GoldenLEAF Inc. has awarded Central Carolina Community College in Sanford a $223,006 grant for its dental hygiene/dental assisting programs.

New to CCCC, the programs are awaiting initial accreditation by the American Dental Association, expected early next year.

Pending that accreditation, the first dental assisting class is scheduled to begin in March; the first dental hygiene class, with the fall semester.

"I am ecstatic about the grant," said Marsha Black, CCCC dental program director and lead instructor, who helped develop and design the programs. "We were phasing in equipment, and this grant allows us to complete the setup."

The college's dental training area already has six patient dental service stations ready for use, as well as specialized training areas such as the radiology room.

The GoldenLEAF grant will fund six additional patient dental service stations, bringing the college's training facility to its full size.

CCCC received approval from the North Carolina Community College System in 2005 to offer an associates degree in dental hygiene and a diploma in dental assisting.

The programs were inspired by the shortage of these workers in the college's service area of Lee, Harnett and Chatham counties, as well as statewide.

When fully operational, the programs will enroll 36 students at a time: 12 in dental assisting and 12 each in first- and second-year dental hygiene.

Currently, people wanting to enter these occupations have to travel to Chapel Hill, Raleigh or Fayetteville for training. The college has already received hundreds of requests for information about the programs from potential students.

A 2005 survey of dental practices in Lee, Harnett, Chatham and Moore counties showed that entry-level salaries averaged $45,000 for hygienists and $28,000 for dental assistants. According to the survey, an additional 68 hygienists and 92 assistants will be needed in the four-county area over the next four years.

"There's a tremendous need for dental assistants and dental hygienists," said Dr. John Slade, CCCC vice president for instruction. "People successful in this program will be able to get good-paying jobs and move up in their career field."

The dental programs are part of the Central Carolina Dental Center, located in the W.B. Wicker Business Campus on Vance Street in Sanford. The Business Campus is the former W.B. Wicker School.

Brick Capital Community Development Corp. spearheaded an extensive renovation of the building to make it a multi-use community service center. CCCC is the largest tenant, with its dental programs' training area occupying 5,400 square feet of the building's total 29,000 square feet.

The Central Carolina Dental Center is a joint effort of the college with the Lee County Department of Public Health to meet the dental needs of low-income residents in Lee, Harnett, Chatham and Moore counties and to provide clinical experience for needed dental workers.

The LCDPH moved its Division of Clinical Services dental clinic to the Dental Center in August.

The collaboration with the college will enable Public Health to expand the number of patient services provided from about 2,000 per year to about 5,000 per year by 2008-09.

Equipment in place for the college's dental programs is "state of the art," according to Black. That includes computerized voice recognition periodontal 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.

"This community really got behind the Central Carolina Dental Center, and that makes a huge impact in a proposal like this," she said. "CCCC received letters of support and commitment from public health directors in Harnett, Chatham, and Moore Counties, as well as the Lee County Dental Health Society. We also had several wonderful letters from prospective students who spoke from their hearts and really conveyed what these two curriculum programs would mean to them."

The GoldenLEAF grant brings the total grants received for the Central Carolina Dental Center to $798,120.

Previous awards received by CCCC were: $296,809 from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, $25,000 from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and $2,800 from the N.C. Dental Society's Dental Health Endowment. The Lee County Department of Public Health received a $250,505 from the Duke Endowment.

"We are so pleased that Golden Leaf joined in with other charitable foundations to help us completely fund the start-up costs for our dental education programs," said CCCC President Dr. Matthew Garrett. "In doing so, Golden Leaf is showing that they believe in this project, they want to help with the dental health of our region, and they want to put people to work in health care occupations. We were fortunate that they chose to partner with us."

For more information about CCCC's dental assisting and dental hygiene programs, contact Black at 919-775-2021 or Dental Admissions Counselor Lara Manton at 919-718-7511.

The author is a news and feature writer for Central Carolina Community College.