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Accredited dental school

Larkin University School of Dental Medicine

18301 N. Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33169

Health centers in Florida

Larkin University School of Dental Medicine is an accredited dental school in Miami, FL. Dentists are trained by treating patients, which is why a dental school is often the cheapest place in a city to have a large amount of work done.

Fees at a teaching clinic are set by the school and are usually well below private practice rates, though the care is reduced-cost rather than free. In exchange, appointments are longer and treatment can take more visits than it would elsewhere. Florida has 4 accredited dental schools in total, listed on the Florida page.

Before You Call

The patient clinic is often a separate operation from the school itself, with its own number and sometimes its own building. Worth a call before you set out.

  • Is the clinic open to the public right now, and taking new patients?
  • Is a screening appointment required first, what does it cost, and how soon can you get one?
  • Which clinic would handle the treatment you need — the student clinic, a specialty clinic, or the faculty practice — and does it have its own waiting list?
  • What are the fees for that treatment, and do they include laboratory work for crowns or dentures?
  • Is your insurance or Medicaid plan accepted, and is payment due at each visit?
  • Which number reaches the patient clinic rather than the main switchboard?
  • If the school cannot treat part of your case, where does it refer that work?
  • Would your case go to the student clinic or a graduate clinic, and what is the price difference between them?
  • What is the policy if you have to cancel or cannot make an appointment?

What a Teaching Clinic Is Like

Dental schools usually run several clinics rather than one. Students handle routine general dentistry at the lowest fees; residents training in a specialty handle root canals, gum treatment, dentures, and oral surgery for more; faculty practices charge close to private rates.

The trade is time for money. Screening comes first and does not guarantee acceptance; appointments are two to three hours because each stage is checked; and treatment spanning several months has to work around the school calendar.

Our guide to dental schools and teaching clinics covers the screening process, how the discount works on laboratory costs, and what to ask before the first appointment in more detail.

Other Accredited Dental Schools in Florida

Florida has 4 accredited dental schools altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:

Common Questions

Can I bring X-rays from my own dentist?

Often yes, if they are recent — within about a year is the usual limit — and complete. It can save you both a fee and a visit, so it is worth asking before you pay for new ones. Your previous dentist has to release them to you or to the school, which takes a few days.

I am nervous about being treated by a student.

Worth knowing that the work is checked more thoroughly here than almost anywhere else, because it is being graded as well as treated. What you trade is time, not care. If it helps, ask whether a graduate clinic could take your case instead — you pay more, but the treatment is done by a qualified dentist.

Do they do braces or orthodontics?

Many schools run a graduate orthodontics clinic, and treatment there costs substantially less than private orthodontics — but waiting lists are long and the clinics are selective, because residents need particular kinds of case. Adults are treated as well as children at most of them.

Can I ask for a different student?

Usually not in the way you would change dentist at a private practice. Assignment depends on which students need your kind of case and who has capacity. You can raise a concern with the supervising faculty member, who is responsible for the treatment regardless of who is holding the instruments.

I have a bad toothache. Should I come here?

Probably not as a first move. Screening and waiting lists make schools a poor route for urgent pain, though some run an emergency session worth one phone call. Anything you think might be an emergency needs an emergency room the same day rather than a teaching clinic. Our emergency dental page covers what lies in between.

Do I have to come during working hours?

Mostly yes. Teaching clinics run on the academic timetable, which means weekday daytime sessions and long appointments. A few schools hold evening or Saturday sessions. If you cannot take weekday time off repeatedly, this route is harder than it looks on paper.

Accreditation

Status: Initial Accreditation, next reviewed in 2029. That is a judgment on the education, not on the clinic: it says nothing about opening hours, prices or whether anyone is being taken on.

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