RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has found a location for a future School of Dentistry building; authorization for which is pending before the Virginia General Assembly.
Virginia state lawmakers negotiating the Commonwealth’s biennial budget are considering the inclusion of planning authorization for Virginia Commonwealth University to build a dentistry center on the university’s academic medical center campus.
Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget, released in December, included $5.2 million in non-general fund authorization for VCU to begin planning the facility through the design phase, according to the university.
If authorized, the building will be built on university-owned property at the site of VCU’s Larrick Student Center. The building would contain classrooms, patient clinics and laboratories.
According to a university spokesperson, VCU School of Dentistry graduates about 105 dental and 20 dental hygiene students each year and is the largest provider of dental care in Virginia for patients with Medicaid insurance.
“The condition of the VCU School of Dentistry’s current facilities do not meet educational or patient care needs and have significant accessibility issues and deferred maintenance estimated in excess of $75 million,” according to the spokesperson.
For more information about the proposed dentistry center, visit the university’s website.
