HSDM to Transfer Cambridge Dental Practice to Private Owner, End Faculty Practice

The Harvard School of Dental Medicine will transfer its Cambridge dental practice to a private owner in September and stop operating its decades-old faculty practice due to financial constraints, according to a Thursday email sent to HSDM affiliates obtained by The Crimson.

HSDM Dean William V. Giannobile and Dean of Administration and Chief Operating Officer Thomas C. Miller wrote that the school had reached a provisional agreement with a private dental practice to reopen in Cambridge under new ownership, months after HSDM permanently closed its Harvard Dental Center location there.

The agreement could allow HSDM faculty providers to continue their practice in Cambridge, but only if they and the new owners agree, according to the email. Staff affected by the transition will also have the opportunity to apply for openings at the new practice.

The email did not name the private practice or indicate how many people would be impacted. An HSDM spokesperson declined to comment.

“We know this is a significant new direction for our School which has operated a Faculty Group Practice continuously for over five decades,” Miller and Giannobile wrote.

The Dental School permanently closed its Cambridge clinic — located at 114 Mt. Auburn St. — in October 2025, citing financial strain after an April 2025 fire caused water and smoke damage to the facility and dental equipment.

Since the closure, the Faculty Group Practice, which had been housed in the Cambridge location, has operated out of HSDM’s Longwood clinic. Thirteen faculty dentists and nine clinic staff members are currently part of the practice, according to a staff directory on HSDM’s website.

But after the transition this summer, HSDM will no longer operate the Faculty Group Practice as part of the Harvard Dental Center, Giannobile and Miller wrote. Instead, they wrote, the school will “refocus on our core teaching mission” and devote its clinical space to its Teaching Practice, clinical research, and student training.

The Teaching Practice, housed in the Longwood location, allows dental students and residents to provide care under faculty supervision at lower costs.

Giannobile and Miller wrote that the costs of operating the faculty practice had become “unsustainable” for HSDM and acknowledged that the school “will no longer require the same level of clinical staffing support.”

The message comes months after HSDM announced that it would lay off staff at the Harvard Dental Center following the Cambridge clinic’s closure. At the time, Giannobile wrote that the Longwood location could not support the same staffing levels as both practices.

“We have strived to find a path that would be financially viable for our school, while preserving essential patient care in the Cambridge community provided by our faculty clinicians, and ensuring the educational needs of our students are put at the forefront,” Giannobile and Miller wrote.

The move also comes as Harvard schools face mounting financial pressure. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard’s largest school, is running an estimated $365 million budget deficit. In March, FAS cut non-tenure-track faculty budgets by a quarter and is planning a restructuring following administrative layoffs.

In Thursday’s email, Giannobile and Miller wrote that the transition was intended to preserve patient care in Cambridge while allowing HSDM to prioritize its teaching mission.

“We believe this new path will help ensure that HSDM remains well-positioned to continue to deliver exceptional education, research, and patient care,” they wrote.

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.

—Staff writer Alexa M. Schmitt can be reached at [email protected] or Signal at alexaschmitt.15. Follow her on X ​​@alexa_m15_s.