Financing Clinical Dental Education

Many reports have documented the growing financial challenges faced by dental schools. This article examines the financial implications of two new models of dental education: 1) seniors spend 70 percent of their time in community clinics and practices, providing general dental care to underserved patients, and 2) schools develop patient‐centered clinics where teams of faculty, residents, and senior students provide care to patients. We estimate that the average dental school will generate new net revenues of about $2.7 million per year from the community‐based educational programs for senior students and about $14 million per year from patient‐centered care clinics. These are upper boundary estimates and vary greatly by school. The organizational and financial challenges of moving to these new educational models are discussed.