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| - This place is amazing for anyone who needs any kind of substantial work done on their teeth. Me, I knew I had bad teeth, but a variety of traumatizing dental experiences growing up kept me from visiting a dentist (except once, for an emergency root canal on a tooth with unbearable pain) in over a decade. I was afraid to go in, I thought they'd tell me all my teeth were bad and I needed a mouth full of dentures or something similarly scary, but I put on my big girl pants, did some research, picked the MWU dental clinic, and made an appointment.
(Now, my partner had tried to become a patient at another dental school in Tempe a few years ago, and their bumbling incompetence led him to noping out of there and made me wary of dental clinics. But I had experience with the MWU veterinary clinic through my work (animal care) and I found those teachers and students to be intelligent and hard working, so I thought maybe the experience would translate to the dental clinic. And I was completely right.)
As they say on the website, it takes a couple visits before you really get a plan for your mouth. They do initial exams, and x rays, and I assume it all takes so long because the students have to write up plans and get them approved. Everything moves at a slow pace - which they warn about at every possible step. But hey, I don't mind. It means the students are thinking carefully about their plan of attack, and that there is back end oversight as well. When they gave me the list of stuff that needed fixing in my mouth, I was beyond relieved. Don't get me wrong - it was quite a list. A decade of pretending dentistry wasn't a thing had its downsides. But the list wasn't insurmountable, and over the past year and a half I've gotten several cavities filled, a full mouth debridement, a root canal and a crown, two extractions of broken teeth, bone grafts on the extraction sites with the intent of implants down the line, and now I sit here with the crowning (heh) achievement of 1.5 years painstaking efforts, a sore mouth from two implants being placed in my jaw and maxilla two days ago. They're healing now, and in several months, I'll be getting the fake teeth installed and my mouth will more or less be at "done" status and I'll just have to worry about regular upkeep on my mouth. Kind of crazy to think that two years ago I was having pain and worry from my messed up teeth, and now I have a healthy mouth.
Through it all, I have had no complaints on the work done. Yes, it is a learning environment. Sometimes the students hit a roadblock, but they just fetch their teacher (an established dentist who has years of practicing experience) who guides them over it. You have to be comfortable with being someone's first procedure ever. I had two implants and two students, and each took one. The 3rd year student had never done an implant before (on an actual person, I would assume) but the instructor was there every step of the way, guiding him, providing oversight, and ensuring my implant went well. Everyone is amazingly kind and comforting, both the students and teachers. It is clear everyone there is enjoying learning and putting real effort into it. Any fears, questions, or concerns I had were addressed with patience and compassion.
The upshot to being the guinea pig for students is cost. And the savings here is significant. Over the past 1.5 years, I've had what would probably be $6,000-$8,000 worth of work for a fraction of that cost. Combined with a CareCredit card (I really recommend getting one of those!) has made paying for all this super easy. Also - and this isn't a guarantee, but a potential nice side bonus - if you're a patient long enough you may see some other perks. One of my fillings was free because it was the perfect kind of filling a student needed for an exam. I've gotten some other free work because I qualified for studies the school was running. That stuff is a side effect of luck and circumstance but you never know. MWU is a growing school and from what I can tell, one of the more coveted schools in the country, so if you are looking for discount dental work I couldn't recommend this dental school any more.
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