SANFORD — GoldenLEAF, Inc. has awarded Central Carolina CommunityrnCollege a $223,006 grant for its dental hygiene/dental assistingrnprograms. New to CCCC, the programs are awaiting initial accreditationrnby the American Dental Association, expected early next year. Pendingrnthat accreditation, the first dental assisting class is scheduled tornbegin in March; the first dental hygiene class, with the fall semester.

“Irnam ecstatic about the grant,” said Marsha Black, CCCC dental programrndirector and lead instructor, who helped develop and design thernprograms. “We were phasing in equipment and this grant allows us torncomplete the set-up.”

The college’s dentalrntraining area already has six patient dental service stations ready forrnuse, as well as specialized training areas such as the radiology room.rnThe GoldenLEAF grant will fund six additional patient dental servicernstations, bringing the college’s training facility to its full size.

CCCCrnreceived approval from the North Carolina Community College System inrn2005 to offer an associate’s degree in dental hygiene and a diploma inrndental assisting. The programs were inspired by the shortage of thesernworkers in the college’s service area of Lee, Harnett and Chathamrncounties, as well as statewide.

Whenrnfully operational, the programs will enroll 36 students at a time: 12rnin dental assisting and 12 each in first and second year dentalrnhygiene. Currently, people wanting to enter these occupations have torntravel to Chapel Hill, Raleigh or Fayetteville for training. Therncollege has already received hundreds of requests for information aboutrnthe programs from potential students.

Arn2005 survey of dental practices in Lee, Harnett, Chatham and Moorerncounties showed that entry-level salaries averaged $45,000 forrnhygienists and $28,000 for dental assistants. According to the survey,rnan additional 68 hygienists and 92 assistants will be needed in thernfour-county area over the next four years.

“There’srna tremendous need for dental assistants and dental hygienists,” saidrnDr. John Slade, CCCC vice president for instruction. “People successfulrnin this program will be able to get good paying jobs and move up inrntheir career field.”

The dental programsrnare part of the Central Carolina Dental Center, located in the W.B.rnWicker Business Campus on Vance Street in Sanford. The Business Campusrnwas the former W.B. Wicker School. Brick Capital Community DevelopmentrnCorp. spearheaded an extensive renovation of the building to make it arnmulti-use community service center. CCCC is the largest tenant, withrnits dental programs’ training area occupying 5,400 square feet of thernbuilding’s total 29,000 square feet.

ThernCentral Carolina Dental Center is a joint effort of the college withrnthe Lee County Department of Public Health to meet the dental needs ofrnlow-income residents in Lee, Harnett, Chatham and Moore counties and tornprovide clinical experience for needed dental workers.

ThernLCDPH moved its Division of Clinical Services dental clinic to thernDental Center in August. The collaboration with the college will enablernPublic Health to expand the number of patient services provided fromrnabout 2,000 per year to about 5,000 per year by 2008-09.

Equipmentrnin place for the college’s dental programs is “state of the art,”rnaccording to Black. That includes computerized voice recognitionrnperiodontal charting and all-digital x-rays.

“Everything is computerized,” she said. “We may pass UNC School of Dentistry in being state-of-the-art.”

HollyAnn Rogers, CCCC grant writer/coordinator, said that receiving a GoldenLEAF grant involves a highly competitive process.

“Thisrncommunity really got behind the Central Carolina Dental Center, andrnthat makes a huge impact in a proposal like this,” she said. “CCCCrnreceived letters of support and commitment from public health directorsrnin Harnett, Chatham, and Moore Counties, as well as the Lee CountyrnDental Health Society. We also had several wonderful letters fromrnprospective students who spoke from their hearts and really conveyedrnwhat these two curriculum programs would mean to them.”

ThernGoldenLEAF grant brings the total grants received for the CentralrnCarolina Dental Center to $798,120. Previous awards received by CCCCrnwere: $296,809 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, $25,000 fromrnthe Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and $2,800rnfrom the N.C. Dental Society’s Dental Health Endowment. The Lee CountyrnDepartment of Public Health received a $250,505 from the Duke Endowment.

“Wernare so pleased that Golden Leaf joined in with other charitablernfoundations to help us completely fund the start-up costs for ourrndental education programs,” said CCCC President Dr. Matthew Garrett.rn“In doing so, Golden Leaf is showing that they believe in this project,rnthey want to help with the dental health of our region, and they wantrnto put people to work in health care occupations. We were fortunaternthat they chose to partner with us.”