GRAND FORKS – North Dakota State Board of Higher Education members approved new degree offerings for dental professionals, despite concerns from other state institutions it would interfere with their own operations.

Board members gave the go-ahead Wednesday for Bismarck State College to offer associate’s degrees for dental assistants and dental hygienists.

Bismarck State’s top official says the new program will help address a shortage of dental professionals in North Dakota and have outside support from dentists in need of qualified staff.

“The path we’re going down is the one requested by the private sector,” Bismarck State President Doug Jensen said.

Officials from North Dakota State College of Science, Dakota College at Bottineau and Minot State University oppose adding more dental programs, saying opening more in the state would interfere with their ability to fill seats at NDSCS’s current program and a Dakota College program set to launch this fall.

Jensen said the new programs will have 15 seats each and help North Dakota address a projected shortfall of 500 to 1,200 dental health openings. Those could launch as soon as fall 2025.

He said the program had received broad support from community dental professionals, including 44 letters of support, according to public documents, and could be funded without additional appropriations from the Legislature.

A Bismarck-area dentist had also expressed interest in collaborating with the new program to provide care to underserved populations with limited access to dental care, which could also serve as a source of revenue (presumably through Medicaid reimbursement).

Officials at NDSCS, Dakota College, and Minot State are worried offering dental programs at another school will draw students from their programs and limit their ability to operate in the black.

“This is a very unique and very niche and very expensive program,” said Minot State President Steven Shirley. “There’s a reason there’s only been one of these programs in the state for 60 years.”

Minot State has collaborated with Dakota College on its own dental program in downtown Minot, two hours north of Bismarck.

NDSCS President Rod Flanagan is also concerned about an oversaturation of dental hygiene programs, and pointed to the expected opening of a dental hygiene program at Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, South Dakota, as well as a program at Central Lakes College in Brainerd that he said could further draw from NDSCS’s applicant pool.

“If we start losing our South Dakota students, and losing students in North Dakota, and losing students to Minnesota, it threatens our program,” Flanagan said.

NDSCS’s program currently has seats for 20 students in dental hygiene and dental assisting, each. Dakota College’s will have a maximum of 12 dental assistants and 10 dental hygienists.

Board members Curtis Biller, Jeffrey Volk and Casey Ryan sided with the existing programs, with Biller and Volk suggesting the state board could return to adding a Bismarck program if demand for dental professionals remained high.

“Right now I’m sitting at, ‘let’s challenge these seats to get filled,’” said Volk. “If they do fill up, then things are moving.”

A majority of board members sided with Bismarck State to push the programs through.

“This is a workforce issue,” said board Chair Tim Mihalick. “The longer we wait, the further behind the eight-ball we get.”

Joshua Irvine covers K-12 and higher education as well as the Grand Forks County Commission for the Grand Forks Herald. He joined the Herald in October 2023.