New York State's first new dental school in nearly 50 years is set to open this fall in the Hudson Valley.

Touro, one of the top health care educators in the state received final state approval and will establish the Touro College of Dental Medicine at its New York Medical College campus in Valhalla.

The dental school joins the Touro School of Health Sciences, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Touro College of Pharmacy, and New York Medical College in the Big Apple. Over 2,000 health care professionals graduate from these schools each year.

"As New York State's first new dental school in nearly half a century and the only dental school in the Hudson Valley, the Touro College of Dental Medicine at NYMC will fill a void in dental education and improve access to oral health care, particularly in underserved rural and urban communities throughout the region," Alan Kadish, M.D., president of Touro College and University System said in a statement. “The school will address the existing shortage of training options for dentists in New York State and create a pipeline for the next generation of dental professionals, while also seeing to the immediate needs of the community through its dental clinic. We look forward to welcoming our first class and the clinic's first patients thereafter, and to further strengthening the regional health care system for generations to come."

The school will included a four-year pre-doctoral program for students, a continuing education program for practicing dentists, and a 132-chair community dental clinic focused on providing patients in under-served communities in the Hudson Valley with affordable and quality treatment.

The school’s first semester is scheduled for the fall of 2016. Enrolled is expected to be 110 students. At full capacity, the school will house 440 students and offer basic science coursework taught by the medical school faculty as well as state-of- the-art digital dental clinical capabilities.

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