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Practice & Career Opportunities Service

Practicing Dentistry in South Dakota

South Dakota offers a host of dental practice opportunities in a variety diverse settings including the growing cosmopolitan community of Sioux Falls; the beautiful Black Hills; and of course hundreds of tranquil rural "home town" communities. Because South Dakota 
 

currently has a disproportionate number of dentists between the ages of 50 and 60 it is expected that, as these dentists begin to retire, new dentists will be needed to replace them. This is particularly true in rural areas of the state and in communities of less than 6,000 people. South Dakota offers a great quality of life and is also a great place to own and operate a small business. To visit with someone about practicing in South Dakota contact the South Dakota Dental Association at (605) 224-9133.

Placement Service

To assist dental students with identifying practice opportunities within the state, the South Dakota Dental Association has created an on line Placement Service that can assist dentists and dental students who are looking to buy a practice or enter as an associate following graduation. If you are seeking a practice opportunity and would like to list yourself and view applicable opportunities in South Dakota click on "Placement Service" in the right-hand column.

Tuition Reimbursement

As an incentive to practice in rural areas South Dakota offers a Tuition Reimbursement Program, which provides qualifying dentists a payment in return for three continuous years of full-time practice in an eligible rural community. Dentists must enter into a contract with the South Dakota Department of Health to qualify. The amount of tuition reimbursement for a qualifying dentist is approximately $110,000. For more information contact the Office of Rural Health at 1-800-738-2301 or 605-773-3517 or click on "Tuition Reimbursement" in the righthand column.

Loan Repayment

Delta Dental of South Dakota offers a Loan Repayment for Service Program for dentists who agree to serve a selected percentage of Medicaid-insured patients in their practice or a combination of seeing patients in the practice and serving in Delta's Mobile Dental Program. Loan balances must be part of the original student loan, i.e., not combined with other personal loans. Total loan repayments may range from $40,000 to $100,000 depending on the level of service commitment made by the recipient dentist. For more information contact Delta Dental of South Dakota at 1-800-627-3961 or connie.halverson@deltadentalsd.com 

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South Dakota Department of Health Information

Click this link for information from the Department of Health: http://www.state.sd.us/hoh/OralHealth

News Items

2010 Legislative Session in Final Week

The SDDA's legislation to preclude insurance companies from dictating maximum allowable charges for non-covered services has cleared the Senate and the House and is on its way to the Governor's desk.
While there is no overt action to reduce funding for the Adult Dental Medicaid Program, on-going efforts to cut spending - in order to balance the State budget - require us to keep a watchful eye on the Program.  Adult Dental is the only optional program within the Medicaid Program. We continue to closely monitor the budget process closely and it appears, at this time, that the Adult Medicaid Program will not be cut.

Follow Legislative happenings by using our online grassroots advocacy system. All members can access updated information on  legislation affecting dentistry through the SDDA's web site. Members should go to the Advocacy page on the web site (click here) to access the online system. Once in the system, members can peruse a list of bills the SDDA is following, track the legislation as it works its way through the process and read background information on the legislation. The system will also allow members to view how their Legislators voted on our issues. The system is password protected - members should use SDDA as the user name and their ADA number as the password.