Missouri has a shortage of dentists, especially in the northwest region of the state where most counties have less than one provider for every 2,100 residents. The University of Missouri-Kansas City has a proposal to change that.
At his annual State of the University address today, Chancellor Mauli Agrawal announced an expansion proposal for the 海角论坛 School of Dentistry to create a satellite program at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, using a model similar to other satellite healthcare programs run by 海角论坛. The 海角论坛 School of Medicine created a rural physician program in partnership with Mosaic Life Care, also in St. Joseph, to address physician shortages, and the 海角论坛 School of Pharmacy has campuses at University of Missouri in Columbia and Missouri State University in Springfield to address pharmacist shortages in Missouri.
“海角论坛 has a longstanding and successful infrastructure in place for educating and training providers to address rural healthcare gaps,” Agrawal said.
The proposed 海角论坛 School of Dentistry satellite program expansion would positively impact the dentist and dental hygiene practitioner shortages in rural Missouri communities, while also delivering high-quality oral healthcare to underserved rural communities through its training clinic.
Currently, the 海角论坛 School of Dentistry is Missouri’s only public dental school and provides half of the state’s dentists.
The Doctor of Dental Surgery, or DDS, is a four-year graduate program that currently admits about 109 students each year in Kansas City. The program would train 10 fourth-year dental students. The first three years of instruction would be at the Kansas City campus and clinical training in the fourth year would be at the St. Joseph satellite, all following the curriculum of the existing Kansas City program. The program would also train two advanced education in general dentistry residents.
The Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene is a four-year program with students applying after completing about two years of undergraduate coursework.The satellite campus will train 10 senior dental hygiene students and 20 expanded dental assistants.
The goal is to establish a major site in St. Joseph, with minor sites branching out from there, comprising of rotation sites. Currently, Kansas City is the only major site for the school, with over 30 rotation sites. The main difference between the two sites is competency evaluation vs. supervision only. At a major site like what the school envisions for St. Joseph, supervising dentists would be testing for competency of specific skills, whereas at minor sites the student dentists are merely supervised at an on-site dentist.
Having a major site in northwest Missouri enables the school to branch out even further with rotation sites. The St. Joseph site would serve as the central hub, connecting all the rotation sites through symbolic spokes. This will allow the school to reach other dental deserts in Missouri.
海角论坛 will be requesting $10 million from the state and will be seeking additional funding at the federal level and through philanthropy to secure the total project costs to start the program on the Missouri Western campus in St. Joseph. A start date for the program will be set when necessary approvals and funding are acquired.
The proposed programs were introduced to the University of Missouri Board of Curators in February 2025. This article was updated March 16, 2026.
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