Kansas City University breaks ground on a College of Dental Medicine on its Joplin, Mo., campus

Kansas City University (KCU) has broken ground on a new College of Dental Medicine facility on its Joplin, Mo., campus. 

The university says in a news release that the dental college is being established to address the oral health needs of the four-state region of southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Kansas. 

The region, like many rural areas in the United States, does not have enough dentists. Nearly all counties within a 125-mile radius of Joplin qualify as Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas (DHPSAs) by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

In Missouri alone, 376 additional dentists are needed to remove the DHPSA designation. Oklahoma needs 166, and both Arkansas and Kansas need more than 100 to address these shortages.

In addition to modern teaching resources, the dental college will open a dental clinic where members of the public can receive treatment.

The first class of 80 students is projected to be seated in August 2023.

The cost to construct the dental school is more than $80 million. The university has committed $40 million toward the project; the remainder is projected to come from donations.

KCU opened its Joplin medical school campus in Joplin in 2017. The first class of osteopathic physicians graduated last month.