SAN ANTONIO (Sept. 10, 2015) ― Dental patients and students alike will benefit from UT Dentistry’s new home ― the Center for Oral Health Care & Research. The ultra-modern dental clinic building of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio was dedicated today at 8210 Floyd Curl, in the heart of the South Texas Medical Center.
The many technological advances in the four-story, 198,000-square-foot building include:
• A dental surgery operating room and overnight recovery area built to hospital specifications;
• Extra-large monitors in all the exam and surgical areas to give practitioners and patients a better view of dental images;
• 400 new dental chairs with the latest digital lighting and examination equipment;
• A new, ecologically friendly, automated system that cleans water lines and treats waste water at the dental chair; and
• The latest in instrument management and sterilization systems that comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regulations.
“The new Center for Oral Health Care & Research will allow our faculty, residents and students to provide care in a technologically advanced setting that is second to none,” stated William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. “It will enable our School of Dentistry to lead the way technologically and sustain our top-tier reputation in education, research and patient care.”
President Henrich added that the center, which cost $96.5 million, is strategically located next to the Medical Arts & Research Center, the clinical home of the School of Medicine’s faculty practice, UT Medicine San Antonio. “The bridge being built to connect these two buildings is both functional and symbolic. The walkway will facilitate interdisciplinary work among our medical and dental students, as well as our faculty clinicians and researchers. And it is a reminder that oral health is an important part of overall health,” he said.
School of Dentistry Dean William Dodge, D.D.S., said that the Center for Oral Health Care & Research helps UT Dentistry fulfill its unique role as the academic dental practice for South Texas. Patients can receive the latest evidence-based care in 12 specialties from faculty members who are national and international leaders in their field. Faculty members also pass along their knowledge to dental students, dental hygiene students and dental residents, who provide care to the public at a reduced rate.
“We appreciate the 215 individual donors, including our wonderful alumni and faculty, who helped us complete this beautiful, energy efficient and technically advanced clinic ― only our second clinical home since the school began in 1970. What a step up!” Dr. Dodge said. “I’d especially like to thank Dr. Jeffery Feingold, founder, president and chief executive officer of MCNA Dental. Dr. Feingold believes in our mission and has been a big supporter of our dental program. We have named our beautiful atrium in his honor. Our good friend Bill Greehey, chairman of NuStar Energy, and Dr. Scott Leune and his wife Cassandra, both 2005 UT Health Science Center graduates, have played major philanthropic roles in helping us complete this spectacular center.”
Senior dental class President Elan Lee spoke at both the groundbreaking for the building in 2012 and again at its dedication. The senior class will be the first to have received clinical training there. “Are we excited about this new building? You bet we are! Who wouldn’t want to be in the best dental school in the country and now in the nicest clinical facility? It’s like we get to be the very first to test-drive a brand-new model of Ferrari! We are the first!”
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports six campuses in San Antonio and Laredo. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.