TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Dental Association (FDA) that represents Florida dentists said in a letter sent Thursday to the governing board for the State University System that it has concerns about University of Central Florida's plans to open a new dental school at Lake Lona.
"The FDA understands the initial temptation to open yet another dental school in central Florida, but the overwhelming evidence concludes that Florida's real problem remains a maldistribution (sic) of its dental workforce," wrote FDA President Cesar Sabates. "Expending or risking the state's limited resources on a new dental school to simply graduate more heavily indebted dentists will not resolve this issue."
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His letter comes just before the State University System Board of Governors is poised to vote Thursday on whether to approve plans by UCF, Florida A&M University and the University of Florida to open or expand existing dental schools.
Initially, both UCF and FAMU wanted to open new dental schools, but after negative feedback from the Board of Governors at a September meeting, FAMU backed off its plans and instead pitched the idea of partnering with UF to funnel students from FAMU into the UF dental school.
UF has maintained that it wants to expand its existing dental program rather than compete with new ones at other state universities. It is currently the only public university that offers a dental school. In a separate letter, Sabates says the FDA supports FAMU's revised plan. The letter said the plan for FAMU to provide a pipeline of 12 students to UF's dental school every year "can provide meaningful solutions to access to dental care by creating a broader base of minority dentists in Florida."
The FDA has long been skeptical of the need for more dental schools in Florida, issuing press releases and letters to the board expressing its concern. The Board of Governors has spent months studying whether there is a need for more dentists in Florida before deciding whether to approve any plans for a new school. This latest batch of letters from the group focuses heavily on how expensive dental schools are, loading students up with debt that can exceed $200,000, the FDA says.
This means graduates aren't likely to want to open a practice in rural and underserved areas where they would have to rely heavily on low Medicaid reimbursements. But it is the rural and underserved areas that need dentists.
The letter regarding the UCF plan also cast doubt to the school's claim that it wouldn't need money from the state. "Given the historically high overhead costs of operating dental schools, the association is convinced that UCF will inevitably approach the state for some form of assistance," Sabates wrote.
He also noted that a new state law that allows dentists to come to Florida after passing a national licensing exam may increase the number of out-of-state dentists moving to Florida. Prior to this law, dentists had to pass a state licensure exam to practice in Florida.
Besides deciding whether to approve the FAMU or UCF plan, the Board of Governors also will vote whether to approve an agreement between the Florida Department of Health and the Board of Governors urging the Legislature to examine ways to direct more dentists to underserved and rural areas.
The board has relied heavily on a Department of Health study released this year in determining whether there is a need for new dentists. That study said an estimated 3,054 new dentists will be added to Florida's workforce every decade, enough to offset dentists leaving the profession through the year 2050.
UCF disagreed with that study, saying its own analysis found the state needs up to 450 new dentists a year through 2050, more than twice what is already produced by Florida dental schools.
There are two dental schools in Florida. Besides UF, private Nova Southeastern University has a dental school and the Lake Erie College of Medicine plans to open a dental school in Fall 2012.