, a young graduate from Lyon's College of Batesville, George Jared, was assigned to cover the murder for a local newspaper. Eventually George Jared became a True Crime Author, writing numerous books and creating his own Podcast dealing with various unsolved murders. Having never forgotten his first assignment (the unsolved murder of Rebekah Gould) and haunted by its local mishandling, Mr. Jared always included something meaningful in his books regarding the heinous murder of Rebekah Gould.
Dr. Gould and George Jared treasure their life-long bond and together with Private Investigator Cathryn Townsend of Hell and Gone Podcasts, the highly talented Jennifer Bucholtz (Professor of Criminal Justice and Forensics, a former U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent and decorated Veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars), and later the Arkansas State Police addition by C.I.D. Major Mark Hollingsworth of Special Agent Mike McNeil to refocus the Investigation. Eventually the Killer was caught through joint efforts and the "Cold Case" provided a confession some 18 years later with the brilliant help of C.I.D. A.S.P. Special Agent Mike McNeill and all the others mentioned above.
During those 18 years Dr. Gould, having made a promise to his daughter at her burial to never give up or quit until her killer was brought to justice, was steadfast in his commitment and promise which took him to numerous T.V. interviews, Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, the Hell and Gone Podcasts Series, Dr. Oz True Crime Show, Dateline, and many other podcasts and Cold Case Crime shows in an effort to bring attention to his daughter's murder. At one point a Documentary was started by then Director/Producer David Hunt of the Brandon Burlsworth Story film titled "Greater." The cost became prohibitive and Mr. Hunt moved on to other Hollywood film projects. Even recently, a film crew from England came to Mountain Home to film Dr. Gould's story as a production for Netflix. That film is still being evaluated for full-production. The Story had national interest and at one point the famous F.B.I. Agent James Fitzgerald who solved the Unabomber Case became involved in analyzing some of the evidence and eventually offered the Cold Case to be presented at the renowned Vidocq Society meeting in Philadelphia.
This was one of the most trying times in Dr. Gould's life as he became an older single father with full custody of his two younger daughters, a promise to keep finding his older daughter's murderer(s), and still maintaining a full-time dental practice in order to financially survive. As if life hadn't been overwhelming enough, he suffered the loss of another daughter succumbing to stage IV Glioblastoma.
"Life had brought me to my knees. I prayed for help and tried to understand why God would allowed this to happen. It was one of the lowest times of my life until I literally fell to the floor from grief and hopelessness only to grab my Bible and see a piece of paper fall to the floor — it was the Poem 'Footprints in the Sand', and after reading it over and over, God picked me up off that floor and I never looked back. I immediately knew my calling in life was beyond my control and all the years of overcoming adversity, never quitting, believing in the power of prayer and that God is a loving God, had led to this moment and now my purpose in Life was laser focused. Raise my daughters and help others."
Promise Made, Promise Kept!
Currently, Dr. Gould is finally finding time to write his Life Story and hopes to have it ready by 2028. A devoted Father to two of his daughters, he is helping his daughter Macy Gould, currently a Junior at the University of Arkansas prepare for Dental School in 2027 where she will first graduate with a BS degree in Biochemistry, and likewise, he is helping his youngest daughter Katie Gould, a MHHS 2026 Summa Cum Laude graduate prepare for entrance to the University of Arkansas with an interest in Nursing.
Dr. Gould loves life, his children, his patients, his friends, our Country, our Flag, people from all walks of life, the God who created us, and most of all our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. The glass is always half-full and never half empty.
"I have found that 'Love Always Wins', caring for others comes natural, and as I have aged, God's promise to me in the Poem 'Footprints in the Sand' has raised me up and carried me safely through tumultuous times, protected me from harm, and now I am here for those who need healing — physical, mental and spiritual."
If you feel this is the kind of Dentist you want to trust with your healthcare, WELCOME to the family!
Humbly Yours,
Dr. Larry D. Gould D.D.S.