Open wide, Vermont: A wave of new dentists-in-training is headed your way.
On Friday, the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry announced plans to open a new dental school in Vermont. The move will allow the Michigan college to accept more of the qualified students that it turns away each year, school officials said.
It will also bring much-needed training opportunities to a state where finding a new dentist can be as painful as a root canal.
“We saw many very talented, well-intended, enthusiastic, potential oral health professionals who weren’t given the opportunity to be a dentist but yet could help solve a problem in a state that really needed it,” said Mert N. Aksu, dean of the Michigan dental school, at a press conference in South Burlington.
The federal government says all but two of Vermont’s 14 counties need more dentists. Vermont’s lack of a dental school contributes to the problem. Research has found that medical professionals are more likely to work in places where they trained.
The Michigan school selected Vermont for its expansion after learning about the state’s dental woes, Aksu said.
Source: Michigan University to Open New Dental School in Vermont / Seven Days
Does production of more dentists improve access to dental care?
Or increase costs of dental care, for Americans who have traditionally had access?
Do traditionally under served benefit, do they experience improved availability of even basic oral health care services, given that costs of four years of college and dental school, along with associated debt must be considered? Can these graduates make a living, by performing the services commonly needed, for prevention, early interventions, with Fl Varnish, sealants, SDF and minimally invasive treatments, using GI, SSCs, simple exts. etc? Can they pay their debts, without requiring taxpayers, at great costs, to carry them through?
Does America really need more dentists?
For almost totally preventable diseases?
Do most under served need dental offices, costing half to a million dollars to set up?
We need to think about this. We have been here before.