"Does your local uni offer dental courses? Being a guinea pig for a learning student is less hazardous than it sounds. I have no dental insurance, either, through a slip-up in our human resource's benefits department and I am looking into this option."
Yes my local uni has a dental school. You are actually in better hands than at an experienced, but rushed dentist, trying to make payments on equipment. Everything they do is double and triple checked by 2 or 3 faculty members, who are the best dentists, the creme de la creme. They state that their rates for most common procedures are about 80% of what most local dentists charge.
I did find a further away dental school that states that for most procedures they charge about 1/2 of what most local dentists charge. However for less common procedures - such as surgical root legthening, or re-doing of previously done endontia, they refer you to a staff member who is not a student, and who charges about full rate. Then the rest of the job is finished by a dental student at 1/2 rate. I have a good student dentist there, who I have developed a good raport with. However I don't yet have the money I need to go forward with the treatment plan he has recommended, in consultation with 3 dental professors. Also, unlike many dentists, who will often set up a long payment plan, they make you shell out full payment in advance. Once I get a job I can get a credit card, but for now I am stuck.
They have advised me that I need one root canal re-done, and root legthening on 2 teeth, 1 implant, 2 core-posts, and 3 crowns -- just to replace my 1 missing front tooth and repair my 2 broken front teeth. They have said they believe this is the best procedure for me, better than making a 7-tooth bridge, and also less expensive, about 4000 as compared to 5,000 (I'm making very rough estimates). Having either procedures done by a local dentest would be about 7,000 and 10,000.
In addition to the missing teeth, which don't hurt, there are the 2 fillings I was talking about which will be about $100 each instead of $200 each, and they advise that I get several other teeth capped soon, BEFORE I need root canals on them. Basicaly a full mouth restoration, but with several teeth left out, because they are ok the way they are or only have small amounts of wear and damage.