In a year from now, the Tri-Cities will see a first of its kind dental training facility open its doors to a cohort of 12 future dentists.

Ground was broken for the 18,111-square-foot facility just outside of Miramar Health Center on June 17 at 6351 W. Rio Grande Ave. in Kennewick. The project is a partnership between Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic and Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. 

Construction on the new facility is expected to be completed by April 2026 and open to patients in June 2026. 

Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic has submitted a $3.7 million building permit to the city of Kennewick.

PNWU launched its Yakima-based School of Dental Medicine just this year, and its first class of 36 students will start this summer. After one year in the four-year program, the students will go to one of three clinics in Kennewick, Yakima or Tacoma. 

That’s what makes the program unique, both within Washington and across the country. “We’ve decided, let’s put the students where they’re needed,” said Dr. Fotinos Panagakos, dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “So, let’s have some here in Tri-Cities, some in Yakima, some over on the (west) side in Tacoma.”

The 12 students coming to Kennewick in 2026 are excited, Panagakos said. After three years, the Tri-Cities clinic will be up to full capacity, with 36 students training there. PNWU will educate the students and provide oversight, and Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic will provide the facility infrastructure, support and staff to run it. 

The new dental training clinic will be 18,111 square feet, and construction is expected to wrap up in April 2026, just in time for the first students to join that summer.

| Courtesy Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic and Pacific Northwest University

In addition to serving the students who train there, the facility will serve the community. Capacity will be expanded for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, which provides dental services locally, improving patient access.

The clinic “will provide hands-on experience for the dental students and the residents, while delivering essential services to patients who might otherwise go without services,” said Dr. Veronica Hooper, chief health officer for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic.

The partnership has been in the works since 2017, said Glen Davis, chief operations officer of Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. 

Both organizations’ missions align, said Robbyn Wacker, interim president of PNWU. “We are community partners working to address health disparities, promote personal growth and certainly championing the needs of underserved populations.”

The dental training clinic is coming at a time when “nearly every county in Washington is currently designated as having a shortage of dental health providers,” Hooper said. Of the state’s 39 counties, 31 have a shortage of dental care, according to data on the Rural Health Information Hub. Both Benton and Franklin counties are included on this shortage list. 

The Tri-Cities facility, Hooper said, will help build a local pipeline of dental professionals reflective of the surrounding community.