Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, officially unveiled a commemorative plaque at an official ceremony on Thursday 19 November to open the new Birmingham Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry at Pebble Mill, Edgbaston.

Her Majesty met clinicians, researchers and students during a guided tour of the state-of-the-art facilities.

The hospital, managed by Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, will be the new home of specialist dental treatment for West Midlands' patients and also houses the University of Birmingham's School of Dentistry, strengthening a partnership delivering dental health and education in the city since 1880.

The four-storey building will provide a range of high quality clinical dental services for the public in one wing, while a second wing will offer world-class research facilities and a modern learning environment for more than 600 undergraduate and postgraduate students and trainees each academic year.

With a total cost of £50m, the development is a key element of the new Edgbaston Medical Quarter and further enhances the city's reputation as a hub of medicine, learning and life sciences.

University staff and students will enjoy the benefits of being located much closer to the main Edgbaston campus and medical school, allowing for closer integration of facilities.

The development represents the first integrated, stand-alone dental hospital and dental school to be built in the UK for almost 40 years. The development replaces the 50-year-old dental hospital at St Chad's Circus.

Tracy Taylor, chief executive of Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust said: 'The first class public facilities at the new Birmingham Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry symbolise everything we want to achieve as a provider of high quality healthcare services.

'We are committed to working with partners to provide first class care and treatment for all the communities we serve in modern, accessible locations with high quality facilities.

'This is a real success story that shows how partners from different sectors can together deliver value-for-money infrastructure projects that meet the needs and expectations of public and practitioners.'

Professor Philip Lumley, head of the School of Dentistry at the University of Birmingham, said: 'This new building will be a state-of-the-art home for our world-class teaching and research.

'Not only will the people of the city and region be able to access first-class treatment within this building, but we will be training the dental team of the future right here as well.

'This educational offering combined with the ground-breaking research which is carried out by our staff will allow us to develop further innovations to underpin the oral and dental health of the region and beyond.'