ROCHESTER — Rochester Community and Technical College students used the school’s new Dental Simulation Lab for the first time on Wednesday, Sept. 24, marking the completion of an upgrade seven years in the making.
Located just down the hall from RCTC’s Dental Hygiene Clinic, where dental assistant and hygienist students work with real patients, the simulation lab gives those students more lifelike learning opportunities, said Cherie Fritz, director of the dental hygiene program.
“This allows us, not only for students to have a space where they can work, learn, make mistakes … but it’ll allow the clinic to see more patients, as well,” Fritz said.
The $1.57 million renovation transformed three rooms in RCTC’s Heintz Center into one large classroom with 24 student stations. Each station has a dental model — with a full head, flexible pink skin and removable teeth — along with the water, air, suction and cleaning equipment one would find in a typical dentist’s office.
“The dental unit itself is just like a dental unit in a dental clinic,” said Nikki Rud, director of the dental assistant program. “Same hookup, same evacuation system.”
An A-dec simulator is pictured at Rochester Community and Technical College’s new Dental Simulation Lab on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at RCTC’s Heintz Center in Rochester.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
The students’ stations also have their own computers equipped with software to model the charting and documentation work they’ll do when working with actual patients.
At the center of the room, an instructor’s desk has its own dental model. A camera mounted above the model captures video that can be displayed across screens in the room, letting students see the demonstration without having to huddle around the model. Another wall-mounted camera shows the action from wider angle, allowing students to see, for example, the teacher’s ergonomic posture while working on the teeth.
“Before, they couldn’t just go in and practice in the clinic setting,” Jason Jadin, RCTC’s dean of sciences and health professions. “This is going to be all practice, aside from when classes are in here.”
On Wednesday morning, RCTC held a ribbon cutting for the new space; U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, a Republican who represents Minnesota’s First District, spoke at the event, which was also attended by Rochester Mayor Kim Norton and state Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester.
After that, students used the simulation lab for the very first time.
“They jumped right in,” Jadin said.
For RCTC, the simulation lab brings the school closer to its goal of graduating more dental professionals. Right now, RCTC graduates 24 dental assistants and 16 dental hygienists. The goal, program leaders said, is to bring those classes to 30 and 20, respectively.
“There’s such a shortage” of dental staff, Fritz said, “all over, but especially this area.”
Funding for the simulation lab, in part, came from the Delta Dental Foundation, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and Mayo Clinic.
Rochester Community and Technical College’s new Dental Simulation Lab is pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at RCTC’s Heintz Center in Rochester.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
A-dec simulation stations, equipped with latest dental technology, are pictured at Rochester Community and Technical College’s new Dental Simulation Lab on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at RCTC’s Heintz Center in Rochester. The lab is equipped with 24 simulation stations.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
