Providing patients with quality, affordable care.
Please note: Emergency care is limited to the management of pain, swelling or trauma.
If you are a current patient who needs emergency treatment after hours, on weekends or on holidays, call 1-866-244-9387 and identify yourself as a current patient. You will be asked by the on-call technician whether your emergency is general dentistry or orthodontic-related. You will also be asked to provide your contact information and any other information related to your dental emergency. You will then receive a call from the designated on-call dentist or orthodontist.
Please note that care in the emergency room is limited to the management of pain, swelling, or trauma. Specific dental procedures such as fillings or extractions will not be performed.
Other options*:
*The School of Dental Medicine is not responsible for reimbursement of any charges you incur while obtaining emergency dental treatment at any other facility than the dental school.
Once accepted as a patient, you will be assigned to a student dentist to begin dental treatment. Every effort is made to assign you as quickly as possible; however, you may have to wait three to six weeks if your screening appointment occurs shortly before or during a semester break.
A patient manager or a postgraduate resident will contact you directly to schedule an appointment. This may be with a junior or senior student dentist, or a postgraduate resident depending on the complexity of your treatment needs. Your initial appointment with your student dentist or resident will consist of a thorough review of your medical and oral health histories, a comprehensive intra- and extra-oral examination, including the head and neck, an oral cancer screening, and an in-depth clinical evaluation. There may be the need for additional types of radiographs (X-rays) or impressions for study casts to provide a complete diagnosis of your dental needs. There are fees associated with this visit.
Do not expect actual dental treatment on your first visit. The student’s educational process requires complete examination and diagnostic treatment planning prior to initiating treatment. This might take multiple visits. Future visits will be scheduled by a patient manager or the postgraduate resident working with you.
Since the UB School of Dental Medicine is a teaching facility, the length of your appointments and overall treatment will likely take longer than it would from a private practitioner. High standards are required of our student dentists, and our clinical faculty evaluate student’s abilities and skills. You should therefore expect to spend between two to three hours per appointment. This attention to detail requires more of your time but assures you of quality dental care.
In preparation for your visit for dental treatment, bring your identification and dental insurance information, and a list of medications you are currently taking. Please bring any dental X-rays that were recently taken at another dental provider. If premedication is required, take one hour before your visit. Read our New Patient page for more information about what to expect at your appointment.
Please upload your dental X-rays from outside providers to our HIPAA-safe dropbox.
Should you need to cancel your initial screening visit, call 716-829-2424. To cancel or reschedule any other appointment, you MUST call your patient manager at 716-829-5993 at least 24 hours prior to an appointment. If you cannot reach your patient manager, call the UB School of Dental Medicine at 716-829-2824 (M-F, 8:15 a.m.-4:45 p.m.) for assistance.
In general, you will be required to speak with a staff member at the Welcome Center and pay in full for any previously completed treatment before you are checked in for each appointment. Failure to do so may result in your chart being locked and/or your current appointment being rescheduled.
You are encouraged to pay for all treatment in full at the end of each appointment to avoid rescheduling future appointments. Payment may be made by cash, check, money order, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. You will be charged an additional fee for any returned check. The school does not offer any payment plans outside of the Orthodontic department.
There are some additional details in the Patient Information Booklet that you received when you became a patient.
You may call our billing office at 716-829-3226 (option 3) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, with questions about your account.
Patients eligible for coverage under the Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care Programs should inform the UB School of Dental Medicine of their status at the time of their application to the school. Patients obtaining coverage after acceptance as a patient are expected to notify the billing department immediately. The SDM may charge a patient for non-covered services when a private-pay agreement (mutual and voluntarily signed treatment plan) is in place. If you have questions regarding your coverage, you must consult your caseworker or local Social Services Benefits office. We cannot contact them on your behalf.
We participate with NYS Medicaid, Healthplex, DentaQuest and Liberty. Healthplex, DentaQuest and Liberty process claims for multiple Medicaid plans, such as Independent Health, Blue Cross and Molina. Your benefit card should notify you of your dental carrier. We are trying to contract with UnitedHealthcare, but until the process is complete, we cannot accept UnitedHealthcare Medicaid patients. We also do not participate with Fallon Weinberg insurance and cannot accept their patients. Possession of an insurance card issued by NYS Medicaid or a Medicaid Managed Care company does not guarantee eligibility.
Two days prior to your appointment, SDM will verify eligibility of your insurance through your insurance company’s website. This sometimes requires use of your Social Security number. If we do not have your Social Security number on file, we will be unable to verify your eligibility, and you will be treated as a self-pay patient and required to sign a payment agreement. If your appointment is scheduled within less than two days, your eligibility will be verified at check-in. In addition, if your insurance claim is denied for no active coverage, you will be responsible for payment regardless of your implied status on the date of service. By signing your treatment plan, you agree to these terms.
2020 Forms are completed upon request. It takes 48 hours to hear back from Medicaid as to whether the request was approved or denied. Once approval is granted, patients must call at least 72 hours in advance to book their Medicaid cab. If an upcoming appointment is scheduled 5-6 business days after the request is submitted, patients must find another way to travel to the appointment or call their patient manager at 716-829-5993 to reschedule their visit. We cannot call Medicaid to schedule a ride for you; it is the patient's responsibility to schedule their own rides in advance.
Currently, the UB School of Dental Medicine does not participate with any private dental insurance plans. We are exploring other insurance plans to participate with, and as we contract with new companies, we will post notices in the Welcome Center area to inform you of any additions. As a courtesy to our patients, a standard dental insurance claim form will be provided on request for you to submit to your insurance company. This form will only be provided when the procedures outlined in your treatment plan have been completed, and your account for those services is paid in full. If you have private dental insurance, we strongly recommend you contact your carrier for coverage and eligibility information. The UB School of Dental Medicine is unable to guarantee that any procedure will be completed within a certain calendar year.
The UB School of Dental Medicine is unable to manage workers’ compensation or no-fault insurance claims. If your dental needs are related to these types of claims, you should seek care with a provider other than the UB School of Dental Medicine.
If you have a Flexible Spending Account, your employer’s plan determines what dental expenses are covered. You can request the same claim form as indicated above to submit to your plan for reimbursement, based on when a procedure is completed, not when it is started. Please be advised that the UB School of Dental Medicine is unable to guarantee that any treatment or procedure will be completed within a certain calendar year.