Results & Initiatives Story
Delta Dental
Delta Dental of Arkansas and Delta Dental of Tennessee Make Pledges Toward Renovation of the College of Dentistry Dunn Building
Chances are the office wall of an Arkansas dentist has a University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Dentistry degree.
Every year, the college accepts about 18 Arkansas dentistry students, who go on to graduate from UT and practice in Arkansas.
“The College of Dentistry has made a huge impact on the state of Arkansas,” said Dr. Jim Johnston, a 1962 UT dental graduate and chair of the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation. “There are more than 700 practicing dentists in Arkansas who were trained by the University of Tennessee, and we want to show our appreciation and support not only for the college, but for the UT graduates who call Arkansas home and make a positive contribution to oral health in our state.”
For over 25 years, Delta Dental of Arkansas—a not-for-profit, non-stock corporation—has been providing quality dental coverage throughout Arkansas. Delta Dental of Tennessee is the state’s largest, most experienced dental benefits carrier, and the only company that focuses solely on dental care. Delta Dental is trusted by more dentists nationwide than any other dental benefits administrator.
Delta Dental of Arkansas has committed $1 million to support the Winfield C. Dunn Building Modernization at the College of Dentistry. The new building is named for the former governor of Tennessee Winfield Dunn who was a practicing dentist before he entered politics. Delta Dental of Tennessee has pledged to contribute an additional dollar for every pledge made, up to $1.25 million, to the Dunn Dental Building renovation.
“At Delta Dental, we understand how important facilities are to the success of the College of Dentistry,” said Phil Wenk, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Tennessee and a 1977 College of Dentistry graduate. “In order for dental students to receive the best education, they need to train in a state-of-the-art clinic.”
Dr. Tim Hottel, dean of the College of Dentistry, characterizes the modernization as long overdue, critical to attracting the best and brightest students and faculty, and a need that UTHSC alumni can appreciate. “Our students are working with equipment that has been in the Dunn Building since it opened in the late 1970s,” he said.
These generous gifts will go toward modernizing the undergraduate clinic in the Dunn Dental Building. Plans include updating and re-equipping clinical service areas, where dental students in their third and fourth years of study see patients. In recognition of major gifts from two of the most experienced dental-benefits carriers, Delta Dental of Arkansas and Delta Dental of Tennessee, the clinic will be named the Delta Dental Center for Clinical Education. In addition to these two major gifts, alumni from Arkansas, Tennessee, and beyond continue to make generous commitments to the effort.
Founded in 1878, UT’s College of Dentistry is the oldest dental college in the South and the third oldest in the nation. In addition to its doctor of dental surgery degree program, the school offers a one-year residency program in advanced education in general dentistry plus graduate specialty programs in orthodontics, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics.
“We are so fortunate to have partners like Delta Dental of Arkansas and Delta Dental of Tennessee,” said Hottel. “The Dunn Building Modernization is vital to our efforts to provide the best possible learning environment for our students. Without this generous commitment, we simply could not do what we need to do.”