“Stranger Things” recently released the first official trailer for Season 5 — the culmination of the hit Netflix series that premiered nearly a decade ago.
The highly anticipated final season — which comes more than three years after Season 4 — will premiere in November.
There’s a lot of buzz around the show right now, but that isn’t the reason “Stranger Things” star Gaten Matarazzo has made a trip to Utah.
Instead, the actor who plays Dustin Henderson in “Stranger Things” has come to Utah for a few days as the face of CCD Smiles — a nonprofit he formed with Utah nurse Kelly Wosnik.
Gaten Matarazzo’s connection to Utah-based CCD Smiles
Both Matarazzo and Wosnik were born with a rare birth defect called cleidocranial dysplasia — a one in a million disorder that affects the growth and development of bones and teeth.
Wosnik, who owns Bristol Health in Orem, had dental surgeries from the age of 7 to 19, and didn’t meet anyone else with CCD until she was 33, the Deseret News previously reported.
“Stranger Things” put the genetic disorder in the spotlight by writing it into Dustin’s character.
Less than a year later, Matarazzo flew to Utah with his parents to meet Wosnik, who was planning to start an organization with the focus of helping people with CCD.
“I wondered what a 14-year-old would see in a 41-year-old,” Wosnik previously told the Deseret News.
“Then I opened the door and it was an instant connection. He saw me and just hugged me. And when I finally let go, he didn’t.”
Gaten Matarazzo attends CCD Smiles Conference in Utah
The purpose of the nonprofit organization CCD Smiles is “to raise awareness, provide support for individuals with CCD, and advance the currently limited research on the condition,” per a news release shared with the Deseret News.
The CCD Smiles Conference, which runs through Saturday at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, brings that to life with celebrity guests and national leaders in CCD treatment.
“Attendees often describe past conferences as life-changing — an experience marked by a deep sense of community, renewed hope and a greater understanding of CCD and the promise of future research,“ Wosnik said in a statement. “Gaten and I believe we have the ability to positively impact many lives and help pave the way toward meaningful solutions for the future.”
Matarazzo has visited Utah over the years to help raise awareness, including last year when he connected with kids at the Cleft and Craniofacial Family Retreat in Heber.
That face-to-face interaction, Wosnik said, can go a long way.
“If nothing else, I wanted to provide a way for people with CCD to connect with each other,” she told the Deseret News in 2018. “That kind of therapy is so important — just knowing you’re not alone. I’d have given anything for that connection.”
Gaten Matarazzo also has a ‘Stranger Things’ Utah connection
Matarazzo’s “Stranger Things” character also has a strong connection to Utah.
In Season 3, viewers meet Dustin’s girlfriend, Suzie Bingham, who lives in Salt Lake City and has a BYU pennant on the wall of her bedroom, per the Deseret News.