Dentist chiming in here.

Do you have employer sponsored dental or are you paying the premiums yourself? If so then it usually doesn't make sense to even get dental insurance because all the terms and stipulations make it so you'll pay in more then you'll ever get out. It's different if an employer is paying a good chunk for you, then it often makes sense to get dental.

If you have plenty of time then the dental school is a great option. They are trying to enforce ideal dentistry so the quality is very high. The downside is each step gets checked plus the student is new at it so everything takes at least three times longer than at a regular office.

Dental insurance has been so bad recently that it can basically help you get one tooth fixed per year, especially if you need stuff like root canals and crowns. Cigna has actually been cutting reimbursement to dentists the past couple years. It's hard to make that work with inflation and higher staff wages and supply costs. For example we have patients with cigna where we only get $50 for a simple one surface filling. I can do one or two an hour so let's say $75 for the hour. By the time I pay my assistant and front desk and pay for the materials there is hardly anything left for my salary. So we are in the process of dropping cigna. I've heard from a number of colleagues who are also dropping them for the same reason. Some make it work by having a hygienist numb and an extended functions assistant place the filling so the dentist can see more patients per hour. Anyway I digress a bit...

Outside of going to the dental school you may want to find an office with an in office membership plan. There's usually an annual fee but then you get a percent off all treatment (we do 20%) that doesn't max out so you can get multiple teeth done and it won't stop giving you a discount. Then if you can't front everything you can see if the office has financing like care credit. Before you ask we aren't taking new patients, too busy.

Sorry it's a frustrating system. Not sure if it helps any but us dentists are frustrated too!