Classes underway at Arkansas’ first dental school

Guest speaker/course instructor Drew Ramey talks with the inaugural class of dental students at the Lyon College School of Dental Medicine on July 9, 2025. The new institution is the state’s first dental school. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)

By Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate

After years of preparation, the state’s first dental school welcomed its inaugural group of students to its Little Rock campus this month.

Classes started at the Lyon College School of Dental Medicine last week, and officials are already gearing up to interview candidates for the second cohort in August. Founding Dean Dr. Burke Soffe said he’s shed several tears over this “exciting moment” and he’s “extremely proud” of the 80 students who’ve just started their three-year journey.

“We were really intentional in the admissions process to screen for leaders and to screen for those that are committed to dentistry, committed to rural areas, committed to serving and just high-character individuals,” Soffe said. “We’ve got really special students who are ready to make an impact.”

Providing dental education in Arkansas could help address the state’s need for more providers. Arkansas had the lowest dentist-to-patient ratio in 2023 with about 41 dentists per 100,000 people, according to the American Dental Association. Previously, Arkansas was one of 14 states without a dental school, which contributed to a lower ratio because students would study in other states and remain there after graduation.

Lyon’s class of 2028 hails from 17 states, with 43% from Arkansas and 33% from border states. Alex Crawley, a member of the private school’s inaugural class, described herself as “a huge homebody” and said Lyon was appealing because it’s close to Jonesboro where she grew up.

“Knowing that I want to stay around family forever, I’m thinking I’m going to stay in Arkansas, and so might as well go to school in Arkansas, build connections,” she said.

Lyon College is operating its new dental school out of building in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood. Classes for the inaugural cohort of dental students started on July 7, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)

Crawley and her classmates are temporarily attending lectures in the top floor of a building that previously housed Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood. Lyon is leasing the first through sixth floors, which are still being renovated, and the 12th floor.

The construction company is moving as quickly as possible considering “all of the volatility with tariffs” and supplies, Soffe said. Once the project is complete, the campus will include a student center, classrooms, simulation clinic and patient care clinics, where Soffe said they can provide general and pediatric dentistry, and care for patients with special needs.

When other floors open, the 12th floor will become an event space for continuing education events, Soffe said. Because there is limited time for networking, Soffe said Lyon wants to bring the dental community to students, in part through a mentorship program called the Scots DEN (Dentistry Engagement Network).

Mentorship helped Cade Judd find his calling in dentistry. Growing up, dentist visits were enjoyable to the Longview, Texas, student because his provider was a family friend. Shadowing her “solidified my passion” for dentistry, Judd said, particularly after seeing one patient cry “tears of joy” after a progressive procedure improved her smile.

“I pulled my dentist aside after that case was over with, and I told her, I said, ‘That’s it, that is why I want to be a dentist right there.’ So from that day on, that’s been my goal, and I haven’t really looked back since,” he said.

Mentorship helps “plant a seed” so students could potentially see themselves “living in a rural community and making a difference, while at the same time making a good living and paying back loans, which all of those are important,” Soffe said.

Many Lyon students took out loans to pay for the annual $102,000 tuition, but a new law could make accessing those loans more difficult. A massive budget bill signed into law this month includes a provision to eliminate Grad PLUS loans, which help finance higher education degrees. Without them, students will have to take out unsubsidized federal loans, which will be restricted to $50,000 per year and have a $200,000 lifetime cap for professional degrees like law or medicine, CBS News reports.

Lyon is working to create institutional scholarships, but it’s challenging because donors want to see the program up and running first, Soffe said.

“Dental school is expensive, and we want to be a possibility for those [students], whether it be in rural Arkansas or elsewhere, to be able to pursue their education here in the state,” he said.

Crawley has loans and admits dental school is expensive, but said “it’s a big investment for your future,” and Lyon has provided them with information about how to make smart financial decisions.

Lyon has also emphasized that this inaugural class is a family and that it’s okay to ask for help and rely on your classmates because you can’t do it alone, Crawley said.

Students can expect to be in class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a lunch break at noon, she said. Crawley anticipates studying for a few more hours outside of class, but said she wants to prioritize making time to exercise to maintain balance.

“It’s definitely a lot, it’s hard. It’s going to be a transition, but practice makes better,” she said. “It’s a little overwhelming, but we’ll get the hang of it and we have each other.”

The Lyon College School of Dental Medicine will host Give Kids a Smile Day from 9 a.m. to noon Friday. The event includes free oral health screenings and education for children and adults. More information is available here.

The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.