Bulletin of Dental Education Article

A.T. Still University Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-MOSDOH) is set to expand its impact on oral health care across Missouri and the Midwest. Following approval from the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), the school will increase its class size from 63 to 84 students in July 2027.

This expansion is a strategic response to the rising demand for access to oral health care across the region.

"ATSU is grateful to CODA for granting our request to increase enrollment at ATSU-MOSDOH," said Craig M. Phelps, D.O., ATSU Chancellor. "Every student dentist represents thousands of future patients. As we prepare to welcome more students to our Kirksville, Missouri, campus and St. Louis location, we remain dedicated to providing exemplary educational and clinical experiences to improve the health outcomes of their future patients for decades to come."

“This approval from CODA is a validation of our program’s strength and our commitment to the region,” said Don Altman, D.D.S., D.H.Sc., Ed.D., ATSU-MOSDOH Interim Dean and ATSU Vice Chancellor for Academic Support. “By increasing our class size, we are proactively addressing the growing demand for dental professionals and ensuring that more communities have access to the high-quality, compassionate care for which our graduates are known.”

ATSU-MOSDOH’s unique structure brings first- and second-year students to the university’s Kirksville, MI, campus, where they study basic sciences and principles of patient care in the classroom and complete exercises in a state-of-the-art dental simulation clinic.

In their third and fourth years, ATSU-MOSDOH students transition to the clinical environment by providing faculty-supervised patient care at the St. Louis Dental Center, operated in partnership with Affinia Healthcare, a federally qualified health center.

Courtesy of A.T. Still University Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health