UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry — Local services in Houston

Updated Review:

I have the most amazing dentist at the University of Texas School of Dentistry. Dr. Tyler Vogel is the best, ever!

I had a re-root canal done on Friday. This would be the third root canal on this tooth by the third dentist. Dr. Vogel had to do some serious digging and scraping to get the wires and infection out, but I felt zero pain. In the process, he said we have some not so good news, a trifecta as he called it. 1). the root had a lot more infection than originally thought, 2). he found a canal that was not previously done and 3). there was a perforation in the tooth from the previous dentist. He thought we should still try to save the tooth verses pulling it, especially with it being a part of a bridge. He spent a lot longer than normal, but I could see his passion, determination, care, and concern as he worked. He gave me a warning that I may need motrin.

That night, I was in some pain, but kinda expected it. I started on Tylenol. Saturday, the pain was a bit more intense, so I continued taking Tylenol. By Sunday afternoon, the pain was just unbearable. I texted Dr. Vogel details on my pain. I was not expecting a response with it being Sunday, but within minutes, he texted me back! He said it is rare, but it sounds like a flare-up, he is calling in a couple of prescriptions, and he wants to see me tomorrow for a follow-up. What? Just like that? That easy? Yep. And he was at his families having Easter dinner. He didn't have to respond so quickly. He could have waited until tonight, but that's just not his character. Dr. Vogel is amazing. His specialty at the school is root canals. If you think you may need a root canal, I can not say enough good about him, his professionalism, and above all care and concern is amazing. I just appreciate that young man. He graduates in August. It saddens me to lose him, but I see a bright future for him. What a blessing to have crossed his path in my time of need! Thank you, Dr. Vogel! You rock!

And as for Tessa? She took care of all my general dentistry needs in a very caring and professional way, too. Sadly for me, she turned my file over to another trusted student, as she will graduate in May. She, too, is very caring, compassionate, and thorough. I miss her already and hope the next student is as good as she is/was. I know she will do great in her future career path, too. Thank you, Tessa! I'll miss you!

Original Review: I had a painful tooth. They got me in the following day, Monday. The student examined me, and they determined I had 2 nerves linked to one tooth. They escalated my case to a graduate student. It was twice the cost, but I was in pain and still far less than a dentist I went to. So happens they had a cancellation for the next day. I took the appointment. I was assigned to Tyler Vogel. He determined that I did not have 2 nerves on the tooth. It was a shadow. I grumbled that I could have saved a couple hundred dollars if they had looked closer. Not in a negative way, Tyler immediately said he could have the other department take my case back. I made a quick decision to stay with Dr. Vogel. He was already a dentist and there advancing his credentials. Why change when you have someone who's a dentist by trade? Now I can say he was well worth the extra money. I am very glad I made that decision, too. Dr. Vogel is the BEST student for root canal! I have had 5 root canals and a redo on a root canal, so I know how they can be. I had zero pain, he was very warm and professional, kept conversation going to keep me at ease, very attentive to my needs, and he obviously loves what he does. If you can ask for and get him, you will be in GREAT hands. I can only hope I can request him if I need more root canals. I'm starting a plan tomorrow with Tessa. I pray she is as good as Dr. Vogel. I may be updating this review as I go along. Oh. I had no issues with the receptionist, but I didn't really interact...

I assumed a dental school would allow me to have dental work completed correctly since I am no longer working to visit a specialist. Instead I ended up with out of pocket cost with no work done & a headache after speaking to various individuals that don’t know what’s going on within their own establishment.

Early February I make an appointment to be seen at the next availability which was 3/24 (2 months) 3/24 pay $90 for x-rays and $10 for parking 3/24 I spend about 2 hours completing x-rays. Once x-rays were completed I was told someone would reach out to me in another 2 months to schedule an appointment to be seen. About a month later the doctor tells me I don’t have a cavity I have an infection in a poorly done crown. He will need to refer me to Endo dept whom would call to schedule me an appointment A month later I receive an Endo appointment. -April 29th I go in to be seen by Endo who told me I needed to pay $120 for a C-scan to ensure they were seeing what they thought they were seeing. of course paid for parking again A few weeks later I’m told via phone yes I have an infection in the crown & it needs to be redone for $465 & I need to wait to be called for an appointment. while waiting for the appointment the first dentist called me to sign me up for general dentistry every month ( I felt this was odd to go to the dentist for the heck of it but they want to experiment on you) I say no I just want to resolve the current issue. I receive a few more calls and text msgs. I get a call a little over a month to setup the appointment to be treated. Appointment date is June 8. Prior to the appointment I go back to the previous dentist to request payment to settle out of court for the poor dental work. The dentist agree & gives me $500 which was to cover the corrective work. 3 days before my appointment the doctor calls to say we are just going to remove the infection & patch the tooth back up. The fee is only for the infection removal. Annoyed that this has been a long process without proper info I say ok let’s proceed 2 days before the appointment the doctor says it is not advisable to remove the infection because I need a crown and they don’t do crowns. I say ok can I have my money back then? He says he will check. 1 day before my appointment the doctor says we can now remove the infection but u need to come in an additional 3 hours so we can take a further look ( be a experimental test dummy) I decline and say I will just wait on the refund as no one want to have so much confusion before being operated on plus I don’t have 3 hours of my time to give short notice after waiting to be taken care of for 5 months. day of the appointment June 8th I get a call asking am I on campus. I’m confused because this has been discussed already.

In the end they did not refund me which I feel was very terrible customer service especially being out of work thinking this was a service provided for the community at a discounted cost. They wasted 5 months of my time & I took a settlement of $500 from a previous dentist being under the impression they would take care of the issue for the $465 quoted. They are very unorganized. I have never been treated so poorly at an establishment before. Looking at the reviews below I could have been out of even more money needing to have their work corrected as well. Where is something not advisable 2 days out & then the day before told come on in!? Pay attention to the process! The signs are...

First ever visit here. Just finished with a root canal, was a molar (tooth#30). This is a detailed experience overview. Mind that the experience can vary.

Parking: (3/5) You can park in the gated parking lot just opposite the UT Health building. It's going to cost $10, every time you park for 2 hours or more. Should have been free though for at least 4 hours since each appointment takes 4 hours.

Appointment: (4/5) To get an appointment at this time, I had to call the number provided and leave a message for callback. I did this daily for almost two weeks and finally heard from the staff. Got the next available appointment booked. They only have two time slots daily i.e 08:30 AM and 1:00 PM. Paid $22 for urgent care assessment. Make sure you are on time. Check in once you are at the front desk with your ID. Then wait for the dentist/staff to come out and call your name while you are inside the lobby. Check-in line Hack: If the line is too long at the first floor, go to second floor and check-in.

Treatment: (5/5) So I was greeted and treated well at all times. Shout out to my student dentist. She was just awesome. Since my root canal was quite complex, it took 4 appointments to get it done. It may have taken 2 appointments at a regular dentist but since the students work at their own pace therefore it took 4. During treatment, the faculty comes to make sure everything was being done as it should be. They are very professional and courteous. Many times faculty would take over from student dentist and complete the procedure, which is even better. Although during each visit I had a different faculty member but even then their treatment was top notch.

Pain: (4/5) So Pain is dependent upon many factors such as what tooth is being treated, how thick are the bones are and how long do you get treated for etc. In my case I needed a lot of anesthesia to make sure I was numb. This caused swelling on the inside of my cheeks and gums. I also experienced pain in between the treatments due decay caused by tissue. So be ready to experience pain. Also each appointment being 3 hrs long, may cause your jaw joints to hurt by the end of appointment. But each time I felt pain, the student dentist apologized and immediately called in the faculty to make sure I was numb enough to get the treatment done. Note: The pain during treatment was no way near the toothache I already had. So don't get discouraged by minor pains in between the treatments.

Cost: You pay for an assessment first which is $22. Additional X-Ray may require $10. Parking for each visit of 2 hours or more is going to cost $10. For the treatment, It depends upon what kind of treatment you require. There are two categories of student dentists; Undergraduate and Graduate. Undergraduate dentist costs the cheapest. In my case UG Dentist treatment for a root canal costed $220. While for the same treatment Graduate Dentist would have costed $440. Faculty decides whether you need to be treated by a UG Dentist or a Graduate.

Summary: Cheaper than regular dentists. Check in on time. Courteous staff, students and faculty dentists Treatment takes more appointments and longer time compared to regular dentists. You may experience some pain depending upon who is treating you and what treatment are you getting. Be respectful and courteous towards the staff and dentists and they will make sure you are taken care of in the best...