NEOMED celebrates new dental college with 52 students
ROOTSTOWN − Northeast Ohio Medical University celebrated the launch of Ohio’s third dental college Aug. 22, welcoming the 52 students in the Class of 2029.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel was on hand to recognize the Bitonte College of Dentistry at NEOMED. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, NEOMED President Dr. John Langell gave Tressel a tour of the college’s new facilities.
“We are so proud that this day has arrived,” Tressel said. “We hear every day from Gov. (Mike) DeWine that he wants every Ohioan to be safe. He wants every Ohian to be healthy. He wants every Ohioan to reach their God-given potential. And today all three will be checked off.”
Tressel said there’s a shortage of many health care providers in Ohio, including dentists.
“Health care is such a huge thing in our state,” he said. “And so today for us to have this opportunity, for us to have the state’s third dental school, incredible, because we have that need.”
He asked the 52 students to stay in Ohio after graduation.
Earlier in the day, the 52 students – 35 of whom are Ohio natives – were welcomed to the college in a White Coat Ceremony. Langell presented each student with a “challenge coin,” which he said reflected the challenge coins given in the military, and encouraged students to develop their own traditions around them.
Dr. Sorin T. Teich is dean of the new college.
The dental college is the only public program in the northeast portion of the state. The others are a public program at Ohio State University and a private program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Along with the new dental college, NEOMED also has colleges of medicine, pharmacy and graduate studies.
Oral health a top unmet health needs in Ohio
NEOMED had considered adding a dental school in 2014. At the time, the university was led by Dr. Jay Gershen, who was a dentist. At that time, NEOMED leaders said Portage County had 32 dentists per 100,000 residents — about half the national average of 60 dentists per 100,000 people.
Dr. Cliff Deveny, president and CEO of Summa Health, said he brought up the idea of a dental school to Gershen, and repeated those concerns to Langell. NEOMED did the studies to prove the need for the dental school, and found that oral health was the top unmet health need in Ohio.
“Ohio faces a significant shortage of dentists, particularly in rural and urban communities,” Deveny said. Many lack access to dental care, and emergency services also are strained.
The school, he said, would offer an “innovative curriculum” that includes real world training at a campus clinic, as well as “real world” sites like the one at Summa.
The Rootstown campus has a 55-chair simulation lab for students in years 1 and 2, as well as a 30-chair dental clinic for students in years 3 and 4. That clinic will open for the public and function as a federally qualified health care center, NEOMED said.
The college is named in honor of the Bitonte family. Drs. Gary and David Bitonte gave a $10 million gift in memory of their parents, Dominic Bitonte, who was a dentist, and Helen Bitonte, who worked to educate school children about proper dental care. The brothers said their parents believed strongly in funding higher education.
David Bitonte said his parents would be smiling.
“We are all smiling,” he said.
Reporter Diane Smith, whose life was changed by a dentist who gave her a second front tooth, can be reached at [email protected].
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