UAB has broken ground on a new community dentistry clinic in Decatur, a freestanding facility planned for Decatur Morgan Hospital's Parkway Campus that aims to chip away at Alabama's widening rural dental care shortage. The clinic, to be built on Beltline Road SW, will be staffed by School of Dentistry faculty, residents and students once it opens.
According to WHNT, the facility will include labs, offices, a support area with a study zone, and access to an adjacent lecture hall. UAB News describes the space as sitting at approximately 7,200 square feet, located at 1874 Beltline Road SW in a standalone building adjacent to the hospital. UAB says the clinic will contain nine operatories, including one configured for ADA accessibility and special needs.
Once operational, the clinic is expected to provide preventive, restorative and emergency dental services, per UAB, including root canals, extractions, and treatment for chipped or broken teeth. It will also serve as a training site for dental faculty, residents and students, the university says.
Funding and a Senator's Push
The project is funded by the state of Alabama, an effort UAB says was spearheaded by District 3 state Senator Arthur Orr. Orr thanked Decatur Morgan Hospital for hosting the clinic and said the state-UAB collaboration reflects a shared commitment to addressing what he called Alabama's dental crisis. He added that the clinic will deliver essential dental care to Decatur and the surrounding region.
Decatur Daily reports that Orr secured $5 million for the clinic through a fiscal 2024 Education Trust Fund supplemental appropriation approved during the 2025 legislative session, and that the clinic broke ground on a project the outlet also described as costing $5 million. That figure differs from a 2024 report by AL.com, which described the planned space — then sized at 6,982 square feet with 13 dental rooms, a digital lab and an imaging suite — as carrying a $4,776,000 cost. The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the Decatur construction project at its September 5, 2024 meeting, according to AL.com.
Timelines for opening have also shifted across coverage. AL.com's 2024 report said the facility was scheduled to open in 2026, while Decatur Daily's more recent account put the opening at mid-2027. Decatur Morgan Hospital President Kelli Powers told Decatur Daily that the clinic will accept Medicaid, with fees for patients lacking dental insurance determined on a sliding scale.
Addressing a Statewide Shortage
UAB School of Dentistry Dean Nicolaas Geurs said expanding access to care in communities such as Decatur is an important part of the university's mission to optimize oral health care in Alabama. Geurs said the state has a shortage of dental health providers in rural and moderately urban areas, and UAB says the clinic will help address rural dental care shortages in both north and south Alabama.
The numbers behind that shortage are stark. A 2025 American Dental Association report cited by UAB found Alabama's dental workforce per 100,000 population fell 7.8 percent between 2014 and 2024, which UAB described as the largest such decrease in the South at the time. Decatur Daily, also citing the American Dental Association, reported that rural Alabama had just 23.1 dentists per 100,000 residents in 2024, compared with 46.9 in urban counties.
A May 2024 policy review from the UAB Lister Hill Center for Health Policy found that 50 of Alabama's 67 counties were designated federal dental professional shortage areas, and identified 23 counties where dental services were considered at significant risk in the near future. The same review found a net loss of two dentists statewide between 2017 and 2024, with 28 of 67 counties having fewer dentists in 2024 than they did seven years earlier.
Statewide rankings on dentists per capita also vary by source. Decatur Daily reported that Alabama ranked 49th among states in 2024, with about 40 dentists per 100,000 residents compared with 60 nationally, while the Lister Hill Center review put the state at 51st nationally, citing 4.1 dentists per 10,000 people against a national average of 6.1.
Part of a Broader UAB Push
The Decatur clinic will be UAB Dentistry's second community clinic in Alabama, following one that opened in Dothan in February 2024, Decatur Daily reports. AL.com's earlier coverage similarly described the Decatur project as UAB's second rural dental clinic. UAB is also working on an agreement with Calhoun Community College that would allow its dental hygiene students to receive clinical training at the new Decatur site, according to Decatur Daily.
