Dentist Recommendation

[seedy]

Payon Dental Clinic - Chaiyapoom Road (East side of Moat - Outside)

Dr. Julniyom Nigrotha

Went for a checkup - no charge.

Had a X-Ray - 100 Baht

Clean, professional.

[seeker108]

Seedy, Thank you for this post! So far it is the only one mentioning this clinic. I must second your recommendation in spades! Though I may kick myself next year when this clinic goes the way of the others and becomes overbooked and overpriced because of this post.

OK, my gf needed a wisdom tooth pulled. I called or went to all of the usual dentists talked about here on thaivisa.com and even went to the dental school. Everyone was saying a minimum would be anywhere around 1,000 to 1,500 baht per wisdom extraction (if simple pull out lasting around 30 minutes) and all said that it could be as high as around 4,000 depending on length of time and complications! The dental school starting price was 1,600 as I recall and I have always found them to be as high as the expensive private clinics but jam packed with locals going there because they think they are getting a good deal, I guess. Also waiting times for actual appointments was up to one week in advance for the private clinics for this kind of "surgical" work.

After seeing this post I called Payon and they tell me if simple, 300 to 500 baht but can come in immediately for FREE consult and the doctor would determine the actual price. We went in with a cd of x-ray already taken and after looking at that and the tooth Dr. Julniyom (says to just call him Dr. J) says it looks like it should be easy and should cost 400 baht (but could be more if harder than expected). The original plan was that we would come the next day if it looked like a go. But I asked him if he could do right away and he says OK.

He has no problem with me staying in the room as a spectator. He has excellent chair-side manner, is very jai dee and professional as well. He starts and after 25 minutes of waiting for the Novocaine (or whatever the modern equivalent is that he used) to take effect we run into our first complication. The gf still can feel sensation on the inside side of the tooth. So he injects another half a vial into that side (but says not to worry, he will not charge us extra for this (amazing). After 15 more minutes of waiting all is now nicely numb. He starts and after 10 or 15 minutes of trying to pull out we have our second complication - the tooth is in there so firmly that he can not even get it to wiggle. He goes back to using his prying tool for a while and then back to the tooth pliers. After some time of the the tooth finally does loosen a bit. Having gone through this 3 times myself I know that having the tooth yanked on like this is not fun and even though there is no pain in the tooth you feel like the jawbone itself is going to crack apart (though watching the gf for any signs of clenching fists or other signs of distress she seems to be completely relaxed). I refrained from giving any chair-side advice, but I was getting ready to at least say don't mind the expense and go ahead and drill the tooth into pieces if it would make it easier. But after the tooth loosened it took about another 15 or 20 minutes and the tooth finally came out. Total length of time from starting the Novocaine injection was at least 90 minutes. So the bill came to a whopping what? He still only charged us 400 baht!!! Anywhere else this would have been at least 2,000 baht I am quite sure. I just last week had 2 fillings fixed at Grace. No drilling of new cavity, just simple grinding of some bits away and refill. One of them a back lower with probably two face but one just the back part of one of the two lower front teeth which Dr. Korakot originally did for the 1 face price of what would be now 800 baht (maybe was 500 baht 8 years ago). The front tooth took very little time and even the back tooth was pretty quick. The dentist who did me this time (will not give name) charged me 1600 for each tooth! I was in and out of there in less than 30 minutes from start to finish! Even if I had not found Payon that would have been my last visit ever to Grace. The dentists there now (at least the one I saw) seem to be treating this as a cash cow situation.

Summary for Payon: professional and well equipped clinic. I think Dr. J has been open there for about 3 years and he did one year of work (after graduating from CMU) out in an eastern province before setting up his own practice here. There is a team of about 6 young dentists who work through his clinic and I am not sure if they are somehow are partial owners as well or just work through there. Dr J as already mentioned has great chair-side manner and is very jai dee. Pricing seems to be most reasonable of anything around despite what seems to be best service. Besides Grace I have tried Dentaland, the dental school and 3 other dentists over the past years.

They are about 50 meters after the Rydges Hotel.

[elektrified]

"I refrained from giving any chair-side advice"

Thank god.

[chiang mai]

Free check ups are not uncommon, the Smile Clinic next to Pantip Plaza does same, 100 baht for extra's if needed, a good way to get future potential business and a cheap way to make sure you don't have any dental problems.

[seeker108]

You are correct. The free check up is not uncommon. However great professional service at very reasonable prices is a bit of a rare bird. I am not sure what Smile charges for pulling a wisdom tooth (keep in mind that for wisdom teeth most dentists seem to charge around 5 times more than for other teeth for some reason) as I had not gotten to them on my list yet, when I found Payon. Anyway always good to search this forum for updates and to call around a bit to see what the current pricing and satisfaction level is.

[chiang mai]

You are correct. The free check up is not uncommon. However great professional service at very reasonable prices is a bit of a rare bird. I am not sure what Smile charges for pulling a wisdom tooth (keep in mind that for wisdom teeth most dentists seem to charge around 5 times more than for other teeth for some reason) as I had not gotten to them on my list yet, when I found Payon. Anyway always good to search this forum for updates and to call around a bit to see what the current pricing and satisfaction level is.

Yes you are correct hence it's important to check prices, I find it interesting however that more and more dentists seem to be publishing their prices and putting them on display either in their offices or on their web sites.

[Semper]

They are about 50 meters after the Rydges Hotel.

Passed there today, but did not see any dental clinic. Is it somewhere between the burger joint and the hotel?

[MrBrad]

As they say, "Google is your friend." Especially now that almost all of the city as well as outlying areas for many kilometers beyond are all visible in street view on Google Maps. Click below to see the clinic.

http://maps.google.c...5,,0,-4.55&z=18

[Semper]

As they say, "Google is your friend." Especially now that almost all of the city as well as outlying areas for many kilometers beyond are all visible in street view on Google Maps. Click below to see the clinic.

http://maps.google.c...5,,0,-4.55&z=18

You could also have said that it's 50 south from the hotel. Anyway, great map, never knew that there was an Elephant Camp on Thapae Road. Learn something new every day.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Semper

[DowntownAl]

I think I'll take my cracked (broken) tooth over and have a look. I'll report back.

[TheGoktor]

I think I'll take my cracked (broken) tooth over and have a look. I'll report back.

Have you been yet, Al? What was your experience?

Ever since being treated for an illness several years ago, my upper teeth and gums have declined into a horrible state, so much so that now I find I need some extractions and dentures (due to several teeth being wobbly now). I need to find a reliable and reputable dentist rather quickly (as I am only here until September).

Has anyone had dentures from here?