42 U.S.C. § 293k–2 — Training in general, pediatric, and public health dentistry

(a) Support and development of dental training programs (1) In general: The Secretary may give grants or contracts to a dental school, a public or private nonprofit hospital, or another qualified public or private nonprofit group. They can use the money to: (A) plan, run, or join a training program in general, pediatric, or public health dentistry for dental students, residents, practicing dentists, dental hygienists, or other approved trainees; (B) give financial help to dental students, residents, dentists, and dental hygiene students who need it and plan to work in general, pediatric, or public health dentistry, or dental hygiene; (C) train people who plan to teach in these fields; (D) give traineeships and fellowships to dentists who teach or plan to teach in these fields; (E) pay for projects that build up dental faculty development programs in primary care; (F) pay for projects that build up training programs, at both the student and graduate level, in primary care; (G) create a loan repayment program for dental faculty; and (H) give technical help to pediatric training programs, so they can teach about oral health, dental care needs, and disease risk in children, especially children who don't get enough care. (2) Faculty loan repayment: (A) A grant under (a)(1)(G) can fund a loan repayment program. Under it, a person agrees to work full-time as faculty, and the program agrees to pay off that person's student loans. (B) The program pays a growing share of the person's loan balance for each year of service completed: 10% after year one, 15% after year two, 20% after year three, 25% after year four, and 30% after year five. (b) Eligible entity: Groups that can get these grants include dental or dental hygiene schools and approved residency or advanced training programs in general, pediatric, or public health dentistry. These groups may team up with schools of public health so dental students, residents, and hygiene students can earn a public health master's degree. (c) Priorities in making awards: The Secretary gives priority to applicants that: (1) team up primary care medicine departments with general, pediatric, or public health dentistry departments; (2) have a strong record of training providers who stay in these fields, or have improved that record; (3) have trained many students from rural, disadvantaged, or underrepresented minority backgrounds; (4) have formal ties to federally qualified health centers, rural health centers, or accredited teaching facilities where they train students, residents, fellows, or faculty; (5) run teaching programs for vulnerable groups — older adults, homeless people, abuse or trauma victims, people with mental health or substance use disorders, people with disabilities, and people with HIV/AIDS — and manage disease risk for all patients; (6) teach cultural competency and health literacy; (7) place many graduates in underserved areas, or have sharply increased that placement rate; and (8) plan to build a special center or program that teaches dentists, dental staff, and hygienists how to care for people with developmental disabilities, cognitive impairment, complex medical problems, major physical limits, and vulnerable elderly patients. (d) Application: An eligible group applies to the Secretary in the form, manner, and timeframe the Secretary sets. (e) Duration of award: Grants and contracts pay out for 5 years. Each year's payment needs the Secretary's approval and depends on Congress providing the money. (f) Authorizations of appropriations: Congress authorized $28,531,000 each year from 2021 through 2025 to carry out subsections (a) and (b). (g) Carryover funds: A group that gets an award can carry unused money from one fiscal year into the next without asking the Secretary first. But money can't be carried over for more than 3 years.