Albuquerque dental school expands to help ease New Mexico shortage

Touro Dental Health New Mexico opened its 70,000-square-foot clinic on the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute campus in Albuquerque with more than 100 dental units, and by the end of September 2025 it had already served close to 1,000 residents. The site is both a training center and a new access point in Bernalillo County.

At ground-breaking on Sept. 26, 2024, Touro College of Dental Medicine said the New Mexico facility was being built to give 200 students a practice site and to open in May 2025. The Albuquerque clinic instead began operating on Sept. 16, 2025. Its first class in New Mexico included 100 students, with 200 total planned at full capacity.

Touro said New Mexico had 48.4 dentists per 100,000 people, below the national average of 60.84. Legislative Finance Committee staff found in June 2025 that practitioner shortages are statewide and especially severe in rural areas, with 32 of 33 counties carrying some combination of Health Professional Shortage Area designations.

Inside the clinic, the model is closer to a dental hospital than a standard student practice. It has four general practice clinics with 50 students in each, while faculty handle more advanced care, including root canals, extractions and implants. Jennifer Oki, Touro’s director of clinical education, said in spring 2025 that the school had hired 33 professors, 29 of them from New Mexico, and that no New Mexico residents were in the first Albuquerque cohort, though one was slated for the next class. It is also working with the University of New Mexico to recruit more students from within the state.

At the ribbon cutting, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller joined Touro and Lovelace leaders, and patient Carlos Montoya said he was glad to share his experience and reassure others. Touro said Medicaid covers nearly 40% of New Mexicans as a primary insurer while fewer dentists accept it. New Mexico’s Office of Oral Health, which serves all 33 counties and reaches more than 125 schools through its sealant program, already works across the state.