University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine — Local services in Aurora

I had no problems here. I don't understand why people found it hard to find. I looked up directions to the campus, and then followed the (clearly marked) signs to the dental building.

Yes, parking is paid. It's also super cheap. The parking being paid seems to only be to prevent people from just storing their vehicles in the lots for days at a time, because parking space is a little limited. I had no problem finding a place to park, though.

I went in for an emergency dental exam. I ended up having an exam in the morning, and being scheduled for oral surgery in the afternoon. The exam was very thorough. The dental student who was working with me lacked some confidence in his knowledge, but that's kinda the whole point of the clinic, isn't it? To give these students practice so they can be confident in their abilities. I was impressed with the care I received, and the compassion given to me. I also found that the students were more than happy to answer every question I had, which helped put me at ease.

There was a small complication with my surgery, but not due to any mistake on the part of the surgery student. I go into shock quite easily, and unfortunately, went into shock during my operation. Immediately, the supervising doctor was there and took control of the situation. Once my vitals were more stable, the surgery was completed. I was told that I would have some bruising, and some swelling, and that I should take ibuprofen or naproxen.

It's been about 36 hours, and I have yet to take any pain medication. I'm healing wonderfully. About an hour after the Novocaine wore off, I felt a thousand times better than when I walked into that clinic. I received excellent advice for post-surgery care, and have had zero problems or regrets. In fact, I want to go back and have some other work done in the future. Given that I had not gone to a dentist in probably 10 years due to a pretty nasty phobia, I'd say that's amazing. I received better care here by students than I have received from dentists that have been in practice for years, or decades.

On top of that, the prices were very affordable. I was worried that I'd have to borrow money to pay rent, but ended up walking out of there having paid less than $200 for an exam, a regular x-ray, a panoramic x-ray, and an oral surgery. Obviously, you might end up paying more or less, depending on what you have done.

I would recommend the CU Dental...

Beyond irritated and pissed. Wasted 5 hours in a waiting room after treatment to be told that they cannot extract my tooth that cause me to be in the ER lastnight with excruciating pain. I was referred by my doctors office personally to go to this clinic so that they can help me only to be told they can not pull my tooth without a "written" consent. Mind you my doctor's office is the one gave me all the information to go to this clinic as soon as possible. So today was treatment day which is exhausting and draining. I get treatment nd they push it along to make sure i make it to this Dentle Clinic. Waited damn near 5 hours for the dentist office to tell me you can't extract my tooth that caused me severe pain after I get my red blood cell exchange because you need a written consent from the doctor who recommended me to go over there in the 1st place talking about they are concerned about my blood levels when I literally just came from having treatment which would be the best time to actually do so. Then they want to act as though they was concerned about my health and blood levels! I know my illness and blood levels and the best time for any extraction or surgery or whatever is right after a successful exchange! So now as soon as this medication wears off it's gonna cause me pain i have to deal with it! I am a single mother with 2 kids, a full time job enough health issues and you want me to come back over a written consent! So I Spent $30 for my kids to go to an after school program on my day off thinking I was getting my tooth pulled and 5 hours in a waiting room only to be told they can't do it and you think I'm about to take off a full shift of work for you to pull a tooth over a piece of paper! I could have spent that 5 hours with my children could have picked him up on time from school because its the only day I have to do that I could have saved my $30! Not happy at all! How dare you want to wait until the pain is back or my levels are lower all because you need a piece of paper! Im the patient! I been had this my entire life! How dare you question whats best for me, especially when i...

I've had both excellent care at the dental school and also poor care. Just like at any other institution you'll find people who delight in excelling in what they do and those who are indifferent to the quality of care they provide. You'll find people who are enjoying good days and people who are not. Remember too, the dental school is just that -- a school. Half of the students are above average and the other half are below average -- a no brainer.

As for the faculty, some of them are at the top of their game and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone better at what some of them are able to do. Also, because people are people, you'll run into faculty who are there because of the ego trip. They are there because they may be smart and were able to impress the right people at the right time to be admitted onto faculty but are terrible at teaching and/or treating. Also, the practice of dentistry is a little behind the practice of medicine. Medical schools have had to deal with the issue of patient "bedside" manner much sooner and better than dental schools. If some of the dental school faculty run into a particularly difficult set of dental issues, it can be easy to blow the patient off, blame the patient or use any other commonly-used diversion tactic. It is difficult for a person bound up with ego issues to admit they simply don't know a solution or to admit fault if they goofed.

Overall, I prefer the care I've obtained at the dental school to private practice because there tends to be better accountability in a school/teaching situation. If someone seriously goofs, there's usually someone around who can step in and competently take over. It's harder to hide bad care or treatment with lots of competent students and faculty around. Eventually the bad cookies get taken out. Sadly, in the meantime, some patients will have bad experiences. But bad experiences can sometimes happen even with the best dental...