Temple University has officially committed to opening a rural dental education center and clinic in downtown Tamaqua.

During a recent meeting, Temple’s board of trustees voted to locate the Kornberg School of Dentistry’s first rural dental education facility at the former Rite-Aid, 205 Center St.

The 24-chair education center and clinic will host 10 third-year and 10 fourth-year dental students for their final two years of training and provide comprehensive care to underserved patients each day.

The first class of third-year students will begin their training in fall.

The building will be leased for a 15-year initial term with the annual lease starting at $218,500 paid by the dentistry school. It will be outfitted with furniture, fixtures and equipment at a cost of about $3.19 million.

The Temple board also committed to student housing at 24 W. Broad Street, Tamaqua, a building that formerly housed Tire Pros and Scheid’s Department Store. Renovations will begin soon and the school will pay an annual lease cost of $316,800 for at least 15 years.

Talks of the dire need for dentists in the area have been ongoing.

In June, state Sen. David Argall chaired a public hearing at the Lehigh Carbon Community College’s Morgan site in Tamaqua about the severe dental care crisis in rural Pennsylvania.

Dental professionals shared personal accounts about how the lack of care affects the health of their patients, leading to lethal infections and other diseases, describing children with abscesses missing school and elderly patients with broken dentures forced to go on soft diets.

“Many people have shared with me how difficult it is to make a dental appointment in our region,” Argall said. “Thanks to this commitment from Temple University and the hard work of many local leaders and volunteers, we can solve this problem right here in Tamaqua.”

In November, it was learned that the school would receive $2 million in federal funds to open in Tamaqua.

Other support is through Tamaqua Area Community Partnership and its executive director, Micah Gursky, who successfully proposed that Temple consider Tamaqua for the site. The partnership acquired the proposed housing building — which was in poor shape but will be renovated — several years ago.

The Tamaqua City Revitalization and Improvement Zone (CRIZ) authority and the John E. Morgan Foundation were also thanked by state lawmakers for their assistance.

“The Tamaqua Dental Clinic is a win for all involved,” said state Rep. Jamie Barton (R-124). “Students get a chance to learn in a true clinical setting, while Schuylkill County residents get access to critical dental services that can be hard to find in the more rural parts of our area. Fixing the shortage of rural health care is a top priority in Pennsylvania, and this dental clinic will help to address it.”