Big Sandy Community and Technical College held a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 7 for its new East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center, which will be the home for the school’s Dental Assisting/Dental Hygiene Integrated Program.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 7 for Big Sandy Community and Technical College’s new state of the art dental training facility, named the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center.
The East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center will be the new location where BSCTC’s Dental Assisting/Dental Hygiene Integrated Program will hold its classes. AAS degrees, diplomas, and certificates are available through the program, as well as a Community Dental Health Coordinator Certificate.
The new training center will also be the location for the Central Regional Dental Testing Service, and a training ground for continuing education for the region’s oral health professionals, to learn emerging oral health treatment, new technology, and telehealth.
The creation of the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center was funded by Delta Dental and Workforce Opportunities, a grant initiative in the Appalachian Region funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
The Paintsville Herald quoted BSCTC’s program coordinator of Dental Hygiene/Dental Assisting, Dr. Jill Keaton, on the creation of the training center: “We are proud to serve eastern Kentucky by providing oral healthcare while educating future dental professionals. We are enthusiastic about the positive impact we will have on our region.”
The Chief Revenue Officer of Delta Dental, Brian Hart, was also quoted by the Herald on Dr. Keaton’s ability to head up the project, saying, “All I can say is, ‘Wow.’ Walking in and seeing the facility, it’s world-class, beautiful, it’s just top shelf. We’re grateful and humbled to be a part of this, but our first interaction with Dr. Jill and team, it wasn’t this. It was a blueprint on an easel and in Dr. Jill’s kind and humble and generous way, she said, ‘We need $590,000.’ It was then, and still to this day, the largest single gift that Delta Dental in Kentucky has ever given.”
The East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center will allow for more trained oral healthcare workers, which should help to ease the oral health disparities in the region.
Big Sandy Community and Technical College’s President Telly Sellars spoke on how the training center works toward the school’s overall mission, saying, “The opening of our new dental clinic signifies the power of partnerships to accomplish milestones. As the community college, we strive to be purveyors of hope for the people of our region; these are the investments we seek.”
The training center will contain 20 operatories, fitted with the latest technology in oral health and dental care. According to BSCTC, 200 continuing education and workforce training workers from around the region will be served at the facility at a time.
Dean for the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, Dr. Jeff Okenson, DMD, talked about how past and future dental students, as well as residents of rural Kentucky, will be significantly impacted by the new training center, saying, “When I became the dean a few years ago, I thought one of the things that we need to do at our university is to make sure to reach out to our rural areas to make sure we can do whatever we can to help out with our dental needs, so, we came down here ... Met with your leaders at Big Sandy at that time, and developed a memorandum of understanding that we would partner as well as we could and help a vision like this, a vision that Dr. Keaton has had for some time. She’s one of my former students ... We’re so proud of what both of them have accomplished, especially what Jill’s done here.”
Dr. Okenson continued to speak highly of the leadership at BSCTC: “We came down two years ago and walked through this cafeteria, which is what it was. To see what it has emerged to in the last couple of years is just remarkable. I wish our dental school was this nice. We have the space there, the beauty, the colors, the lightness. It’s just so positive. I know it’s going to be such a wonderful facility for this region, to help the patients here who need dental care … Thank you Delta Dental, thank you to the Department of Labor, and all that Jill said. There’s too many to thank, this is a village to make this happen and we’re so proud of what’s going on down here.”
The continuing education and workforce training for dental assistants that will be offered at the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center will mostly be on coronal polishing and radiology certifications. Dental Hygienists will be exposed to laser debridement, local anesthesia training, and more.
More information on Big Sandy Community and Technical College can be found on the school’s website.