The University of Washington (UW) received a 25% cut in state funding in 2009 that has severely affected its dental program, according to a news story in the school's student paper, the Daily.
The funding cut "got passed down to us as a 10% budget cut for the School of Dentistry, which is still extremely severe," said Steve Steinberg, director of communications for the dental school, in the story. "You've got chairs in the dental clinics that are more than 20 years old."
The dental school also lost four full-time faculty positions and 14 staff positions.
Although the cuts have not compromised the teaching missions of the school yet, it could likely happen in the future, added Steinberg, noting that loss of faculty could result in lower number of patients.
"The students have to see a certain number and variety of cases in order to meet graduation and licensing requirements," Steinberg said. So if the school has to cut back on patient visits, that is definitely going to have an effect, he noted.
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