University of Washington School of Dentistry

I had an implant done at the school of dentistry. The student shaped it incorrectly and the tooth broke on me. The student refused to advocate for a new tooth, and now I am left with a patched tooth that can break at any moment. I am worried every time that I eat something. Please save yourself the time and have your teeth professionally worked on.

I am two days post op for widsom tooth extraction. I had full IV sedation that went very smooth, the nurse was amazing, comforting, and answered all questions without missing a beat. They were very caring and respectful. My surgeon Dr. matiea was a 4^th year oral surgeon resident, he did great! He was very informative and gave a very detailed report about what happened during surgery. I was very greatful for my experience. The lady at the check in desk was rude but everyone else was insanely nice. They were on time and genuinely cared for their clients. I really don’t understand the negative reviews. I will go back for sure.

Run away! Run away! About a year ago I thought going to this clinic would be a good idea. Without dental insurance I was assured the cost would be reasonable and students well supervised. In Feb, 2015 finally had my first appointment. The student (a licensed dentist from another country) said I had two infected teeth but refused to give me antibiotics as there was not «inflammation». Two days following his probing I had a raging infection! When I came in for X-​rays I told the instructors, they said that they made me an appointment in the clinic immediately but when I arrived was told I could wait and maybe I would be seen. Feeling miserable ended up getting antibiotics from my PCP. I should have stopped going then.
Next was sent to the periodontal clinic. FINALLY got my teeth cleaned in late August. Have also been doing a lot of home care like coconut oil pulling, peroxide rinses, organic vege and fruit smoothies along with additional minerals for my teeth. My followup appt. 2 months later showed vast improvement, my loose teeth have tightened, all but one are now normal, my deep gum pockets are healing well. one was 9 mm healed to a 4 mm. The student was counseled by his instructor to filet all my gums and remove gum tissue to make it easier for me to clean my teeth! I said that sounds expensive (about $ 4,000), and painful! As what I’m doing is working why not continue the conservative route? He gave me this song and dance about the technique being developed there and trying to convince me he knew best! Finally he said he would consult with his instructors and get back to me. Haven’t heard a word back.
During this «adventure» I did get an opinion from a dentist in an office that dripped money. Expensive furnishings, «free» beverages and snacks. He said ALL my upper teeth will need to be pulled! Thankfully I did not listen and now all but one tooth are tight again.
My conclusion is much of dentistry is a sham.
So if you want to be slow played, treated in a patronizing manner by students, like pain, billed $ 1,000 for a deep cleaning, being hard sold expensive treatments, pay expensive parking fees, being in a clinic that feels dirty (the window ledges have pigeon nests and windows haven’t been cleaned in decades, the baseboards are gross etc), then the UW is the place for you!

UPDATE: Dr. Worthington was the dental surgeon about 10 years ago He is an outstanding surgeon but he is now retired. Dr. Worthington ran a tight ship, and didn’t brook any nonsense. Explained everything, Practiced the utmost integrity. Back then I started with the dental school doctors in training. After repeated appointments were cancelled or rescheduled by the dentist, I switched to the faculty dentists. The cost was $$$$$.
NOW:Tried them again, everything has changed. I must have pigeon feathers that they can see, but I can’t). Found double billing. Account dept refused to address it. Insurance company stepped in & I was right. Refund received. Had to fight to get readable x-​rays. Insurance company stepped in & I got them. Wanted records from Dr. Rubinstein, for a new dentist. Rubinstein refused all phone calls from new dentist. Again insurance company stepped in & I got the records but it took 3 months of emails, phone calls, etc. The unprofessional conduct is beyond belief.

I have an extreme fear of dentist and the UW Dental Clinic made me feel so relaxed. I was the 4^th walk-​in that morning (8:45AM) and was called back an hour after. I think that’s pretty good considering how busy they were. Once I got in the chair I was greeted warmly by the student who would doing my work. I was in severe pain from a cracked tooth and also really anxious. They have to ask you questions about medical history and this takes some time. After I had my X-​ray he told I would be needing the more complex extraction but would need to have the teacher approve it. That took about a minute and the teacher gave the go ahead. My student dentist did one of the best jobs numbing my gums. After I was nice and numb he started the procedure which took a while because my tooth was cracked. After he removed my tooth he cleaned the area because my roots were infected. The teacher came by after that to check his work and told him he didn’t miss a thing and got the infection out and did a great job. (It was nice hearing his teacher praise his work.) He went over care instructions with me and options for replacing the tooth. When everything was said and done he walked me out to the waiting room. Overall it was an amazing visit and most importantly Im pain free! No more dentist fears! They treated me like a human being which most dental offices don’t do. I will be going back for all my dental needs in the future! Oh yeah I got out of the office around 11:30AM.

DO NOT GET YOUR TEETH DONE HERE!
You will get your mouth destroyed by students, and have to get it redone at a real dental office. Then UW will still send you to collections after denying to fix the mistakes they made.

I’ve never gone to a dental school before, and would have to say that it was a pretty delightful experience. I’ve gone to schools for massage schools, cosmetology schools and even culinary schools, which is fun because you get to be part of the learning experience and get some services at a fraction of the price.
I had an appointment Dr. Kim Trieu and she was awesome; the cleaning was good and she ended up recommending me a night guard. My dentist has been telling me to get one for years, but I never did take him up on because it was so expensive. Dr. Trieu really explained to me why it would save me in the long run to invest in it now. I bit the bullet and did it, and absolutely loved it. She had me come back, and I’ve gone to see her a couple times now. I even referred a few co-​workers there to see her as well.
One thing fellow Unilocalers, remember that you are going a school. It takes a little bit longer because you have to wait for the professors to check off the work so if you are in rush, go when you have more time. Not all the students are the same, so ask for a recommendation. Dr. Trieu is good but she’ll be graduating soon.

I think I feel a bit ripped off but I’m not super familiar with dentist prices. I don’t know, is $ 140 too much for a painfully long drawn out exam which included 2 x-​rays and ultimately got me nowhere?
At first I thought, what the hell, It’s cheaper and I don’t mind waiting. but honestly, it’s not really worth it. Maybe I got slower students working on me or something I don’t know. One of them didn’t know how to use the computer program and had to keep asking this other guy who was with another patient.
All in all, two weeks later, I’m left with this feeling like. why did I go there.

I don’t get the negative reviews here. My regular dentist told me I needed one possibly two root canals and two to three crowns. I just got dental insurance so it doesn’t yet cover major work like this. I was looking at an $ 8,000 bill! A friend suggested that I try the UW School of Dentistry and I am so glad I did! They reviewed my Xrays and took a few of their own and did a very thorough exam. The Grad Student (also a practicing dentist) that reviewed my case said that while there was a little inflammation he didn’t see any reason for root canal’s let alone crowns right now. He spent time showing me the Xrays and how he had come to that conclusion. I have never had a dentist take this much time with me! He said to keep an eye on it and check back in six months. OMG he saved me thousands of dollars!
I think this is a perfect example of insurance abuse. Not the UW but my regular dentist. They tell us we need this, this and this and we believe them and say go ahead because hey insurance will cover it! Well, no more. I am getting second opinions at the UW Dental School as well as Med Center from now on!

If you need to get your teeth cleaned or need some xrays or fillings, you should call the Seattle Vocational Institute Dental Clinic at 206−934−4930.
It can be very tedious to get an appointment at the UW dental school. Why wait for months?

I originally booked with them back in July and so far have gotten no where, except for a copy of my x-​rays being sent to me so I can go elsewhere.
So if you go here, be aware of the long waiting period. I was also un impressed with the information or lack there of, the dentist was giving me. The additional $ 2,800 plus that it cost for all my teeth to be extracted was never even mentioned at the first appointment talking about getting dentures. He was well aware of our tight financial budget, so why that wasn’t brought to our attention, who knows.
Overall, even though it might be cheaper than other dentists, not worth it. Parking is always a hassle, costly and adds up, then trying to locate the dental school inside the hospital is never easy esp with it being as spread out as it is! Ay, have fun tha’ts all I got to say!

I ended up in the UW emergency room with a major tooth problem earlier this summer. This review is going to touch on that experience as well as the dental school clinic that did all my follow up care.
I missed an Elite event for this tooth, and was subjected to days of petnames like «cheeky monkey», «cute lil chipmunk».well you get the idea, sucker had to go.
In the ER I experienced what is pretty typical, it seems. Long waits, repeatedly answering the same questions to different nurses, med students and supervising physicians. Overall, the wait was not so long I’d complain about it too much.
I was given a CAT scan w/​contrast (radioactive dye). For what purpose, I will never know. it was never shown to any of the dentists who treated me that day, or in subsequent follow-​up care. I did however develop some pretty cool super powers, so I guess it wasn’t all for naught.
Once the dentists arrived (grad student, his assistant and a teacher later to check in) I was taken into a different area of the ER (that looks like a dental office) and subjected to another full round of your standard dental x-​rays.
It was determined, as I knew and feared, the tooth had to come out. The infection was spreading into my jawline and up my cheek pretty bad by this time, just a few days into it, and the anti-​biotics I was on were not making any progress to their satisfaction.
So, right there in the ER they were able to dope me up something fierce and get down to the business of yanking the evil little thing. As a precaution and concern over the infection, I also had the pleasure of having my gum filleted open (yeah it looks, feels and is as gross as that sounds) and a small plastic tube inserted into said gum for drainage (again, looks, feels as gross) for a few days.
So far, so good. At least I’m still alive.
Then, they discharge me with NO anti-​biotic prescription. Besides being told nearly a dozen times by 5 different people I would need to be on an antio-​biotic, I didn’t receive one.
The swelling surged over the next day or two, and i found myself returning.
I was lucky enough to score an escort and a ride from Don to make sure I got there on time and didn’t have to drive in the state I was in.
Here is where the faultering service, took a dive for the worse. We arrived on time, to find out my scheduled appointment wasn’t really an appointment, but a ‘walk in’ and they had taken someone else back already. The receptionist was snotty as hell about us being ‘late’.
I waited for hours, my ride having to into work. What was supposed to be a quick check up was turning into an all day ordeal.
When I was finally seen, they seemed shocked I wasn’t as improved as they expected me to be. Then they figured out I wasn’t on anti-​biotics, because they didn’t prescribe any. They also found my 4 unreturned phone messages when I kept calling to see why they forgot my Rx from the previous visit and what I should be doing in aftercare.
So it’s now about 6 hours later, I finally have my Rx and I’m waiting for my ride to return from Factoria.
The anti-​biotics did the trick, by the next morning my swelling was almost completely gone. The plastic tube fell out on it’s own a few days later, just before I was set to go back again. When I called and told them that, they said i didn’t need to return unless I was having more problems.
I could have been bleeding from the eyeballs with a cheek the size of Texas before I went back there, because if I was still having complications, I wanted more communication, and better treatment than I felt I could get here.
The highlight of the entire experience was sitting in the waiting room reading magazine articles back and forth out loud. That’s kind of sad considering I ended up Ok.