East Carolina University School of Dentistry: impact on access disparities

Under the "Plan for Dentistry in North Carolina," the existing dental school will increase its class size and enhance its research efforts and a new dental school will be opened on the campus of East Carolina University. These initiatives are designed to address a growing gap between oral health needs and capacity to meet that need in the state, especially in rural areas. The new school will focus on educating well-qualified primary care dentists who desire to address the challenges of providing care in the rural and underserved areas of the state. This paper describes the objectives, quality, research, patient care model, economic model, recruitment and financial considerations for students, and community benefits of the program. A key feature of the ECU program will be the fourth-year experience in Service Learning Centers located in rural communities.