UMKC to Build State-of-the-Art Dental Clinics

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) is close to completing fundraising for the new Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Building that will include new teaching clinics, with state-of-the-art technology and equipment, for the university’s School of Dentistry.

The new building will enable UMKC to provide leading-edge health care education, attract top dental students and researchers and advance care for disinvested populations.

The new facility will allow the school of dentistry to serve more patients, streamline care, create more efficient visits for patients and provide industry-leading education to students. In addition, the new space will increase ADA accessibility for patients with physical limitations. The new clinics will enable lower-cost dental care and faster turnaround time for patients, as well as the ability to implement a teledentistry program to further expand the program’s reach.

“The students we teach, and the community we serve, both deserve a first-rate teaching clinic facility,” said Steven E. Haas, D.M.D., J.D., M.B.A., Dean of the UMKC School of Dentistry. “The new building will help us deliver both a better educational experience, and a better health care experience. And just as importantly, it will allow us to expand our reach to address the provider shortages in our region.”

The UMKC School of Dentistry is the only public dental school in Missouri and is a major low-cost provider of dental care in the region. UMKC dentistry students serve more than 13,500 community members each year and provide more than $630,000 annually in free dental care to community members at its clinics.  

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A rendering of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Health Sciences District. Credit: UMKC School of Dentistry.

A building site has already been selected within the UMKC Health Sciences District, a partnership among UMKC and 12 neighboring health care institutions, including University Health and Children’s Mercy hospitals. The district houses the UMKC schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and health studies and pharmacy in a single, walkable campus, allowing for greater interprofessional training and research collaboration.

The project will escalate momentum for expanding the district into a major regional academic medical center that can provide innovative health care and generate billions of dollars in jobs and economic development, while advancing care for the underserved.

The new multi-story building will house the dental teaching clinics, plus expanded medical school teaching facilities. In addition, it will provide space for the UMKC Health Equity Institute, the university’s Data Science and Analytics Innovation Center and its new Biomedical Engineering program.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed legislation in July that appropriated $40 million for the UMKC Health Innovation and Delivery Building, contingent on a funding match. Since then, UMKC has received $30 million from the Sunderland Foundation, $15 million from the Hall Family Foundation and $10 million in federal funding for a total of $95 million to date.

Courtesy of University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry

Published on April 12, 2023