University to provide dental hygiene training

According to a 2023 survey by Healthwatch Lincolnshire, 45% of residents in the county have no access to an NHS dentist

A training centre in Lincolnshire offering courses in dental hygiene and therapy will open in 2026.

The University of Lincoln has been granted funding of £1.5m to establish the facility.

Vice chancellor Prof Neal Juster said it was "a first step towards training dentists themselves".

The funding has been approved by the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA), with Mayor Andrea Jenkyns saying the award was "great news for residents".

Prof Juster said the county was "known as a dental desert" and he hoped to get to a full dental school training dentists one day.

When it opens in September 2026 the new Lincolnshire Institute of Dental and Oral Health will be part of the University's Medical School.

It will accept around 30 students in its first year and will teach a new BSc in Dental Hygiene and Therapy alongside a foundation course designed to help dental nurses and other healthcare professionals retrain and upskill.

Prof Juster said the aim was to provide more appointments to the people of Lincolnshire

The funding has come from the government's Shared Prosperity Fund which was handed to the GLCCA to distribute.

Meeting for the first time since last month's local elections and chaired by Mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns, it voted unanimously to award the money.

Dame Andrea said she recommended the funding was approved and was "really pleased to get this project off the ground".

At the same meeting councillor Ingrid Sheard was voted in as deputy greater Lincolnshire mayor.

Sheard is an elected Lincolnshire County Council member for Spalding Elloe for the Reform UK party.

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