I'm currently a student with not much income coming in. I'm needing some dental work done but I don't have dental insurance so it will be expensive. Are there any other means besides a university dentist?

Based on your state, you can always hop across the border...

Seriously, in some of those border towns you get accosted more with offers of dental work than anything else.

Most dental offices charge less for cash.

I have dental insurance, and I am pretty sure it would be more cost-effective for me to NOT have it.

Yeah, I think it depends a lot on the exact dental plan and your family.

For my wife and I, our dental is about $300/yr, and provides $1000 per person of coverage.  In addition, cleanings and basic fillings are "free", meaning no out-of-pocket cost, and they don't consume any of the coverage maximum.

For that little bit of money, it's worth it to us to have it.   Between me and my wife, that's four cleanings a year, plus whatever work we get done.  I think a pretty standard cash price for a dental exam/cleaning is around $80 where we live, so we're already saving $20 off the cost of just our cleanings if we were to pay cash.

OP should definitely call around and find out cash costs, and any potential discounts (some places will run a cleaning discount on occasion in order to gain your repeat business...we took advantage of that before we had the insurance).

I worked out a payment plan with an oral surgeon to get an impacted wisdom tooth removed.

Why do people think introducing a middleman is the answer to everything?!?  Insurance is based on statistical tables (I forget what they are called). In order to make money, some people have to pay in to get nothing, so that others can get something.





Ever notice that when something is covered by "insurance" it suddenly gets more expensive?!? I'm talking about dental, chiropractor, pet, vision, ect. . .





WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?!?!?!!!

It's called pooling risk.  Believe it or not, it can be a good thing.  I'd rather pay this way, and have the insurance there for emergencies.

If you're magical and don't want to insure something, don't.  Does insurance cause uptrends in pricing? In many cases, yes.  Does that make it inherently evil?  No.

My company is self-insured, so we pool the risk only with those of us in the company.  It allows us to precisely control pricing and benefits to the benefit all us employees.