The Medical University of South Carolina will dedicate its dental school to Dr. James B. Edwards, an oral surgeon, former South Carolina governor, former energy secretary for Ronald Reagan and former MUSC president, at a ceremony today.

The event also will mark the opening of the school's dental clinics building. The building has 190 dental surgical spaces and clinical space for 11 departments including general dentistry, pediatric dentistry and oral surgery.

Jack Sanders, dean of the James B. Edwards School of Dental Medicine, said the dental clinic programs began moving into the building in September and are settled in.

The school will continue to use its space in the Basic Science Building for classrooms, faculty offices, simulation laboratories and research, he said.

The new building will allow the university to train more dentists and expand training programs in dental specialties, Sanders said.

The new building cost about $51 million, Sanders said. The money came from state grants, bonds and short-term loans, he said. Equipment for the new building cost $10 million, which came from alumni donations and a loan from the university's foundation, he said.

With the new building, the school has the capacity for the latest dental technologies, he said.

"Different schools have a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but now we have it all," Sanders said.

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