Dental treatment at US dental schools?

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Q. What are dentists' opinions on getting extensive dental treatment done at dental schools in the US (for financial reasons)? I'd also be interested in hearing about patients' experiences.

A. Around here the dental schools are expensive. That said, it depends on what work is needed. I am sure a root canal or a crown might represent some savings, but do not go there with the intent of getting a complicated treatment done. It will take them five years to do. Remember, you are the teaching GUINEA PIG first and foremost. Delievering dental care is not their goal. They won't even hear about why the tooth is taking ten hours to drill. I'd add that I have heard a few horror stories lately, where lack of concern for the interests of the patient were taken to an alarming extreme. As Joel noted, the prime focus of a dental school is to educate dentists. Somehow, when I was a student, the goal of education was achieved while still maintaining high patient care standards. People were not cast adrift with incomplete or inadequate care. A patient of mine brought in a friend who had been treated at an area school for almost two years. This unfortunate woman had her upper teeth removed, but the immediate denture they made for her didn't fit, so they sent her home. She spent the next year plus chasing down students and instructors trying to get some teeth. This woman had no teeth!! I called the school and also wrote a letter to the dean expressing my outrage. I subsequently learned such stories are not unique. It frightens me to think that instead of training dentists to have high moral and ethical standards, they are teaching them, or at least allowing them, to use patients and treat them like crap. I cannot help but wonder how this will impact the future of our profession. I'm not a dentist. I've never had work done at a dental college. I have often gotten my hair cut at cosmetology colleges. If they don't have any clients waiting, they cut your hair three times until it is the length you asked for in the first place. It takes forever, but they usually do a better job than a regular salon. The instructor is always good and she checks and fixes the student's work. I never got a bad cut at a college, but I got several bad ones at regular salons.

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