Accredited dental school
Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry
1005 Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208
Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry is an accredited dental school in Nashville, TN. 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. Tennessee has 3 accredited dental schools in total, listed on the Tennessee page.
Common Questions
What if something goes wrong with the work later?
Schools generally stand behind treatment in the same way a practice does, and problems are reviewed by faculty. What differs is continuity: the student who treated you may have graduated. Ask what the policy is for remakes and repairs, and keep your treatment paperwork.
Will I see the same person at every visit?
Usually yes for the student, which is one of the better features of this route: your case belongs to one person for the whole course of treatment. The supervising faculty member may change from session to session, and the practice varies by school.
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.
Will a student be doing the work?
In the student clinic, yes, supervised by a licensed faculty dentist who checks the treatment at each stage and signs it off. In graduate and specialty clinics the work is done by a qualified dentist training in that field. Ask which clinic you would be assigned to, because it changes both the price and the wait.
What if I need a specialist the school does not have?
You would be referred out, and that referral is usually to a private specialist at full price. This is the single most common way a dental school plan falls apart, so ask at screening which parts of your treatment the school can do itself and which it cannot.
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.
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.
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?
- Would your case go to the student clinic or a graduate clinic, and what is the price difference between them?
- How far ahead are they booking, and is there a cancellation list worth joining?
- Where is the patient entrance, and what should you bring — identification, proof of income, previous X-rays?
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2029. It reviews the program every few years against a national standard for teaching. Patient access, fees and waiting times are outside what it looks at.
Other Accredited Dental Schools in Tennessee
Tennessee has 3 accredited dental schools altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:
- Lincoln Memorial University College of Dental Medicine — Harrogate
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry — Memphis
Other Low-Cost Options in Tennessee
- Community health center dental clinics in Tennessee — priced against your household income rather than by using students, which makes them the better option if your income is low and your need is routine.
- Dental hygiene programs in Tennessee — teaching clinics for cleanings, X-rays, sealants and gum treatment at low cost. They do not do fillings or extractions.
- Free and charitable dental care in Tennessee — volunteer and donated-care programs, normally with eligibility rules and limited capacity.
- How dental school clinics work — a general guide to screening, fees, and what to expect across the country.
Other Dental Schools Nearby
- Lincoln Memorial University College of Dental Medicine — Harrogate, TN
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry — Memphis, TN
- A.T. Still University Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health — Mesa, AZ
- Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine — Boston, MA
- California Northstate University College of Dental Medicine — Elk Grove, CA