£1.5 million funding has been awarded to the University of Lincoln to establish a new training centre for dental hygiene and therapy.
The Lincolnshire Institute of Dental and Oral Health (LIDOH) will open in September 2026 and will join the University’s Medical School, according to BBC News.
The training centre will support courses that take on 30 students a year, and provide educational opportunities for the professionals already in dentistry in a bid to keep clinicians in the county.
Increased dental training to empower a new generation of professionals is a stressed topic due to difficulty accessing NHS care across the UK.
Professor Neal Juster, Vice Chancellor at the University, said that the county was “known as a dental desert”, with a hope that the LIDOH would be a springboard for a full dental school that trains dentists.
Over the period 2023/24, Lincolnshire residents (alongside those in the South West) had the greatest proportion of A&E visits due to dental problems per 100,000 population, with a stark disparity against other counties in the midlands.
Successful investment is vital for universities expanding their course offerings, especially considering the financial challenges they currently face. The University of Lincoln notes that the funding was received through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This scheme was launched in 2022 with the aim of helping local investment and addressing geographical inequalities of opportunity and prosperity, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities.
Lincoln Medical School is currently producing graduates who are now working as junior doctors in local NHS Hospitals, and will no doubt train capable oral health professionals over the coming years.
> Since you’re here, why not read about the millions of people putting their oral health at risk?
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