About The LSU School of Dentistry
Our History

Dental education has a long history in Louisiana, dating as far back as 1867, with the establishment of the New Orleans Dental College, followed by the School of Dentistry at Tulane University and then the Loyola University School of Dentistry.

When Loyola could not afford to continue its dental program, the Louisiana Legislature authorized the building of a dental school as part of the LSU System. Over the span of four years, operations at Loyola were transferred to the new LSU School of Dentistry. The last class of Loyola dentists graduated in 1971. The first class of 27 LSUSD dentists graduated on June 3, 1972.

Since that first graduation, over 4,000 dentists, hygienists and lab technicians have been educated here. Today, this means that 70% of the dental health care workers in Louisiana have been trained at LSUSD. We hope these statistics serve as a source of pride for you, our alumni. We are very proud of every one of our graduates.

The 60 students who make up the incoming freshman class were chosen from a field of 250 applicants. The grade point average for the class is 3.6. Their DAT scores averaged 19 which translates to the 86th percentile.

The school is located on a 22-acre tract of land, commonly called the City Park campus, that was acquired from the federal government. The 30 frame buildings on the site at that time were used during World War II as housing for the Navy.

In order to construct a permanent physical plant for the school, a grant was obtained from the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The 344,000 square foot project cost $15,500,000 to build. Of this total, $10,500,000 came from the federal government and $5,000,000 came from the State of Louisiana. It was arguably the best bargain the State of Louisiana ever received in a building. Formal dedication of the new school took place on Friday, February 18, 1972.

The flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina caused the school to relocate to Baton Rouge. Specifically, three buildings used for storage on the south campus of LSU were quickly transformed into classrooms, laboratories and offices. Tapping into 40 years of goodwill among the alumni, a network of 182 dentists, surgeons and hygienists in the community agreed to provide the clinical training and experience for our third-year students, four-year students and residents that were provided in our regular clinics and residency programs before the storm.

A major milestone towards normalcy came in August of 2007 when we returned to our City Park campus. The facilities in Baton Rouge are now being used as a community clinic, which is an addition to the school’s satellite dental clinics in Lafayette, Independence and Alexandria. As of October 1, 2008, we have a new dean, Dr. Henry Gremillion. He succeeds Dr. Eric Hovland. Prior to Dr. Hovland, our deans were Drs. Jack Rayson, Allen Copping and Edmund Jeansonne. Drs. Rayson and Jeansonne are deceased.

Edmund Engler Jeansonne, DDS (1966-1974)
Allen Anthony Copping, DDS (1974)
Edmund Engler Jeansonne, DDS (1974-1976)
Jack Henry Rayson, DDS (1976-1993)
Eric J. Hovland, DDS, MEd, MBA (1993 to 2008)

Dr. Henry A. Gremillion, DDS (2008- )