1st Dental School in Nearly 50 Years Opens in Westchester

HAWTHORNE, NY – Touro College, together with local and regional elected officials and dental industry leaders, on Wednesday unveiled the new Touro College of Dental Medicine—New York State’s first new dental school in nearly half a century.

State Senator Terrence Murphy, Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino, state Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti, and American Dental Association President Carol Gomez Summerhays joined Touro faculty and administration to cut the ribbon on the new school, which welcomed its inaugural class of 111 students in July, according to a spokeswoman.

Located on Touro’s New York Medical College (NYMC) campus in Hawthorne, the school, known as Touro College of Dental Medicine at New York Medical College, received $3.575 million in state funding through educational capital and local assistance grants earlier this year.

“As America’s newest dental school and New York State’s first new dental school in nearly half a century, the Touro College of Dental Medicine at NYMC will fill a void in dental education and improve access to oral health care, particularly in underserved rural and urban communities throughout the region,” said Alan Kadish, M.D., president of Touro College and University System.

“Our remarkable inaugural class of students who have already started their training will create a critical pipeline of dental professionals. We are delighted to be able to officially inaugurate the school today and to further strengthen the regional health care system for generations to come,” he said.

In addition to the innovative equipment, the school, which encompasses 100,000 square feet within the newly renovated Skyline Drive Building, has state-of-art facilities and student amenities.

These include a 112-seat simulation lab, 132-chair clinic facility divided into eight clinical practice units, a pediatric dentistry clinic, an oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic, multiple student workrooms, two 120-seat auditoriums, a library, an exercise facility and a 2,000-square-foot student lounge, a representative for the college said.

The school is expected to improve the oral health care delivery network in New York State, where the population has grown by 4.5 million people since 1968 when the last school of dentistry opened, and seeks to address New York State’s projected shortage of dentists, as well as expand the network of dentists practicing in underserved areas.

Photo credit: Submitted.