Only on ABC-7: TX Tech dental school to expand, recruit locally
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso announced nearly a month ago that it will open a dental school in El Paso. ABC-7 wanted to find out what the next steps are ahead of the opening of the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine, and how a dental school will change the health of El Paso residents.
The first class is expected to begin in the fall of 2020. It may be four years away, but the president of TTUHSC El Paso told ABC-7 in an exclusive sit-down interview that the gears are in motion in the long process of opening a new school.
MEETING THE NEED OF THE EL PASO COMMUNITY
“In the last 35 years, only three public dental schools have come to be,” Lange said, adding that the new campus will bring to four the total of dental schools in Texas — the others being in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio — and it will be the first one to open in the Lone Star State in 46 years.
There are only 61 dental schools in all the United States, and Lange said the graduates tend to stay close to the school to open a practice.
“Over the last 10 to 15 years, only about 2 or 2.5 percent of the dentists who graduate come to West Texas. Less than 1% come to El Paso,” Lange said. “By training individuals here, not only will they meet the needs of the community, but hopefully they will stay here as well.”
The dental school will start with 20 students in 2020 and will grow in increments to a class size of 80 in the following years. Judging by the number of graduating medical and nursing students who stay in the Sun City, Lange thinks 25 to 30 percent of the dental school graduates will open a practice in El Paso. He said TTUHSC will give El Paso residents enrollment preference, much the way it’s done with the medical and nursing schools.
“If you’re from this area and you train here, you’re more likely to stay here,” Lange said.
The city and surrounding area is short health professionals. Lange said the El Paso community is down 40 to 50 percent the number of dentists needed to meet residents’ needs.
THE NEW DENTAL SCHOOL FACILITY
The first dental students will be housed in existing classroom space at the Texas Tech campus, located on El Paso Drive in Central El Paso in an area designated as the Medical Center of the Americas due to its proximity to University Medical Center, El Paso Children’s Hospital and the El Paso Department of Health.
Lange told ABC-7 that the plan is to build a stand-alone facility in a parking lot on the east side of the campus.
“Having the dental school here will not only improve the health (of El Pasoans), but will also drive the economics in this region, as well,” Lange said.
When asked if he anticipated the school purchasing surrounding commercial and residential properties to house the dental school expansion, Lange said he hoped that wouldn’t be the case. “If we do, we’ll certainly do so,” Lange added. “But there’s enough land just to the east of us, and working with the city, we think we can develop that.”
For now, the focus is on the immediate future.
“Importantly, we need to develop the curriculum,” Lange said. “We need to recruit deans. We need to recruit local community dentists to be on faculty.”
Lange told ABC-7 that TTUHSC El Paso has already hired its first faculty member, Dr. Richard Black.
