School of Dentistry tackles access to care

Students and faculty treat thousands of patients in the school’s on-campus dental clinic.

Dedicated to improving oral health across the state, the School of Dentistry continues to enhance access to care in Minnesota. For starters, over the last decade, the school has increased its class size by 37 percent (from 86 to 108 graduates/year.) 

In addition to increasing the class size, students and faculty treat thousands of patients in the school’s on-campus dental clinic and travel the state to care for patients in underserved communities. 

Taking expertise to the community  

As the only dental school in the state, the School of Dentistry has a strong commitment to community outreach. Before graduating, every dental student will spend 6-8 weeks in service-learning experiences at community clinics throughout the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota. Whether they’re treating patients (under the supervision of faculty) or making community presentations to promote oral health and oral health careers, students gain first-hand experience out in the field. 

Students report that working in the clinics helps them build confidence in the skills they learn in the classroom, labs and clinics, while fulfilling a need in the community – many of which are designated by the federal government as underserved by health care professionals, including dentists. 

Moreover, experience suggests that dental students whose educational years include clinical rotations in rural and underserved areas are more likely to choose to practice in these areas after graduation, says Paul Schulz, the school’s director of outreach. 

Currently, the School of Dentistry sends student to six Minnesota community clinics and a mobile dental unit. Together, these sites account for approximately 15,500 patient-visits each year. In 2009, the dental school also partnered with University of Minnesota Physicians and University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview to create a clinic for the care of medically compromised patients and the school now provides the academic expertise to educate dentists in the care of special needs patients. And in August 2010, the School of Dentistry helped establish the Native American Community Dental Clinic where dental and dental hygiene students now treat patients. Students also treat patients at three other metro-area dental clinics -- Community-University Health Care Center, Northpoint Health and Wellness Center, and Walker Methodist Health Center. 

Students who are interested in rural outreach also have the option of spending time at community clinics in Willmar or Hibbing, or staffing the mobile dental unit which can travel to multiple locations across the state.  

A new provider

Another way the School of Dentistry is working to increase access is through its new Dental Therapy Program. In 2008, the Minnesota authorized licensure of this new dental professional and the University is the first dental school in the nation to educate these mid-level providers. Dental therapists are learning alongside the dental and dental hygiene students with whom they will eventually work after graduation, and they’re learning in the same facilities and from the same faculty who educate dentists. 

In fall 2009, the inaugural class of 9 dental therapy students started class. Dental therapy students are being educated to restore the teeth of both children and adults in a clinical setting with a dentist on-site to offer supervision. 

The expectation is that dental therapists will enhance the capacity of the existing network of dental offices around Minnesota to see more patients, and to do so in a more cost-effective manner. 

Building bridges to communities

The school’s latest initiative to enhance dental access involves a new partnership between the Minneapolis Public Schools and the University’s Colleges of Biological Science and Liberal Arts. A new $1.9 federal grant will help launch the dental school’s new Building Bridges to a Career in Dentistry for Disadvantaged Students Program. The program was created as a way to increase the number of School of Dentistry graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds by establishing early contact with middle school and high school students who have expressed an interest in a health field and are participating in special health-related programs 

For more information about how the School of Dentistry, its clinics, and outreach initiatives, visit www.dentistry.umn.edu

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