A new dental school and clinic is slated to bring dozens of dental students to Vermont by 2027, thanks in part to an anticipated multi-million dollar earmark from Congress. Over the ensuing two years, the students would finish their training and begin practicing on patients in a state notoriously lacking in dental practitioners.
At a press conference Friday, representatives of the Vermont State Dental Society, Vermont’s congressional delegation and the University of Detroit Mercy — which is spearheading the new Vermont-based program — celebrated the program’s recent accreditation and its eventual kickoff expected in May 2027.
“It is no secret to anybody in this room that we have a dental crisis in our country, and that we have a dental crisis in Vermont,” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said at the press conference Friday. “And that is a crisis, by the way … that is too often ignored. We talk about the health care crisis. Guess what? Dental care is health care.”…