Dental School breaks ground on new era of clinical practice

Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony are (left to right) Monna Carpenter-Barin; Gary Guest, D.D.S.; Karen Cox; Norma Reyes, D.D.S.; Don Morgan, D.D.S., M.A.; Glenn Walters, D.D.S.; Dean ad interim William W. Dodge, D.D.S.; President ad interim Kenneth Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S.; Kenneth Shine, M.D.; Jim Reed; Michael Boland, D.D.S.; and Elan Lee.

Leaders of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio broke ground Oct. 26 on the Center for Oral Health Care & Research. The $95 million Dental School facility to be located on Floyd Curl Drive in the South Texas Medical Center will serve as a modern venue for oral health care, education, training and research. The building will be four stories covering 198,000 gross square feet, along with a parking garage of more than 450 spaces. The current Dental School building is almost 40 years old and will be repurposed as existing clinical activities are moved to the new facility. The new center will be patient-friendly by design.

“Visitors will enjoy natural light in many areas and the building will be logically organized, with specialty clinics and a faculty practice clinic on the first and second floor, and student clinics on the third and fourth floors,” said William W. Dodge, D.D.S.,dean ad interim of the Dental School.

“The delivery of oral health care is changing, and changing rapidly,” said Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, D.D.S., M.S., president ad interim of the UT Health Science Center. He served as dental dean for 25 years. “The Center for Oral Health Care & Research will allow the Dental School to be flexible to accommodate new technologies as they emerge.”

Architects on the project are Marmon Mok and Kahler/Slater. The general contractor is J. T. Vaughn Construction LLC. The building is expected to open in mid-2015.

The Dental School will make a significant investment in this building and anticipates a successful fundraising campaign that will be essential to bring the center to fruition.

For more information about the campaign and giving to the center, contact Sara Piety, director of development for the Dental School, at 210-567-6536 or piety@uthscsa.edu.