MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) — A program that offers new dentists help paying off their students loans is helping attract dentists to small towns in Iowa.
Since the program started in 2002, 28 of the 31 dentists who received grants through the program have remained in Iowa.
Adrienne D’Agostino Kane is receiving $80,000 in tuition reimbursement that helped make it possible for her to take over her father’s practice in Maquoketa, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports.
Delta Dental of Iowa provides most of the grant money while the state and local communities add to the total. Participants receive $50,000 from the insurance agency, $25,000 from Iowa and $5,000 or more from local communities.
The state has designated 65 of Iowa’s 99 counties as being short on dentists.
