A major renovation and expansion project at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry was completed in June 2022. The $140 million project, called Blue Renew, allows the Dental School to incorporate state-of-the-art developments in patient care, dental education and research into the existing facility, which was designed during two eras — the 1930s and 1960s — when technology and priorities were much different. The initial plan, given final approval by the U-M Board of Regents in March 2018, renovated about half of the existing building and added 48,000 square feet.

The courtyard addition, which is the first addition of new space at the school in more than 50 years, includes research labs, student meeting spaces, conference rooms, offices and a new entrance from North University Avenue. Patients and visitors can now enter and access the Dental Building via this new entrance from the Plaza Level of the Fletcher Street Parking Structure.

The Dental School has had a longstanding commitment to improving public health by educating dentists and dental hygienists who provide high-quality health care to patients throughout the state of Michigan. About 160,000 dental appointments are held within the school each year and thousands more are completed around the state when dental students travel to more than a dozen clinics as part of the Dental School’s Community-Based Collaborative Care and Education curriculum. Last year, students and faculty treated patients from 82 of the state’s 83 counties.

In recent years, the U-M School of Dentistry has led the nation’s dental schools in research grants from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in areas such as preventing cavities in children, treating head and neck cancer and regenerating damaged or diseased dental, oral and craniofacial tissue.