Anyone had dental work done by students?

[Dentam]

So, I saw a story on the news about people getting dental work done at dental schools where the students gain experience and are closely monitored by their mentors/teachers. Apparently you can pay half the amount of going to a regular dentist.

Has anyone here done this and if so what were your experiences? Does insurance cover this the same as if you went to a regular dentist?

I need to get a crown on one tooth and also would really like to get braces or invisalign to straighten my top teeth which have been moving quite a bit now that I'm in my 30's.

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Mkid451]

We have a dental school at my school. The prices are cheaper than a regular dentist, but I don't think they are 50% off. The clinic here accepts insurance, but I don't know if all schools do. The clinic is really nice and offers all of the services of a regular dentist (but no orthodontics, so be sure to check that out if you want braces.) The students run their own clinic, with professors making rounds and consulting with them during the appointment (the professor is localized into a block of students, they do not stay with the student the entire time.) Because they have to double check things with their professors, they warn you that a visit for even an exam and a cleaning can take 3 hours or more, so you balance the lower price with the increased time. Also, while our clinic is state of the art in terms of equipment, it is very open, so if you want privacy during your procedure a dental school may not be the best choice. The private rooms here are typically only used for oral surgery. In addition, you are their study material, so they may ask you to come in more frequently, and may require more visits than a normal dentist. You may also have many students and faculty stop by to take a look, especially around midterm time when they are looking for sample patients and case studies for their exams!

 

[Dentam]

We have a dental school at my school. The prices are cheaper than a regular dentist, but I don't think they are 50% off. The clinic here accepts insurance, but I don't know if all schools do. The clinic is really nice and offers all of the services of a regular dentist (but no orthodontics, so be sure to check that out if you want braces.) The students run their own clinic, with professors making rounds and consulting with them during the appointment (the professor is localized into a block of students, they do not stay with the student the entire time.) Because they have to double check things with their professors, they warn you that a visit for even an exam and a cleaning can take 3 hours or more, so you balance the lower price with the increased time. Also, while our clinic is state of the art in terms of equipment, it is very open, so if you want privacy during your procedure a dental school may not be the best choice. The private rooms here are typically only used for oral surgery. In addition, you are their study material, so they may ask you to come in more frequently, and may require more visits than a normal dentist. You may also have many students and faculty stop by to take a look, especially around midterm time when they are looking for sample patients and case studies for their exams!

Thanks for all the info! I am pretty wary of the idea but thought it would be worth checking into. I don't really like the idea of someone "practicing" on me or of needing to go in more often for longer appointments. I'll probably just find a regular dentist since I'm a chicken.

 

[PatsGirl]

Absolutely. When my children were younger I always took them to the dental clinic at a nearby technical high school for their cleanings and flouride. There was one or two cavities but not many. I eventually got insurance but this was a real dollar-saver for me. My father spent over a year at Tufts Dental School Clinic having ALL his teeth replaced with implants about 20 years ago when they were a new option. It involved a four hour RT trip weekly but it was less than half the price of local dentists. I also used the salon, autotech, and landscape services there.

 

[DisneyHardin]

My sister had her wisdom teeth out at the Dental School here. It was about half the cost of a private practice oral surgeon and she had no problems.

 

[DisMommyTX]

When I was in college I used a dental school and never had any problems at all. They were very thorough and about half the cost (without insurance), but appointments did take about twice as long.

 

[wilkeliza]

I used a dental school and would not suggest it to anyone. I ended up getting charged 3 times what it would have cost to go to a regular dentist because I would go in for a post and bond procedure which the student couldn't finish in the 2 hour time frame he had. Then I'd come back 2 weeks later for him to work on it some more and they would charge me the whole price all over again. I would drop 500 each trip to get almost no work done. After a year and a half I ended up saying no thanks and just left with all the minimally done work covered. I also had 2 teeth pulled as emergencies while I was there and there is nothing worse than the teacher coming over and going well you f'd that one up. Who wants to hear that when you have someone working on your mouth?! I ended up finding a dentist who would work with me and set up a payment plan and got all my work done in a third of the time as the school.

 

[starry_solo]

I've been seeing dental school students for many years and also got my braces done through the school as well (at half the cost of a regular dentist). When I had braces, the school took payments, divided up over two years (which was good for my parents)

One thing to consider is to see if they have an international school of dentistry connected with the school. If they do, those students are dentists in their home country, but have to take two years of dentistry school in the state (at least in CA) in order to qualify to take the boards.

 

[seasheller]

We tried this in Minneapolis a few years ago because we thought it would save money. The appointments always took three hours (waiting for the instructor to check everything, etc.) My last appointment there my student was almost ready to graduate. Had to remind her to rinse my mouth after she cleaned my teeth. She drilled on a tooth for so long that it cracked the tooth and I ended up having a root canal. it was a long drive to get there and the parking ended up to be $10 because of the length of the visits. Then my cousin happened to ask what we were paying for our procedures. Turns out her husband, who had an established dental practice, charged the same amount. Needless to say, he is now our dentist - and we love him.

 

[squirrel]

I have had cleanings done and x-rays. Our college didn't do anything else. It was considerably cheaper even with the parking fees. It does however take a lot longer for the students to do the cleaning. Usually 3 appointments (2hrs each) -the first they don't even start doing any cleaning. If you have to take time off of work, then it wouldn't be any cheaper. They did however have night appointments which made it so I could go after work.

 

[3boymthr]

Yes. Not on myself though. My grandmother used to go to Tufts Dental School all the time because they saved her money. When youngest DS' upper baby teeth hadn't fallen out by the time he was 9 the dentist did an xray. Said there was something wrong with his teeth but he didn't know what so xrays in hand we trundled off to see the three specialists recommended by DS' dentist. They each of them had a COMPLETELY different idea of what was wrong. Finally on my dad's recommendation I booked an appointment at Tufts Dental school. The students looked at him first - realized they had NO clue and called in the professors. Who got extremely excited and decided to turn him into a real teaching experience for all the advanced students. They brought in all kinds of different students to view my son's mouth and x-rays and then they ordered a CT scan of his head and sent us downstairs. Went back upstairs to have it reviewed, they brought in more students and more professors. Got more excited and then booked the surgery. The surgery itself was done by the professor with LOTS of students witnessing. DH was NOT impressed by their bedside manner. Sent DS out to us with blood all over his face. They did a good job with the surgery itself and DS recovered very quickly with no problems. On the price side I think it was a little bit cheaper but not much. It's hard to say because no one else had actually figured out what was wrong and what they were proposing we do was completely not right for what was wrong. The surgery they ended up doing was complicated and they had to put him under general anesthesia so I was glad I was where I was because literally right across the street was St. Elizabeth's Hospital.

 

[xlxo]

Hmm.... what's scarier than a dentist drill. A drill in the hands of a student! What happens if they use too little or too much anaesthesia?

Remember to brush and floss after each meal!

 

[Dentam]

Thanks everyone for sharing all of your experiences with this. It kind of reminds me of when I was in high school and my older cousin was in school to be a hair stylist. She cut my hair for free but oh boy was it bad... at least hair grows back and no permanent damage was done!

I don't think I'll be brave enough to have dental students practice on me but the cost of dental work is so crazy high that it is tempting to be able to save money.

 

[DOOM1001]

My mom had work done in a dental school and was fairly pleased with it.The negatives are that its not just like you need to have something done and you go in and do it,I believe they do that but it's more expensive.The way it was run was they did an exam and cleaning for $40 and they then decided if they accepted you as a patient.You then we're assigned a student who would then need to see you regularly,like at least once a week and go through all the steps side by side with a dentist for all the work that needs to be done on you.So you're basically signing up to be the subject for that student where the student will have to do reports and presentations on you,depending on how much work you have to do that could be months of visiting the dental school.

 

[redsonja76]

My husband had much of his dental work done by students at U of Washington back in the late 90's. Back then they paid you! My husband receives compliments on his fillings every single time he goes to the dentist because they did such amazing work.

 

[Gigi22]

This is not recent, but my DH had his dental work done free by the dental school in the university where his father was a professor. DH has a genetic dental condition that had to be remedied by surgery. The dentist who worked on him took pictures of the procedure that later appeared in a dental journal.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I used the dental school at the medical center where I am a nurse. I had to have all of my childhood fillings replaced. I had no copy's after insurance which was a great deal - but I paid with time! 3 hours per filling I would say. I found it interesting listening to them discuss what they were doing, etc. I really liked the last year student who did all my work. I was in a cubical in a maze of cubicals so you have to be ok hearing drills all over the place. I also had a night guard made for 1/2 of cost (my insurance doesn't cover that at all). I didn't mind because I had time but now it would be very inconvenient.

 

[HM]

There is a cost. It's usually less expensive than going to a private dentist.
Generally the dental school near us doesn't take new patients unless they have 'problem teeth' or you've got something going on in your mouth that they want to teach around.
The time spent in the office is a lot longer than going to a private dentist, so be prepared for a longer appointment. (My mother goes to ours and a coworker used to go to).

 

[andiraye]

I did this while I was in graduate school. Nothing serious, just a cleaning. I do remember hearing that the trick is to go at the end of the school year when the students have had some training, rather than at the beginning of the school year when they are all just learning. Not sure how true that advice is, but I followed it!