Kansas City-based University of Kansas Medical Center may open the state's first-ever dental school, according to LJWorld.com.
Here are six notes:
1. The school may fill a gap in dental care as many of the area's dentists are retiring in the next few years. Thousands of Kansas residents live in areas considered "deserts," where care is limited.
2. However, the Kansas Board of Regent and the university have not signed off an idea to build a school. KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said the university is not seeking to start the school at this time, and the Board of Regent is undecided as well.
3. While the state currently does not have a dental school, it has a reciprocal agreement with Missouri permitting Kansas residents to purchase in-state tuition to study optometry and dentistry at University of Missouri-Kansas City.
4. Missouri students can also pay in-state tuition to study architecture at KU and Kansas State University in Manhattan, but Regent board member Daniel Thomas, said Kansas has trained many more architects through its state schools than Missouri has trained dentists. The states renewed the agreement on June 30, however, and did not change the agreement's terms.
5. Board of Regents authorized an Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at Wichita (Kan.) State University seven years ago, but only 30 people have graduated from the program. Of the 30 graduates, only six people are practicing in Kansas.
6. Many say establishing a dental school in the state would create a sustainable solution where many dental students could provide care for Kansas residents in underserved areas.
More dental news:
Dentsply Sirona net sales total $1.02B in Q2; Aspen Dental completes construction on 3.7k-sq-ft facility & more — 5 key notes
Flossing may fall short of expectations — 5 things to know
Drs. Louis Maddalena, Daniel Duffy & more — 5 dentists making headlines