Colin Flanders ©️ Seven Days
Sen. Bernie Sanders at Friday's press conference
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.
The University of Detroit Mercy says it will create a nonprofit to oversee the program, which has already received national accreditation. The school is now in talks to place the center in an existing Colchester building, out of which it will operate both classrooms and a public dental clinic for qualifying Medicaid patients.
The program will be able to accommodate up to 64 students. These students will complete half of their four-year studies in Detroit before relocating to Vermont for their final two years. The school will aim to house the students at another local college. The first cohort is expected to arrive in May 2027.
“Our hope,” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at Friday’s press conference, “is that many of these young dentists will — once they locate in Vermont and enjoy the beauty of our state — stay here.”
Sanders and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) have earmarked $4.6 million in federal funding toward the project as part of a pending appropriations bill.
Sanders, who has long advocated for better access to affordable oral health care in the U.S., called the project a “huge step” toward keeping people healthy.
“The truth is that if you don't have teeth to chew your food, or you have excruciating pain every time you eat, you can't get the nutrients you need,” he said. “Dental care is health care.”