The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation has pledged $3 million toward construction of a new Medical College of Georgia (MCG) School of Dentistry building, according to the school.
Construction is slated to begin this summer and last two years, MCG said.
The MCG School of Dentistry is the only dental school in Georgia. The school said it is increasing its class size incrementally from 63 to 100 and its residency positions from 44 to 72. Only 13 of the country's 57 dental schools now have a class size of 100 or more, according to the ADA.
Georgia currently issues about 200 dental licenses annually, the MCG noted. The school expansion should help alleviate the shortage of dentists in Georgia, which has 41.4 dentists per 100,000 citizens.
The approximately $112 million new facility will have five floors, 220,000 sq ft, and new equipment, including dental chairs, simulation technology, and distance learning and teledentistry capabilities. The school expects patient visits to increase from 50,000 a year to nearly 100,000 once the facility is complete.
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