BSCTC cuts ribbon for new dental facility

Big Sandy Community & Technical College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center on its Mayo Campus.

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

PRESTONSBURG — Big Sandy Community & Technical College announced the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art dental facility, the East Kentucky Oral Health Training Center, (EKOHTC), during a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday on the Mayo Campus.

The center will be the new home for the college’s Dental Assisting/Dental Hygiene Integrated Program (DA/DH program) certificate, diploma, and A.A.S. degree programs, and the community dental health coordinator certificate.

EKOHTC will become a site for Central Regional Dental Testing Service and a hub for training the region’s oral health professionals in continuing education, updated technology, telehealth and emerging oral health treatment.

Delta Dental and “Workforce Opportunities: A Grant Initiative for the Appalachian Region” through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration funded the creation of EKOHTC.

“We are proud to serve Eastern Kentucky by providing oral healthcare while educating future dental professionals,” Dr. Jill Keaton, BSCTC’s program coordinator of dental hygiene/dental assisting, said. “We are enthusiastic about the positive impact we will have on our region.”

The center will increase the region’s capacity to provide a reliable pipeline of trained oral health professionals to mitigate the oral health disparities in our communities.

“The opening of our new dental clinic signifies the power of partnerships to accomplish milestones. As the community college, we strive to be purveyors of hope for the people of our region; these are the investments we seek,” BSCTC President Telly Sellars said in the release.

EKOHTC features 20 operatories and the latest technological advances in oral health/dental care.