A Decade of Dentistry
A Decade of Dentistry
This article is adapted from the first edition of the University of Utah School of Dentistry Magazine.
These are some of the pillars of the school, and what faculty members and students alike build on every single day.
The beginning:
For several years, while the idea of a dental school in Utah was merely a thought. Dr. Lynn Powell and Gordon Crabtree, who ran U of U Health finances, set aside money over time.
The Noorda family matched the funds and added 25 million dollars to the dental school fund: a donation encased by a promise to make sure this school will serve the underserved and help Utahn’s get the dental care they need.
“Together, we had about 50 million dollars. From the very beginning, it was very clear that if we
did a dental school… we would have to get everyone’s permission,” Dr. Glen Hansen, who worked closely alongside Dr. Powell, said.
“The reason we were able to sell it is because we were able to say it’s not going to cost you anything. We’re not asking for money.”
With what Dr. Hansen calls very fortuitous timing, they got through “bureaucratic layers,” and the dental school was on its way to completion.
The middle:
“Like any new institution, there were growing pains,” Dr. Lea Erickson, former Associate Dean for Education and Student Life, recalls about the first few years at the dental school as hard. She said the first few years were full of brainstorming on ways to make their dream dental school happen.
She was told: “We can do this like we’re planning a trip to Denver, or we can say we are going to the moon.” And so they planned to take the dental school to the moon.
Dr. Wyatt Hume took on the role as Dean a bit more than seven and a half years ago.
“There were some challenges at that time,” Dr. Hume said. “But, the things that appealed to me about the school were its commitment to service. The Noorda family insisted we focus on caring for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get care. I saw the potential for the school to do that extremely well.”
Dr. Hume also attributes the success of the dental school to support from U of U Health leadership. He recalls former head of U of U Health Dr. Vivien Lee saying that “if we improve oral health, we’ll get better outcomes of overall health, at lower cost.”
With this united commitment of service, and what Dr. Erickson chocks up to strong relationships, communication, and color-coded post notes, they made it work.
Faculty members became proud parents to ideas like the pathways program, which offers curriculum and opportunities for students to study specialized disciplines such as general dentistry students.
Another invaluable idea that set this school on course to the moon was reinstitution of Dental Medicaid benefits for adults in Utah.
“Due to the foresight of some folks who weren’t me, we worked politically over a five-year period to get adult Dental Medicaid re-instituted for Utah. This was incredibly important for the school,” Dr. Hume said.
“A whole book could be written on the process of Medicaid expansion,” said Dr. Glen Hansen, who was at the head of this process.
By bringing Medicaid patients to the dental school, it was able to expand the school’s clinics and provide dental care to patients who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it.
The Future:
Clinical experience. Expanded research. Community dentistry. The future is bright at the University of Utah School of Dentistry, and everyone involved continues to work every day to bring the core pillars of the school to reality - today and into the future.
The U of U Mobile Dental Clinic increases the school’s capability to reach underserved patients throughout the state.
Despite the COVID-19 public health emergency, the school expanded its clinical footprint across the state to eight locations
offering comprehensive dental care from St. George to Ogden.