Each week, our Dear Penny column investigates the answers to reader questions about saving money in Brooklyn. This week’s entry is written by Brokelyn associate editor Jonathan Berk.
This is a question I’ve asked myself every Wednesday morning for the last five weeks as I’ve ridden the Q train into Union Square to see a pick-happy third-year dental student at the NYU College of Dentistry. Dental insurance is one luxury I haven’t had in some time, like so many former students, former employees and, well, people these days.
I had just moved back to Brooklyn after a few years in Boston, where I had dutifully forked out $100 or so every few months to minimally maintain my not-so-pearly whites. Now I was back in New York and overdue for a cleaning. I also had a sinking suspicion I might be in for some more. My Boston hygienist said a dental school was a good, cheap and still respectable way to get dental care, and that NYU was the place to go in New York. So there I went.
In terms of treatment, I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted a cleaning, X-rays and an exam to determine if I would need a mouth guard to prevent grinding (a possibility my hygienist alluded to in a previous visit). What I also didn’t know, and what I now so wish I had, was that student dental care would take over my life.
For the aforementioned work (yes, I needed the mouth guard and, it turned out, three fillings as well), I’ve now spent upward of 11 hours at the NYU College of Dentistry over five weeks. And after next week’s final visit, 11 will become 13 (each visit is scheduled for two hours, but that doesn’t count delays, of which there have been a few.) And I’m not including travel time here, which was an hour, door to door. Sure there’s travel time to any dentist, but I was foregoing any local options which would have been, at most, a 15 or 20-minute trip. So counting the extra travel, treatment and waiting, let’s call it 24 hours—one full day of dentistry!
Another big question mark with student dentistry is the quality of the care, and I don’t know how well it can be evaluated until something (a filling) does or doesn’t fall out sometime down the road. But let’s go by my experience in the chair. First off, no dental work is pleasant—that’s a given. But there is a range of skill. A friend once described her dentist as having butterfly hands. By that standard, mine has rhinoceros feet. Case in point: My week-four visit was the day the fillings started. After about 20 minutes or so of painful drilling on a lower molar, my student called over a faculty member to check the progress—to see whether the tooth was ready to be filled. Not quite, so a few more minutes of drilling, then another supervisor came over to check again. This one looked at the tooth, turned to my student, and informed him that he would have received an automatic failure on the drilling section of the dental exam (!)
I’m saving the most important question for last–the cost. The total cost will be around $600, for a complete series of X-rays ($95), cleaning ($60), three cavity fillings ($80, $80, $95) and one mouth guard ($200).
How does that compare to a full-fledged dentist? Well, I’ve now (after the fact) checked out two privately-practicing dentists for some perspective. Neither one could give me exact prices without an exam, but Dr. Flatbush Ave. is an in-home practice on a commercial strip in my neighborhood. He charges $35 for the exam, $75 for a cleaning, $100 for the full-mouth X-ray, $65-$120 for each filling, depending on the type (I would have had two around $65, one around $120) and $250 for the mouth guard. So, about $600-$700 here—pretty comparable to my student care. Dr. Madison Ave. is another story: $50 for the exam, $130 for a cleaning, $200 for X-rays, $175-$250 for each filling and $450 for the mouth guard. All told: around $1,400—more than twice my expense.
So is it worth it? If you have a lot of time to spare for your dental hygiene, you have the pain threshold of a rock and if saving a couple, or a few, hundred dollars counts above all else. Otherwise, go out and find that Dr. Butterfly Hands.
Send your stumpers to DearPenny@Brokelyn.com.
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Dear Penny,
You are a glutton! What’s tattoo school like?
I went to NYU Dental clinic last year for the series of visits. It is a great deal, but it DID take a lot of time and patience to make multiple appointments, and yes the dental students are still learning how to be gentle. All in all it was a painful experience and to top it off I went to an actual dental office last week for a check up and had many cavities. The dentist said I had these for quite awhile, and that they would have been easier to take care of if they were fixed earlier. Essentially my “student dentist” overlooked these cavities, thus costing me more in the long run.
Wow, that’s rough, to have had the cavities missed. I hope I haven’t met the same fate.
I can’t disagree more. I went to NYU for a busted toof & they fixed me up right. Yes, it does take a little longer, but the exam was quite comprehensive & everything was double confirmed by fully-grown dentists. It’s gotta be a crapshoot since there are so many baby dentists there, but a lot of people have had great experiences there.
I got an oral surgery done at NYU Dental and it saved me, literally, thousands of dollars. Its worth the extra time.
Here in LA (I know, not relevant) dueling dental schools at UCLA and USC are excellent. $65 for the exam including x-rays, and I got a crown done for $300–a far cry from the $750 my “family dentist” charges.
So if you want to have a long vacation and get your teeth done, LA’s the place.
I used NYU Dental about 10 years ago to get braces. At the time, it was about a 1/3 of the cost of using a DDS’s service. I highly recommend NYU’s Dental school!
I realize NYU offers a necessary service at a good price — I’m sure that in the end of my treatment (soon), everything will be fine. But I did want to present some of the potential downsides of the experience. after all, they’ve been real for me, not potential.
you can get a cleaning & xrays for under $200 at a lot of manhattan dentistries… personally i went ahead and signed up for freelancers insurance, then went to a proper, butterfly-handed dentist… and then again, and again, and again. 2 crowns, a root canal, at least 3 cavities and counting, a cleaning, some xrays along the way, and a tooth whitening procedure. not gonna trust a student with all that!
(much cheaper with insurance, but i had to beg my ‘rents to pay for it anyway)
if something sounds to good to be true….
you might find yourself on the other end of a failing dental student!
there are also numerous nonprofit community health care centers throughout NYC….I’ve been to one in the Bronx(Morris Heights Health Center) and it’s great for general cleaning and fillings….I paid $50 for a full set of xrays, exam, and cleaning…and they charge $25-40 per fillings….all done by licensed dentists…most patients there have Medicaid but they are glad to accept patients without health insurance….the prices are just as much as most people pay for copays and my experience was better than other private practice dentists
Please be aware that “amalgam” fillings (aka silver) are made with a lot of mercury and shouldn’t be used by ANYONE. If you have silver fillings, consider having them replaced.
i need much work done,i think it will be worth the drive 2 hrs to buffalo dental school,anyony been their?
Why spend so much money for dental work – even at a school – when for less than half, you can get a nice vacation AND full dental work if you have it done in Thailand, Mexico, etc. The costs of airfare and a decent 2-star hotel for a week, plus the cost of your root canal, crowns, braces, whatever are far less. Medical tourism is booming and there are great practitioners overseas. Just do your research first!
NO WAY…DONT U DARE ITS A GOOD THING YOU HAVE A PRETTY FACE- THE HAIRCUT YOU CAN MAKE DUE FOR, PEOPLE LOOK AT YOUR EYES WHICH ARE BEAUTIFUL, NOW THINK IF THEY LOOKED DOWN AT A BOTCHED UP SET OF TEETH- oH MY….DONT DO IT
I loved your cost comparison. Also, you mention you need to count in the time it takes to get to the school and the delays. There is the third option I found on http://dentalcool.blogspot.com which is a dental plan that you can purchase on an individual basis. Get the price of dental school and the convenience of local licensed dentists.
Wait you paid $200 for a mouth gard? I have the same problem, and I get mine online for $30. No more painful jaw!
http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Right-Comfort-Dental-Guard/dp/B000MWF3CG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1259848805&sr=1-2-spell
Thanks for the NYU dental tips, I have been pondering it, without dental insurance.