By Wendy Brunner

You live in the Four-State Area and need dental care. Chances are, finding a dentist and getting a timely appointment will take longer than you expect because of the serious shortage of dentists in the area and throughout the U.S.

More than 46 million people in the U.S. live in Dental Health Professions Shortage Areas and lack basic access to dental care. The entire state of Missouri is a Dental Healthcare Shortage Area, and 375 additional dentists are needed statewide to remove that designation. Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas need between 100 and 200 additional dentists to eliminate their shortage designations.

In two more years, Kansas City University’s College of Dental Medicine in Joplin, Missouri, will graduate its inaugural class of 80 dental students. But first, they must get through four years of exams, simulation training and rotations. In their fourth and final year, these students will do two, eight-week rotations at community health centers or tribal programs. Affiliation agreements are in place with Access Family Health in Joplin, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg, Northeast Oklahoma tribal programs and South Dakota tribal programs, to name a few. Students can do rotations anywhere in the country where there are affiliation agreements.

Members of the class of 2027 will then become dentists in private dental practice, a community health center, the military or governmental agencies, and will help reduce the shortage of dentists.Dr. Linda Niessen, vice provost for Oral Health Affairs, says, “We recruit students from rural communities in and similar to the Four-State Area. Our mission is to improve the well-being of the communities we serve, with an emphasis on rural health.

The Kansas City campus takes more of an urban approach, and the Joplin campus has the rural approach.”Tabor Barta and Karlie Eck are second-year dental students at KCU-Joplin and are part of the inaugural class that began their dental school journey in August 2023. Tabor is from a rural area in northeast Kansas and Karlie is from a rural area outside of Wichita. Karlie is excited to be in the first—or pioneer class—of the dental school. “It’s a little scary at times to be the first class through the program, but the faculty is great about helping us with exams and expectations.

”Tabor said when she learned there was a new dental school opening in Joplin, it was exciting to her, and then when she learned of the “Power 5”—the five women who run the school—it was empowering to her as a woman.

With 80 students in their class, the classes are small, and it’s a close-knit group. “Since it is such a rigorous program, you start bonding, especially as the first class,” Tabor continues. “We had to struggle through it together—it’s almost like a trauma bond. It brings you so close, seeing people at their most stressful moments, at their lows, so those moments really bring our class together.”

Both students are undecided where they’ll end up, but with their roots being in rural America, they think they will likely stay in a rural area, whether that’s closer to home in Kansas, in Missouri somewhere or wherever the road takes them.Being part of the community is important to the students and to the leaders at the school. Dean Niessen says, “We recruit students with evidence of community service and giving back. We believe if you have a track record of community service, you’re probably going to continue doing that.”

As part of their community commitment, dental students have done Head Start screenings with 3-, 4- and 5-year olds; they participated with the nearby KCU College of Osteopathic Medicine students in Score 1 for Health, a community health program that brings health screenings to school children; they established a teledentistry program for students in Neosho, Missouri, and McDonald County schools; and they have even ridden on Mercy’s mammography bus doing oral health education for those receiving mobile mammograms. Students have also partnered with Missouri Southern State University dental hygiene students during Third Thursday to recruit patients to the KCU Oral Health Center.

The Oral Health Center is open to anyone who has the time for the appointments and the procedures. “We do a screening appointment first, along with an oral exam and X-rays to see what the patient needs,” says Dean Niessen. “People who come to the clinic do need to have the time available. “The fees are lower than what patients will find at a dentist’s office because students do the work, which does take longer. The school has a patient-assistance fund for those who don’t have money for their oral care. We don’t want lack of money to affect peoples’ oral health.”

Research is now showing that good oral health is more than just a cosmetic matter. “We now know infection in your mouth leads to problems in different organ systems,” Dean Niessen says. “This is a fairly new concept. It can make your diabetes worse; if you have heart disease, infection in your mouth can contribute to your heart disease. Infection in your mouth can make rheumatoid arthritis worse. The body is a very organized and efficient system, and what causes inflammation in your mouth causes inflammation in other organ systems, too. The mouth is connected to the rest of the body, and if you have good oral health, you’ll have better overall health.“

We’re very proud of our school and its state-of-the-art technology and innovative curriculum,” continues Dean Niessen. “Our second class of dental students started in August 2024, and it’s exciting to see their curiosity.“

I like to say we’re the Ted Lasso of dental schools: We show our students the TV show clip where Ted is playing darts with Rupert and Rupert says, ‘If I win, I’m going to take the team back.’ Ted says, ‘Rupert, if you were a little more curious and not so judgmental, you would have asked, ‘Ted, have you played many darts?’ and I would have said, ‘Yes, Rupert, I played every Sunday with my father.’ The message is: Be curious and not judgmental.”