Regional, local and university authorities participated in the official inauguration of the modern six-storey building with more than 4,800 m2, located in the city centre of Temuco.

The inauguration of the new building for the Teaching Dental Clinic (CODA) of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), located in the city centre of Temuco, is another milestone for the community health in the La Araucanía region.

The modern six-storey building is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and high biosafety standards, on more than 4,800 m2, with 100 treatment rooms and a parking lot, guaranteeing an optimal clinical training for the students of the Dentistry undergraduate program, the five graduate specialization programs and the advanced training courses. In addition, the new building has an operating department with three operating rooms, a central sterilization unit, a dental and maxillofacial radiology unit, classrooms and offices for administration.

“This new first-level facility is of great importance for the training of our future dentists. At the same time, it is a great contribution to our regional community, since we can offer a timely treatment of high quality, accessible to the most vulnerable people in our city and region,” explained Dr. Eduardo Hebel Weiss, the rector of Universidad de La Frontera.

He also emphasized the fundamental role of this new facility for the training of a new generation of dental specialists, as well as the development of dental research in response to new questions at the regional and national level. “We are very happy with this project, which was implemented after several years of dedication, in order to get to where we are now,” Dr. Hebel Weiss added.

“As the Ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation, we are convinced that universities are essential for the development of our society. The new building is an example of that: it will be a centre for knowledge generation, the training of professionals who will contribute to an improvement for society from their fields of knowledge, research and technology transfer,” explained Maite Castro Gallastegui, the Regional Ministerial Secretary of the Ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation.

BIOSAFETY

The new building of UFROs Teaching Dental Clinic fulfils high biosafety standards and is advanced in digitalisation, with the Smile Dental Software, specialised in university dental clinics, which is a support in the management of the clinic and the digital records.

“Although our primary objective as a public and state university is to train dental professionals, we must also be at the service of the people, in all dimensions of human dignity. Therefore, we need to follow the values that motivated the founders of our faculty more than 30 years ago in terms of community engagement in the professional training, which can be achieved through a deep connection with the local community in the teaching process. That way, our students will be able to transform illness into health and illuminate the people’s faces in our region, giving them their smiles back,” said Dr. Gonzalo Oporto Venegas, the dean of UFROs Faculty of Dentistry.

The dean also explained that the Teaching Dental Clinic currently attends more than 2,800 patients, which is an important number at the regional and national level. To access treatments at the clinic, the patients have to apply through a special diagnostic system. Afterwards, they have to go to an initial examination to be referred to the corresponding services of the Faculty of Dentistry.