As a distinguished resource for dental education in Texas for more than 100 years, Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas is dedicated to combining higher education and research with community service.

The college is a synergistic environment where students learn life lessons – in addition to dental medicine – from a diverse patient population. Enrollment for the 2006 academic year was 531. Approximately 90 percent of the dental and dental hygiene students and 55 percent of the postdoctoral/graduate students are Texas residents.

Since its founding, HSC-BCD has graduated more than 8,000 dentists and dental hygienists. More than half of all the dentists in the Dallas/Fort Worth area received their dental education at the college, and nearly one-third of all dentists in Texas are HSC-BCD graduates. The college also graduates the largest number of dental hygienists with bachelor’s degrees in the state.

HSC-BCD is the single largest provider of oral health care services in North Texas, receiving 96,000 patient visits per year. The college completes approximately 5,000 emergency patient visits annually, about 45 percent of which are by low-income patients. HSC-BCD served 170,680 people in the 2005-2006 academic year through health fairs, public school programs, Dallas children’s hospitals and community health clinics and programs.

Research expenditures in 2006 exceeded $3.2 million. Through research, HSC-BCD faculty members are opening new doors in a range of areas including implant procedures, periodontal disease management, dental materials improvement, maxillofacial prosthodontics, craniofacial growth and deformities, tobacco cessation and salivary dysfunction treatment.