Dental schools were active this year in establishing new programs, funding research and expanding services to increase access to dental care in their communities.
Here are what 20 schools accomplished this year:
1. Greenville, N.C.-based East Carolina University's School of Medicine and its Brody School of Dental Medicine partnered on an initiative to increase access to telehealth services in rural communities.
2. Students at the University of Southern California Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry formed the Ostrow Sustainability Group to share information on dental practices that support and benefit the environment.
3. The Indiana University School of Dentistry opened a clinic dedicated to treating patients with temporomandibular joint issues.
4. The University of Texas Health San Antonio School of Dentistry appointed Micaela Gibbs, DDS, as its first chief dental officer.
5. The West Virginia University School of Dentistry in Morgantown was awarded a $50,000 grant, which it said it will use to expand its pediatric dental clinic and launch a residency program.
6. The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso and the New Mexico Higher Education Department partnered to create educational opportunities for New Mexico residents.
7. Minnesota State University Mankato launched a dental therapy program, the nation's fourth program of its kind.
8. The Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine received a $1 million federal grant to increase faculty diversity.
9. Boston University's Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine completed a $115 million expansion.
10. Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and the American Dental Association received a $2.2 million grant, which they used to examine the mucous membrane inside the mouths of people with periodontal disease and peri-implantitis.
11. The Roseman University College of Dental Medicine in South Jordan, Utah, was approved by the ADA's Commission on Dental Accreditation to shorten its doctor of dental medicine program and enroll more students.
12. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry was awarded a $975,000 grant to support the recruitment and retention of faculty.
13. The Indiana University School of Dentistry in Indianapolis saw 61 percent female enrollment in its incoming class of dental students in August, the highest percentage of female enrollment in the school's 142-year history.
14. West Virginia University's School of Dentistry and WVU Medicine in Morgantown partnered on an initiative to provide dental implants to oral cancer patients.
15. The A.T. Still University-Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health added an institute to treat orofacial pain, temporomandibular joint problems, oral growths and sleep apnea.
16. The University at Buffalo (N.Y.) School of Dental Medicine welcomed its inaugural class to the Destination Dental School diversity pipeline program. It was also granted $1.5 million to develop therapies to treat oral cancers.
17. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso opened an oral health clinic to provide additional education opportunities to students and expand care for patients.
18. Penn Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia used a $5 million gift to launch the Center for Integrative Global Oral Health. It also used a $50,000 donation to fund research into LGBTQ-based biases in dentistry.
19. The University of Michigan School of Dentistry in Ann Arbor was named the best dental school in the world for the fifth consecutive year by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, an international organization that rates universities and programs.
20. New York University College of Dentistry was selected as the nation's third dental school to use surgical robotic devices for dental implant surgeries.