Facilities

The University of Florida Health Science Center was expanded in 1975 to accommodate the space needs of the recently established College of Dentistry and to provide additional needed space for the other colleges and the hospital.

The 12-story Dental Sciences Building, which was completed at that time, includes dental outpatient clinics, postgraduate and specialty clinics, offices for dental faculty, seminar rooms, and teaching and research laboratories.

Most of the College of Dentistry's dental programs and faculty are housed in its facilities at the University of Florida Health Science Center in Gainesville, however the college owns or is affiliated with several extramural clinics throughout Florida. The college operates a satellite dental clinic in Jacksonville which includes two advanced general dentistry residency programs; one for advanced dental procedures and the other for training and experience with medically compromised and disabled patients.

In 1991 the college established a clinic in downtown St. Petersburg with a special commitment to provide care for the low-income elderly and other special populations who have difficulty accessing dental care.

In 1997 the college opened its third satellite clinic in Hialeah enabling students and residents to provide dental services to low/moderate income populations in South Florida.

Most recently, an affiliation between the college and Community Health Centers, Inc. established a 12-month advanced general dentistry residency. The clinic is located in Apopka (Greater Orlando area) and provides health services to the low-income predominantly adult community.

The college's Gainesville general practice residents have extramural rotations to Marion County Health Department in Ocala and the Shands Community Practice at Eastside.

In addition to these facilities, students in the D.M.D. program are assigned to external rotations in a variety of sites throughout the state. Currently, these include the Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs (ACORN) Clinic in Brooker, the Shands Community Practice at Eastside in Gainesville, the Manatee County Rural Health Services clinics in Bradenton, the Community Health Centers in Apopka, the Marion E. Fether Medical Center in Immokalee, and the college's Jacksonville clinic.

These are only examples of academic affiliations in effect or in stages of development by the College of Dentistry to establish residency and advanced education programs in general dentistry and dental specialties, and to establish mechanisms for student clinical rotations, the education of auxiliary personnel, and the development of continuing education activities.

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