Help me choose a BKK dentist for restorations

[seancho]

Well, I've just read through a bunch of these dental threads, but there are only a couple from this year. I'm curious where BKK people are going these days for top quality dental work. I have about 4 crowns I need done. Seems like overall the general standard of care is pretty high among the top rated clinics in BKK, but I need to narrow down to one to do this work. Best I can tell so far, prices are similar for 50% gold crowns at most of these places, about 18k baht each, so I'm looking for opinions on who is currently doing the best quality dental restorations, with least amount of BS.

Top recommended clinics seem to be these...

BIDC

Asavanant

Thantakit

Bumrungrad

Dental Hospital

Sunil

I've been to BIDC at Siam Paragon and had some x-rays taken. I liked the admitting dentist. Top 3 on the list have their own dental labs, with on-site CAD/CAM milling machines, which tells me they are serious about crowns.

Opinions, experiences? The best would be to hear from people who have been to several of these places fairly recently. Bonus if there are specific dentists working at these clinics who should be sought out. Quality of work is the main determiner but if someone does top level crown work and has much better prices (or worse), then that would be good to know.

Another thought, I'll be headed to Chiang Mai after the work is completed, so if there is someone up there doing work at the same top level, then that might save me a week in BKK. For now, I'm assuming that the best Thai dentists work in Bangkok.

Thanks for any insight making the choice easier. Choosing someone to grind down and cap your teeth is not very much fun.

[Lumbini]

EMax all ceramic or 3M Lava would be top two choices with CAD/CAM milling [emoji106]

Looks like you did your homework .

Edited March 24, 2016 by Lumbini

[smokie36]

Thonglor by Soi 3 on the left coming from the BTS...small clinic.

The dentist who is there on Mondays crowned one of my molars in December...excellent result.

No idea where she works the rest of the time but all of her work was excellent.

Cost for the crown using the expensive stuff., ceramic I think, was18k Baht.

[DogNo1]

Bumrungrad recently quoted me a price of 30,000 for a crown so you may want to strike it off your list.

[Sandy Freckle]

Over the last 3 years I've had a few visits to BIDC in Bangers..., I return for the final visit next month. I guess I've pretty much had close to the full range of dental treatments there. The service, cleanliness, and quality of work has all been exemplary, this has been confirmed twice by 2 dentist in Australia.., one an orthodontist, was simply gushy about the quality of work. It's certainly not as cheap as many places in Bkk but it still panned out at around 1/3rd to 1/2 of the Australian prices for 'full' restorative dental treatment..., including bone grafts, implants, crowns etc etc.
Pardon the pun but I've been pretty much gob smacked by the whole experience as I was shit scared when I first showed up there.
I had only one comparatively minor issue..., re language. I had to ask many questions before I could fully understand what was being said to me..., excuse me but I wanted to know exactly what they would be doing in my mouth during that first 5 hours in the chair (followed by a 2 hour break and another 3 hours)...., 7 crowns later I was able to go away and sup what I thought was a really good green curry seafood soup - down on Suk soi 11.
I thought the price was worth it to end up with a mouth full of functionalgood looking choppers...., rather than put up with dentures for the rest of my life.

PS..., always ask for written estimates or quotes and check/question everything from day 1 right up until you pay the bill.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Sandy Freckle

[seancho]

This is all very good information. Thank you. Sandy, was there a particular dentist you worked with at BIDC? Which office did you go to, the main one on Ratchadapesik Rd?

[Sandy Freckle]

Yes seancho.., Ratchadaphisek Rd.

Dr Onusa was the main one who performed most of the work and planned my course of action(it was pretty complex).
The guy who did the bone grafts and implants is an orthopaedic surgeon who's name escapes me at the moment..., he had slightly bad breath and wasn't as 'gentle' as Dr. Onusa. The main thing is; never at any time did I feel any pain..., although with all the local needles(5) it felt like everything below my nose had turned into one big squid..., if you catch my drift.
Importantly..., after every treatment I was free to go and eat ..., I also rewarded myself with a couple of cold libations as well !
Remember, by Thai standards, BIDC is not cheap.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Sandy Freckle

[seancho]

Thanks, again. I have an appt. with Dr. Onusa on Monday. Good to have a 1st hand recommendation going in. I'll tell him Sandy sent me.

[mindovermatter]

How did your restoration go? My partner's dad had a full mouth restoration done at Thantakit Dental and he saved almost half from what was quoted to him back in the US. I've also been to Thantakit for several times before and I always had a pleasant experience. Their dentists were professional, gentle and we never had any problem with communication. Indeed, choosing a dental place isn't a walk in the park.

[Rocketsurgeon]

I'm leaving Dental Hospital. Done, 13 years. Just had it with the prices. Service is slipping also.

Not recommended is BIDC based on the cleaning I had some years back and all the annoying signs placed all over the bldg. Nothing special IMO.

[Sandy Freckle]

Thanks, again. I have an appt. with Dr. Onusa on Monday. Good to have a 1st hand recommendation going in. I'll tell him Sandy sent me.

..., but Dr Onusa would not know me as Sandy. I hope it went well...., I'm scheduled to revisit there myself in a couple of weeks.

[seancho]

Yeah, I had a good experience with Dr. Onusa. I saw her and an endodontist at BIDC, and I found them both to be skilled, professional and pleasant to deal with. I had a cleaning from Dr. Onusa as well. It was thorough and inexpensive. The only thing I didn't like about BIDC was that their website overstates certain things about their facilities. For instance, the website heavily implies that their prosthetics, crowns, etc, are made on site in their lab, when they actually order out for these, like most other clinics. I didn't see any microscope in the endodontic treatment room either, though they are mentioned on the website. Can't fault the practitioners for the clinic's web marketing, however. The quality of care was very good.

Edited May 5, 2016 by seancho

[Lumbini]

"The only thing I didn't like about BIDC was that their website overstates certain things about their facilities. For instance, the website heavily implies that their prosthetics, crowns, etc, are made on site in their lab, when they actually order out for these, like most other clinics. "

This was and eye opener for me too that I just recently found out about when I asked point blank do you have your own milling facility [emoji24]

I will talk to the customer service person there about this very deceptive marketing as you see in picture the milling machine but it is not on site and done by another company . If I am wrong I will post back , Seancho's post I think above is accurate

If I knew then what I know now , more later as I investigate , stay tuned [emoji445]

On-Site Dental Laboratories

Bangkok International Dental Center (BIDC) is one of the few dental clinics in Bangkok with dedicated dentist laboratories within its building. BIDC's on-site dental laboratories specializes in aesthetic ceramics for porcelain veneers, crowns, bridge, inlays and onlays work as well as for prosthetics works on dental implants including dental implant crowns and bridges.

Our dental lab uses the advance 3M CAM/CAD computerized Lava Scan and milling machine for precise color shade selection and digitalized millling enabling more detailed natural-looking aesthetic ceramic veneers, crowns and bridge.

http://www.bangkokdentalcenter.com/thailanddentist/about-thailand-dental-lab.html

Edited May 5, 2016 by Lumbini

[Lumbini]

On-Site Dental Laboratories

Bangkok International Dental Center (BIDC) is one of the few dental clinics in Bangkok with dedicated dentist laboratories within its building. BIDC's on-site dental laboratories specializes in aesthetic ceramics for porcelain veneers, crowns, bridge, inlays and onlays work as well as for prosthetics works on dental implants including dental implant crowns and bridges.

Our dental lab uses the advance 3M CAM/CAD computerized Lava Scan and milling machine for precise color shade selection and digitalized millling enabling more detailed natural-looking aesthetic ceramic veneers, crowns and bridge.

http://www.bangkokdentalcenter.com/thailanddentist/about-thailand-dental-lab.html

BIDC is one of the few dental clinic in Bangkok with an on-site dental laboratory for its ceramic and porcelain veneers, crowns, bridge labworks ensuring quality controls and quick treatment timings

BIDC's dental lab holds one out of two 3M All Ceramic Lava Design CAM/CAD system in Thailand for all ceramic veneers, crowns, bridge labworks. The 3M computerized system being the latest version and generation of the two Lava Design System in Thailand.

http://www.bangkokdentalcenter.com/thailanddentist/fees-promotions.html

Edited May 5, 2016 by Lumbini

[BKKdreaming]

How long does it take for the off site lab to make everything ?

and if ts not right what is the turn around time to make/modify the ones needing fixing ?

[Lumbini]

Top places now have Digital Dental Impressions and their own milling machines that take things to whole other level but good luck finding it in Thailand where the owners of dental clinics seem to be cheap Charlie's .. Remember biting down on a tray of putty-like material, so a model could be made of your teeth? A digital imaging device now makes that unnecessary. Instead, your teeth can be “dusted” with a fine reflective powder, which is then recorded by a special camera. A series of images is converted into a 3-D model, which can be used to assess a tooth’s condition or fabricate dental restorations. Then this is loaded into an office milling machine on site that mills a perfect fitting crown from pure ceramic block that fits much better than old way and has much fewer problems later as the fit is so digitally perfect making a perfect fit and seal so decay under crown years later is almost nonexistent . When I have email clinics here asking about it and if they have this or plan to get this technology none have replied . There is a reason I guess Dental is cheap here and good but best anywhere ? I doubt it , I use to think you could get same work here as anywhere in the world but now know that's not so for many reasons but the value is good here but don't expect same results that are possible from clinics that stay on cutting edge with equipment costs not an issue spending whatever it takes for the latest technology .

Edited May 5, 2016 by Lumbini

[Sandy Freckle]

Very interesting stuff you've posted Lumbini..., very relevant for me as I'll be having the last of my dental work there in a couple of weeks.

[seancho]

I wouldn't be too hard on BIDC. Yes the marketing about their lab is misleading, notice that the carefully-parsed language on the website never actually states that crowns, etc are fabricated on-site, but, as Sandy and I have found, the dentists working there are trustworthy pros and do quality work. I would recommend them. When I asked, I was told they have an in-house lab that can do 'adjustments'. Anyway, the crowns only take 3 days to get back to the prosthodontist and they are high-quality, so it's not a big issue in any event.

An example of why I like BIDC: I had one tooth that had a serious problem with a crack. Dr. Onusa spent time treating the tooth, and then sent me downstairs to the endodontist when she found it needed a root canal. The endodontist started the root canal, got to the bottom of the tooth and found a crack there. He called in Dr Onusa, and they took a lot of time showing me photos, and explaining to me that the tooth was a bad candidate for a root canal/crown as it would probably be lost. Dr Onusa rebuilt the tooth, to let me get it extracted later. Probably 2.5 hours total time by two dental specialists, but since the treatment was unsuccessful, there was no charge. They could have just done the RCT and crown on the doomed tooth anyway and charged me 30k baht, me none the wiser, but those docs obviously take professional pride in giving the best treatment even when they don't get paid. I also like how all of BIDC's pricing is transparent, and I think costs are competitive for quality of care.

As far as the CAD/CAM thing goes, I did a little research and it seems that opinions are by no means universal about the superiority of the new milling technology. Yes you can get your tooth crowned in one appointment, but I have read dentists who say that, for the very best fit, they still prefer pressed Emax, ie made in a lab, crowns to the computer milled variety. Milled crowns are probably the future, but, for now, lab fabricated crowns may still be slightly better.

I just had a crown put on today in Chiang Mai, (long story, I had to get one done here) and the Thai lab that made it is Dutch-run and sends their crowns all over the world - to Europe, the States, etc. The frustrating thing about trying to be an informed consumer of dental services is you can't really know how good the work you're getting is. But I feel very good about getting a crown from a Thai lab obviously operating up to top international standards. With nothing else to go by, I'd prefer this to one made in a Bangkok dental clinic. BIDC may be using this lab, as well. I don't know.

http://www.hexadentallab.com/aboutus.php

Edited May 6, 2016 by seancho