Saving $$ when purchasing dental instruments?

[sniper86]

I realized a while ago that purchasing dental instruments from most schools is expensive. I've seen them range from $5000-$12,000 in any particular year. Is there a way to purchase the necessary equipment for dental school at cheaper prices? Sort of like how buying college textbooks on Amazon tends to be a lot cheaper than buying the books from a college bookstore. Is there something like this for dental instruments? Or are they specific for each school?

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[mike3kgt]

I realized a while ago that purchasing dental instruments from most schools is expensive. I've seen them range from $5000-$12,000 in any particular year. Is there a way to purchase the necessary equipment for dental school at cheaper prices? Sort of like how buying college textbooks on Amazon tends to be a lot cheaper than buying the books from a college bookstore. Is there something like this for dental instruments? Or are they specific for each school?

You cannot negotiate, they are packages through the school and you cannot deviate unless you give very special and approved circumstances. Standardization is very important in dental school curriculum and everyone having the same exact instruments is apart of that.

Keep in mind also that the schools are financially tied to these supply companies via grants, gifts, and donations that they don't want to disrupt. Think about it, they guarantee ~100x $5,000-12,000 purchases at least once a year for the first two years. This is good $$ for the supply companies so they can give kick-back incentives to keep that going. It's like having a lobbyist and the dean is congress

You sign up for this and it is clearly stated in your admissions information that this is a requirement of matriculation into their dental program.

 

[DrJeff]

I realized a while ago that purchasing dental instruments from most schools is expensive. I've seen them range from $5000-$12,000 in any particular year. Is there a way to purchase the necessary equipment for dental school at cheaper prices? Sort of like how buying college textbooks on Amazon tends to be a lot cheaper than buying the books from a college bookstore. Is there something like this for dental instruments? Or are they specific for each school?

Most of the instruments that a school has a student purchase are done in a way that what the student is getting is of a good quality AND DURABILITY. There might be a few companies that offer the same model instrument for a bit less $$, but what good is that if it wear's out in a short amount of time and you end up either working with an instrument not capable of fully doing what it was designed to do??

I've learned this in private practice too, both with hygiene instruments and with oral surgery instruments (especially forceps). With hygiene instruments, I was finding that the time until replacement and/or re-tipping with a "generic" instrument (i.e. the Schein brand, etc) vs. with a name brand (i.e. Hu-freidy) was quite significant, to the tune of whatever $$ I was saving on the upfront purchase of the generic instrument I was then loosing later in the form of either quicker replacement time or even to have a few extra sets in rotation because of quicker wear rates/sooner retipping/etc.

Same thing with oral surgery forceps. If you buy a "generic" forcep where when you have to apply a decent amount of force to the handle and hence the beak and they deform and as a result can't grip a tooth as effectively, what good is that compared to that more expensive brand name, more durable forcep that doesn't deform and hence functions properly everytime you use it??

There are many times where the quality difference DOES offset the cost difference, but unfortunately it often takes one finding that out for themselves, the "tough" (expensive) way to fully grasp

 

[Daurang]

Half the stuffs you never even touch or maybe use once in your lifetime.

 

[Msmouth]

I remember in hygiene school (many years ago) we had to buy instruments through the school, even though I could have gotten the exact same instruments through work for much cheaper. They said the total cost helps cover lab fees, gloves, clinic expenses etc.