Hey, My girlfriend doesn't have dental insurance and needs a lot of work done. A couple porcelin crowns, a couple fillings, and a normal teeth cleaning. She found some place in a "Hispanic" part of town that will do crowns for over 300$ cheaper than my dentist does. So going there will save probably 1000$. Should she be concerned about this dentist's quality or are all dentists about the same and some are just trying to scam people?
Quality in a dentist and their products should definitely be a concern. Saving $300 now may cost you much more than that in the future. All dentists and their products are definitely not equal.
You might be better off finding a new girlfriend with good teeth and dental insurance...you may not like the results.
I have done this. It is a process, but one of the best things I have ever done. You just pay a little at a time, so you dont have to drop a lot of money at once. Patience is a virtue though. I ended up not only getting a great dentist, but also a good friend out of the deal.
Its tough to say, there are very good dentists out there that dont charge as much...and basically make money more off of volume than anything else. There are also dentists that use "cheaper" labs...thereby allowing them to lower their own fees. Cheaper labs may or may not do a good job. It could vary case by case. If you want to try out a dental school, a lot more appointments will be involved and each appointment will run you longer than normal. However, even though it is a student working on the patient, there are usually enough "check points" where faculty make sure the process is going as smoothly as possible. That is a cheap option that could yield great results.
what are the costs she is being quoted? My dentist is cheaper than normal but not dirt cheap and she does great work
I've used a bad dentist in the past ...and I paid dearly for it. I had constant discomfort as things were always just a little off. I later went to a different dentist where he replaced a couple crowns the other guy screwed up. Now I am pain free. So in my case, bad dentist = pain and I had to eventually get the work redone anyway. So no cost savings. ...but that is just me.
ooooo great thread. I myself am actually in pain right cause i guess i have a tooth ache or something. I also have no insurance and need a good/cheap dentist PRONTO!! I've been to the UT school back when i was in high school. they did an excellent job and it's very affordable, but like everyone else said, its a long process. You have to go to a bunch of appts before they actually start doing the work on ya. My boss is not nice to me so he won't allow me to go to so many dentist appointments. Hopefully I find a good but affordable dentist.
Thats only during the time of licensing exams for 4th year students...and only if you have specifically what they are looking for. Crowns wont count.
If the Dentist has the proper credentials, then what's the problem? You find a dentist who will do all the required dental work for a cheaper price but you think its a scam because the dentist is in a "hispanic" part of town? Racist much?