Leeds Dental Institute has completed a 9.5 million pound ($15.2 million U.S.) refurbishment of its facilities serving dentistry students, dental nurses, hygienists, therapists, and technicians.
The refurbishment includes a new entrance and reception, 120 new dental chairs, a new x-ray department, and 24 new surgeries for National Health Service (NHS) consultants to provide specialist dental treatment.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Leeds bid for the investment three years ago so that the number of undergraduates studying dentistry could be expanded and to give dental students at Leeds access to current technology.
The transformation of dental undergraduate training in Leeds is in response to an initiative by the Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, begun in 2005, to expand training of dental undergraduates to address a national shortage of NHS dentists.
