Becoming a Patient 

Thank you for your interest in the Georgia Health Sciences University, College of Dental Medicine. We would like to accept you for treatment if your needs can be resolved in a student teaching program and if your schedule will allow you to be here for extended appointments. Our goal will be to provide you with high quality treatment at a reduced fee. The dental treatment is provided by students and residents under the close supervision of our expert teaching staff at the College of Dental Medicine.

First, we need to evaluate your dental needs to assure that you may benefit from our student services. To do this, we will need to see you for about two hours to find out what your needs are. You can help us speed up this screening process by printing and completing the SCREENING APPLICATION.  You can either mail your completed application to the address given at the top of the form, or if you prefer to scan and send your completed application to us by e-mail, please send it to CODM_PATIENTSCREENING@georgiahealth.edu, or you may fax it to Patient Screening at 706-723-0228.  Please use only one method (U.S. mail, e-mail or fax) to submit your screening application to us. 

The application is for a "screening" exam and does not guarantee acceptance as a patient. Dental x-rays and a more detailed examination may be necessary before being accepted as a patient. Priority is given to applicants with dental problems which fit our teaching programs. All received applications are reviewed by a faculty member. Applications which are incomplete or do not appear to match current student needs will be rejected. Applicants whose applications are rejected should receive a letter informing them of this within three weeks of our receipt of the application. Applications that are accepted for screening are placed in the list of potential patients awaiting an appointment to be screened. If you are not contacted within four months of submitting your application, please assume our waiting list for your particular problem(s) is too long. In this case we urge you to seek care elsewhere before your problems become more complex. 

Our time requirements are extensive; therefore, the cooperation and understanding of the patient is necessary. You may be asked to be available for appointments one morning or afternoon (1-4 hours) each week (Monday-Friday) for 6-12 months. You should be seen at least once a month. The fees charged for care reflect a dollar ($) savings to compensate you for your time. However, if you cannot devote the required amount of time, we suggest you arrange for private dental care.

After you are accepted as a potential patient in the student dental program, you may be assigned to a student. Depending on student needs, it may take 6-12 months before you are assigned to a student. Once assigned, the student will contact you and schedule your appointments. Because of the rigid requirements on the student's time, we require that patients must notify the student at least two school days in advance when it is necessary to reschedule an appointment. To serve everyone better, repeated tardiness or two broken appointments may result in termination of treatment.

If you think you have a dental emergency, this is not the appropriate application. Please call 706-721-2371 (select option 1) for information about our Emergency Dental Services.

After reading this information, if you are still interested in applying to become a patient in the student dental program, please print and complete the SCREENING APPLICATION.  You can either mail your completed application to the address given at the top of the form, or if you prefer to scan and send your completed application to us by e-mail, please send it to CODM_PATIENTSCREENING@georgiahealth.edu, or you may fax it to Patient Screening at 706-723-0228.  Please use only one method (U.S. mail, e-mail or fax) to submit your screening application to us.