Tennessee may funnel big money into dental schools in hopes of getting grads into rural areas

A proposal from the Tennessee Department of Health would expand dental school class sizes and forgive tuition for those who end up working in high-need areas. The five-year, $94 million pilot project was floated to Gov. Bill Lee during this month’s budget hearings.

The state is trying to turn the tide on dentists flooding urban areas. So many are leaving school with upwards of $300,000 in student debt and have to go where they can see the most patients with private insurance. The state is already an estimated 700 dentists short of what it needs, according to health department estimates.

Much of the state money would go to expand class sizes in the only two dental schools in the state — Meharry Medical College and the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry. Until a recent surge, the number of graduates nationally had been down from a high point in the 1980s.

“We’re also enhancing the safety net, so when they do get to rural areas, it’s not as personally costly to them to see these patients,” the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Lisa Piercey, told the governor.

The pilot program would incentivize dentists setting up shop in small communities by paying them more when patients can’t afford the care. Tennessee is one of only three states that has no dental coverage for adults, even for dental emergencies.

The proposal would also:

• Expand Smile On Tennessee program to help older residents with dental health
• Expand access to dentures for working-age Tennesseans
• Update and add equipment to safety net and health department dental clinics

Dental care is increasingly important to health as people age, Piercey says. But she’s also pitching the plan for its economic benefits — since, so often, even the appearance of someone’s teeth can limit their opportunities.

“Something I often say,” Piercey says, “if you don’t have a good smile, you often times don’t have a job.”

Gov. Lee will now decide whether to include the proposal in his budget request for next year, which would then be modified and approved by the Tennessee legislature.