Program encourages more dentists in rural Iowa. (Business Front)

Business Record (Des Moines), March, 2002

The Iowa Department of Public Health has designated 72 of Iowa's 99 counties as dentist shortage areas. As dental school graduates are drawn to more urban settings, smaller communities have been left with inadequate health and dental care services.

To help ease the strain, Delta Dental Plan of Iowa, the largest provider of dental insurance benefits in Iowa, has established the Delta Dental Plan of Iowa Loan Repayment Program for recently graduated or graduating dentists. A collaborative effort of Delta, the Iowa Department of Public Health and the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, the program will provide $50,000 over a three-year period to be used to repay educational debts. The program will welcome applications from dental school graduates from across the...