The University of Utah School of Dentistry, a public school, will welcome its first class of 20 students this fall. Construction is expected to begin soon on a new dental school building that will be named for a benefactor who donated $30 million for the program.
Utah's first dental school, the Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine, a private school, opened its doors to 64 students in 2011. Roseman is located in South Jordan, Utah, south of Salt Lake City.
Dr. G. Lynn Powell, University of Utah School of Dentistry founding dean, estimates the school will receive more than 500 applications in its first year.
The new dental school builds on the University of Utah's long-running, successful dental education programs that include a postgraduate dental residency program, which will continue, and a 32-year-old Regional Dental Education Program directed by Dr. Powell. The RDEP recruits dental students who attend their first year of dental education at the University of Utah's School of Medicine then complete their final three years at Creighton University School of Dentistry in Omaha, Neb. Under the terms of the agreement, some of the students' tuition can be reimbursed if they return to Utah to practice. With the opening of the new School of Dentistry, that program will be discontinued when the final class of the RDEP graduates in 2016.
The Commission on Dental Accreditation granted initial accreditation to the University of Utah School of Dentistry in 2012. Dentistry IQ
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