NEOMED preparing to welcome inaugural class of dentists starting in fall 2025
In under 100 days, the inaugural class of dentists will begin learning at the Northeast Ohio Medical University’s dentistry program.
Fifty students will be welcomed to NEOMED’s new Bitonte College of Dentistry in the fall of 2025, according to Dr. Frank Beck, dean of the college of dentistry.
Dr. Beck said they received 1,800 applications from all 49 states, except Montana.
“As you might guess, the majority were from Ohio. We had almost 200 from Ohio,” he said. “They will start as a class of 50 on August 18 of this year.”
NEOMED’s Bitonte College of Dentistry is the third dental college in the state of Ohio, the only public four-year program of its kind in northeast Ohio.
It’s a four-year program where students will work toward getting their Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. The annual tuition is estimated to be $57,000.
It’s the state’s first college to open in the last century for up-and-coming dentists, supported by a $10 million donation from the Dr. Dominic A. and Helen M. Bitonte Family Foundation.
Why did NEOMED add Doctor of Dental Surgery degree?
Dr. Beck said they added the dentistry program in order to fulfill the unmet oral healthcare needs of more northeast Ohio residents, especially in rural communities.
Data shows Ohio’s short on dentists, and over 620 are needed this year to properly treat all the state’s residents, according Dr. Beck.
“That data is prior to COVID-19,” he said. “During COVID-19, we lost 24% of the dental workforce.”
Over 50% of Ohio’s dentists are 50 years old and approaching retirement age.
According to Dr. Beck, a significant portion of non-urgent hospital emergency department visits in Ohio are dental-related.
“Unfortunately, when they show up for a dental emergency at a hospital, they don’t get definitive, resolved care,” Dr. Beck said. “They get symptomatic care and a discharge instruction to find a dentist... or an opioid prescription, which fuels the crisis that doesn’t need any more help.”
NEOMED broke ground at the Bitonte College of Dentistry in October of 2024.
While studying at NEOMED, the future dentists will train both on campus in Rootstown and at health clinics in rural communities.
NEOMED works with the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, which runs federally-qualified health centers for communities in need with limited access to health care.
“There are actually counties in Ohio that have zero dentists,” Dr. Beck said. “We have individuals that may need to drive two to three hours to seek dental care, and that becomes a huge challenge. We’re going to produce more dentists and train them at these sites.”
Dr. Beck said studies show if an individual health care provider is embedded in these sites and rural communities for significant periods of time, they’re nine times more likely to choose to practice in those areas.
In 2025, NEOMED is also celebrating 50 years since its founding.
In addition to the D.D.S. through the Bitonte College of Dentistry, the M.D., Pharm. D. and other doctoral and master’s degrees are offered through the Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy and Graduate Studies at NEOMED.
