Taking clinics to the next level

The construction boom is not unique to north Texas or its dental school.

Among 76 dental schools in the U.S. and Canada, at least eight are currently building or planning significant projects, and another three completed a major project in the past two years, estimate Dr. Steve Griffin ’85, associate dean for clinical affairs, and Larry Schnuck from Kahler Slater, the architectural firm that teamed with local firm BRW to design the college’s new building.

Texas’ dental schools in Houston and San Antonio opened new clinical facilities in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

Texas A&M College of Dentistry’s nine-story, 157,756-square-foot building is scheduled to open for patient care in January 2020. It’s the first freestanding structure built for the dental school since 1950, though current facilities have benefited from a major footprint addition and multiple renovations during the past 68 years.

This article originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2018 Texas A&M Dentistry magazine.