If cost is a factor, then a local dental college is a fantastic option, with the caveat that it takes more visits to get stuff done than a private dentist.
The advantage of the dental college is that the student does everything, but the professors double-check everything at each stage, and will actually pull in their colleagues if there’s any question. It’s not one guy taking a look and making a decision- it’s basically your student, their professor, and if there’s any doubt, maybe a couple more chiming in. This is at the diagnosis stage AND the treatment stage- they review the diagnosis, review the proposed treatment, and then double-check the actual work.
This takes time; I got a crown replaced recently by my private dentist, and it was probably 45 minutes tops in the chair to pop off the crown and drill/repair the decay. A couple of weeks later they stuck on the replacement in like 5-10 minutes. At the dental college, there would have been a visit to determine the treatment plan, a second one to do it and double-check that, and a third to put on the actual crown, each of which would have been at least an hour, because the classroom setting and the double-checking is time consuming.
One thing that’s interesting is if you actually have some aspect of your mouth that is good, then that’s kind of a novel thing. I apparently have terrific gum hygiene, as they called all the students over to use my gums as a teaching example of what gums should look like, as opposed to the oral hygiene trainwrecks they typically see.
All in all, I found it rather rewarding beyond just getting cheap dental work- I got a look behind that particular curtain and got to ask more questions than usual.