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Loan repayment program targets Iowa’s dentist shortage

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The Iowa Rural Dental Health Initiative has made its first $100,000 loan repayment award through a new program designed to help more rural communities in the state attract newly trained dentists and enhance their overall economic growth.

Using a $142,000, one-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists (FIND) program will augment Delta Dental of Iowa’s loan repayment program, which assists dental school graduates in repaying their college loans, using a combination of community and federal matching funds.

The program applies to 55 Iowa counties that are designated as dentist shortage areas, including all of Story and Boone counties plus a pocket of Polk County in the vicinity of Broadlawns Medical Center.

“Delta Dental has been heavily involved in recruiting dental practitioners to make a commitment to rural Iowa,” said Donn Hutchins, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Iowa. “The community-matching program is an inspiring model to encourage other rural communities to join with Delta Dental and the FIND partners to support dentists to practice in rural Iowa and meet the oral health needs of underserved populations.”

The first FIND award recipient is Dr. Sarah Jewett, a Storm Lake dentist. Various Storm Lake corporate partners provided a community match of $28,500, while the federal grant provided the remaining $21,500 to match Delta Dental’s funds. Three more awards are expected to be made over the next 12 months. The average student loan debt for a graduating dentist is $120,000, according to a 2002 University of Iowa survey.

To be eligible for the loan repayment program, award recipients must agree to practice in one of the state’s designated dentist shortage areas and devote at least 35 percent of their practice to Medicaid-eligible, elderly, disabled and other underserved patients over a three-year period.