Student Clinics

All services are performed by students under the careful supervision of our attending clinical faculty. Patients are accepted to the Dental Branch based on their need for either comprehensive ("complete") or emergency/limited care. Our student clinics include predoctoral dental, postdoctoral (advanced general dentistry and dental specialty), and dental hygiene. Through these clinics and student rotations located in outside facilities, we are able to provide care for a wide variety of patient needs.

Comprehensive Care

Consideration for comprehensive care begins with a screening appointment in the Assessment Clinic. The attending dentist will examine you to determine if you are a candidate for comprehensive care. The initial screening is by appointment only and at no charge.

If the initial screening indicates your dental needs can be treated in our clinics, you will then receive appropriate diagnostic x-rays. In most cases you will know at the completion of your initial appointment if you have been accepted into one of the Dental Branch's clinical programs.

The initial screening process takes approximately thirty minutes. If you are not a candidate for care, you are free to go at the completion of the assessment. The complete progression of screening, exam, and x-rays can take up to four hours.

We ask that all patients scheduled for an assessment screening please come prepared to pay for the diagnostic x-rays. To assist you in planning your budget, the maximum fees associated with the initial visit are generally in the $40 - $75 range. Please be prepared to pay at the time of your treatment. For your convenience, we accept cash (no personal checks), money orders, or major credit cards as a method for payment.

Dental Emergencies

If your first visit to the school is for emergency dental care, we will make every attempt to resolve your chief dental problem. Evaluation and treatment in our Urgent Care Clinic is available to the general public on a walk-in basis only, and only a limited number of "walk-in" appointments are available.

Walk-in patients should sign in at the front desk reception area by 7:30 a.m. Patients are treated on a first come - first served basis. The exact fee for emergency treatment varies from patient to patient. However, most emergency treatment is $60-$75. We ask that you be prepared to pay at the time of your treatment. For your convenience, we accept cash (no personal checks), money orders, or major credit cards as a method for payment. Please call 713.500.4000, option 1 for current hours.

Patient Appointments

All services are performed by students under the careful supervision of our attending clinical faculty. Due to the educational nature of the Dental Branch, treatment will take longer to accomplish in comparison with what you might expect in private dental practices. Appointments are generally three (3) hours in length, and most patients will be expected to have an average of two appointments each month. It is essential that you keep all appointments. Treatment may be discontinued if you repeatedly cancel and/or fail to appear for appointments. Following completion of comprehensive care, we will provide you with regular follow-up preventive visits ("recall") in our Oral Maintenance and Prevention (OMP) Program.

Scheduling hours are from 8:30 a.m - 11: a.m. and 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. daily until all appointments for the following week are booked. Click here for telephone numbers.