Hi,

Iv been needing to go to the dentist for a while now as the 2 crowns iv got have been on there last legs for some time and 30 mins ago the inevitable happened, can anybody recommend a adequate but cheap dentist as funds are very tight, im gonna need some very intensive work done so it does need to be cheap..

Nice 1

St. Louis Hospital, south side of Sathorn Road, just east of Surasak BTS station.

"Cheap" when it comes to crowns means a crown made of non-precious metal. And crowns made of non-precious metal don't fit as tightly as precious-metal ones. That means they'll probably fail more quickly than precious-metal crowns. In short, they're a really bad investment.

My impression, by the way, is that the costs of crown work aren't all that different among Bangkok clinics, though the cost may seem very different if you're comparing, say, a gold crown at one clinic with a nickel crown at another.

"Cheap" when it comes to crowns means a crown made of non-precious metal. And crowns made of non-precious metal don't fit as tightly as precious-metal ones. That means they'll probably fail more quickly than precious-metal crowns. In short, they're a really bad investment."

Try Dr Pattarapon Rungjirarat, Denta Care Clinic 1010/18-20 Rama 4 Road Silom Bangrak Tel +66 (0) 2235 7755 or (0) 2633 887 email: [email protected] He is a young guy, trained in America and speaks excellent english. I have just completed a lot of dental work with him over the last few months, including two crowns, removal of and old root canal, some bridge work and laser whitening. I havent kept the receipts but all I know is that I paid a lot less in Thailand that it would have cost me in my home country. Good luck

I went to the dentist yesterday and was quoted 8 for non and 12, 14 and 15 for precious..to be honest my budget can only allow for 8, are the non precious really that bad?? Will they last me a few years..the last ones i had were NHS so they were obviously the bottom end and they lasted 15 years!!!

By the way just for my own clarification apart from the obvious and it falling out..how do you know when a crown goes bad??? and 2nd the dentist told me that the pins i have will be okay to use again..is that wise after already being in 15 years

Thanks

Problem is, when a crown goes bad, especially the second or third time, there may be so much decay on the previously worked tooth that it can't be saved, or will need extensive work like a root canal or crown lengthening. Myself, I think going for the cheap metal "8" crown would be very short sighted. Many good clinics in Bangkok, like the Dental Hospital, don't even offer these.

It can be hard to know when a crown has gone bad. Sometimes xrays will show decay or problems with the root; sometimes you can detect a cavity or break in the tooth margin right under the crown; sometimes there'll be pain beforehand.

If you're concerned about the pins, why not get a second opinion? See a prosthodontist, a dentist specializing in crown and bridge work.

An "expensive" clinic would probably charge about 2000 baht more -- maybe 17000 baht for a gold crown these days -- so as I noted the difference isn't enormous.

i know what your saying taxout (thanks for the advice by the way) its just i really dont have the cash to splash out on these and had 1 not fell out yesterday i would have put it on the back burner....

The crowns have defo gone bad as not only is there a gap but also some of the gum has literally burnt away and exposing some of the pin (on 2 of the) but the dentist said that was because i was brushing to much so im gonna have to have a skint month and get fixed..

Okay what about a compromise and maybe going semi precious is there a big difference between non and semi, and then the difference between semi and full precious

Unless of course there are dentisit anybody knows of that allows you to pay monthly like credit!!

Well, it's best to see what your dentist says, but my impression is that there's a large difference in quality between base-metal crowns (nickel or chromium) and semi-precious, and not so much between semi-precious and precious.

Of course, all this difference can be eroded depending on the care not just of the dentist, but more importantly, of the lab. Several Bangkok clinics operate their own labs in part because of the difficulty controlling quality of outside labs.

If you are 'strapped' for cash but will be better placed later maybe you can get a tempory repair. I had no time last year so had that done on a tooth where the side-wall and filling had come away, and had a crown and root-canal job when I returned this year. The root-canal and crown (gold) was 15000Bt. In the past I have had a few pins put in a tooth and a filling built up which lasted for years, fixed with a root canal and crown in UK later. The dentist can be quite resourceful and ingenious if you go to one that is used to Thais without cash, but you will need a translator.