Bad experience at DELETED Dental Hospital

[jackspade]

Me: late 20's.

Just wanted to warn other members here of the lousy service I received at DELETED Dental Hospital for a crown.

When I was back in the States, my dentist x-rayed my teeth (with a sparkling office and the latest imaging technology) and told me that I had two lower molars that needed crowns due to cracking. I thought what the hell, I'll go get it done in Thailand for a fraction of the cost.

Enter DELETED Dental Hospital.

-- Day ONE --

I get in line at reception to have my card made. The stone-faced attendants take my photo, issue me a card, and send me upstairs. After waiting for 45 minutes, I'm ushered into the dentist's chair.

The lady, whose attitude is one of total aloofness and a kind of subtle impatience, asks me what kind of crown material I want and hands me a sheet describing the different materials.

She administers some anesthetic. I ask her if she could administer a double-dose as this is what my dentists have always done in the states due to the high sensitivity of my teeth. She refuses and says, "let's see first" and starts drilling away.

The pain is excruciating, I cannot hold my head still. Finally she relents, administers another shot of painkillers, and continues.

The pain is exquisitely agonizing—more pain than I have ever experienced in my life—yet there is nothing I can do, so I grip the sides of the chair and tense my entire body for the next 10 minutes, which seem to last an eternity. She spends the whole time complaining that my tongue is in the way and I need to push it to the back of my mouth.

Finally there comes a point when the she aloofly says, "you're too sensitive. I can't make you a porcelain crown because I can't cut deep enough into your tooth. You need a metal crown." Of course, I hadn't originally asked for a metal crown because I'd rather not look like Captain Jack Sparrow when I smile. It's something I could make a decision on if I had time, but this lady is impatient. "You need to make a decision because I have patients waiting". So there I am, sitting in the chair, my mind reeling from pain, having to decide if I want to spend the rest of my life with visible metal in my face. I ask her if the tooth will be visible when I smile. "I don't know, you decide," the poker-faced doc replies.

I finally tell her I'll take the metal crown because I can't imagine going through all of that pain again. I cross my fingers that it won't be easily visible.

After all is said and done, I walk out with the temporary crown and an appointment to come back in 10 days for the "real" crown.

On the 9th day, the hospital calls me to inform me that my appointment has been canceled (NO REASON PROVIDED) and moved to ANOTHER 10 days later.

I get my Thai girlfriend to call the hospital and complain. She gets ahold of the nurse, who tells us we can come in the NEXT DAY provided we come at 11 AM. If I could come in the next day, WHY DID THEY PUSH ME TO 10 DAYS LATER IN THE FIRST PLACE?

-- Day TWO --

I come in at 11 AM and the first thing they tell us is we might have to wait until the AFTERNOON because the dentist might have some NEW CLIENTS in the morning. Ah. So this is how it works. Focus on getting new clients, and treat the ones you have like dirt. This is Thailand!

As luck would have it, I'm called in after only 30 minutes wait. I greet the dentist with a polite sawatdee-krap. She barely acknowledges my presence so I sit down in the chair and wait. She pops in the shiny Jack-Sparrow crown, which is WAY TOO HIGH, preventing me from closing my mouth completely. After several attempts to finish it off, occasionally asking me if it's too high, she starts SAWING OFF THE TEETH ABOVE THE CROWN to make room for the crown! I personally find this ridiculous. I would have made an effort to resist, but doing so is difficult when someone has tools of doom in your moth.

Finally, she gives up (out of, what I can determine, impatience) and decides to then and there, without asking me if it's still too high, cement it (temporarily) into place and tells me she's finished and to come back in 10 days. The thing is, it's STILL TOO DAMN HIGH and when I close my mouth, NONE OF MY OTHER TEETH MAKE CONTACT. I realize that a new crown is going to feel weird and strange, but I'm no idiot, and this crown clearly needs to be taken down another 1/8 - 1/4 mm or so.

I get my Thai GF to explain to the dentist that the crown is too high. Lady Poker Face says, "Try to get used to it over the next week."

The rest of the day I found it extremely difficult to eat as the crown kept hitting the tooth above it. What's more, the next morning, I was taking a (careful) bite of food and the crown just slid right off.

I immediately phoned Bangkok Dental Center at Rachadaphisek, and I'll be seeing them this afternoon to fix and finalize the crown...

Even my Thai GF agreed that the service at DELETED left much to be desired and that the dentist (who I'm convinced is a robot) utterly lacked a service mindset.

TL;DR:

There is a REASON that the prices are lower at DELETED! Go somewhere else for your dental work...

Edited June 3, 2016 by seedy
NAME AND SHAME

[NickJ]

Horrible story.....Sorry for you. Hope you get this sorted out. I have been lucky myself. I have two crowns. One from a small clinic on lower Sukhumvit that I got ten years ago. Perfect. My last very recent. super gentle and ZERO pain. I , like you ask for the extra dose of painkiller as well..no worries. Even after the root canal when the appliance was going to be molded my dentist asked if I wanted a shot. Felt kinda like a little kid at that point.

Thr only problem I had was the temp fake tooth popped off the next day and I had to

see a diffrent dentist to have it reglued. She dropped it and I almost swallowed it. Poor lady must have apologized nine times.

There are some good dentists out there so hope you find one......

[seedy]

OP post Edited. PM for details

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[gerryBScot]

Hey Jack one thing you omitted from your tale of woe was how much did it cost? I use a dentist in Hua Hin and she's the best dentist I've had anywhere in the world and I travel 120 km just to get treated by her.

[NickJ]

I used a Woman Dentist in HH as well once. Across from Market Village. Forgot her name but a real credit to dentists. One of the best I ever had.......

[nottocus]

Sounds like she became a dentist in the same way that many people become doctors in Thailand.

Edited June 3, 2016 by nottocus

[jackspade]

Hey Jack one thing you omitted from your tale of woe was how much did it cost? I use a dentist in Hua Hin and she's the best dentist I've had anywhere in the world and I travel 120 km just to get treated by her.

7000 baht for her "service". The price of the metal itself was 9000.

Edited June 3, 2016 by jackspade

[gerryBScot]

Hey Jack one thing you omitted from your tale of woe was how much did it cost? I use a dentist in Hua Hin and she's the best dentist I've had anywhere in the world and I travel 120 km just to get treated by her.

7000 baht for her "service". The price of the metal itself was 9000.

Ouch and ouch again.

[hyperdimension]

Where is it?

[jackspade]

UPDATE

Just left Bangkok International Dental Center where I had a chat with one of their dentists.

He examined my crown and said that they cannot "fix" it for me as they do not believe it is well fit to my tooth. He suggested that I return to the first dentist at Deleted Dental Hospital and ask them to fix it.

Or, I can get a new, quality one from the new doctor, that fits correctly, made of material that is tooth-colored, and the bonus is I have a gold, tooth shaped pendant to wear around my neck!

[thai3]

I'd put money on this place being on a soi 49, the original place that is.

Edited June 3, 2016 by thai3

[jackspade]

I'd put money on this place being on a soi 49, the original place that is.

It is not, actually. There are lots of dental hospitals/faculties/clinics in BKK (and a few big ones, at that).

The one on Soi 49 is a popular one, though, from what I hear.

Edited June 3, 2016 by jackspade

[thai3]

Well now I know where it is it is a place I went to several times, until they lied about me needing a crown when there was no need at all so never went back. Small places are better than large dentists with dozens of preactitioners

[DogNo1]

I had several disasterous encounters with dentists in Bangkok from expensive to pretty cheap. I won't go into my problems in detail, just say that each one of them and their dental assistants left much to be desired. If I had followed the advice of one dentist at an expensive hospital, I'd now be undergoing multiple extractions and the insertion of 4-5 implants at a horrendous cost. Instead, my dentist in Tokyo, where I live for the warm months, is working on saving my teeth and installing new bridges. It seems that I may need one implant. All but the implant is covered under my Japanese National Health Insurance. The implant will cost me around $2,500. In Bangkok, I was looking at a total bill of about $25,000. That's ten times the cost (to me) in Japan. I'll be able to enjoy a lot of things in Bangkok with that $20,000!

[JHolmesJr]

Ive had a good experience at dr sunil dental in bkk.....had a root canal and a crown done....so far no infections, pain ....touch wood.

[rijit]

overall i was pleased with the

service st Louis gave me but.looking back there was one dentist that was a complete nightmare had to be really " firm' with her and tell the admin that i'de prefer not to have her in future

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[fredge45]

UPDATE

Just left Bangkok International Dental Center where I had a chat with one of their dentists.

He examined my crown and said that they cannot "fix" it for me as they do not believe it is well fit to my tooth. He suggested that I return to the first dentist at Deleted Dental Hospital and ask them to fix it.

Or, I can get a new, quality one from the new doctor, that fits correctly, made of material that is tooth-colored, and the bonus is I have a gold, tooth shaped pendant to wear around my neck!

Seems that you haven't learned yet that there is a time when you should just stop any procedure and leave. The white coat does not make them a god by any means.

[hyperdimension]

Can you provide GPS coordinates (e.g. from Google Maps)?

I think you can submit a review of places on Google Maps. Maybe you can share your experience that way so that others who see the place on Google Maps will know to avoid it.

[Sheryl]

The facility referred to is a government facility.

And it has some excellent dentists, though obviously at least one bad one.

True of most places.

Avoiding a "place" will not help. It is specific individuals that need to be avoided.

Unfortunately in a government facility usually cannot choose one's doctor. but when initial signs are not encouraging best to terminate the interaction and change to another dentist/doctor.

[thai3]

Actually it's not that cheap, they put their prices up quite a bit about 2 years ago. Last crown I had there was the cheapest quality (not what I asked for) and all in with root canal it was 17k. They have free treatment day on a certain somebody's birthday in April, I imagine it's packed out.

Edited June 4, 2016 by thai3

[jackspade]

I'd like to add that I did some research at home and the "slight sawing away of upper teeth to make room for a lower crown" is actually quite a common occurrence so should not be held against the dentist.

However, the pain was still the worst I have experienced in my life (to the point of nearly having an OBE) and I will not be going back.

Edited June 4, 2016 by jackspade

[jackspade]

The facility referred to is a government facility.

And it has some excellent dentists, though obviously at least one bad one.

True of most places.

Avoiding a "place" will not help. It is specific individuals that need to be avoided.

Unfortunately in a government facility usually cannot choose one's doctor. but when initial signs are not encouraging best to terminate the interaction and change to another dentist/doctor.

Very true.

The problem with government facilities (as I have begun to realize, and as is true of many countries, not just Thailand) is they cannot be held accountable for negative experiences by free markets. Therefore, they have no real competition and therefore no reason to go "above and beyond".

Edited June 4, 2016 by jackspade

[Chivas]

If the location cannot be disclosed than its simply completely pointless in the OP remaining there !! (That's not against you OP)

[hyperdimension]

Avoiding a "place" will not help. It is specific individuals that need to be avoided.

That's a good point. We therefore need to know exactly who this dentist is so that other people won't suffer a similar fate.

[thai3]

big place near vic monument if that can be said

[NickJ]

The dentists I have dealt with here over the years have all had an above average bedside manner. Friendly and polite. If I was ever put into a position where I was given an attitude there would be no way I would put up with it. I think thats what we can glean from this horrible experience. Dont take sh@t.

[jackspade]

If the location cannot be disclosed than its simply completely pointless in the OP remaining there !! (That's not against you OP)

Ah, and therein lies the power of the PM (private message, not Prime Minister—not so obviously...)

[hyperdimension]

If the location cannot be disclosed than its simply completely pointless in the OP remaining there !! (That's not against you OP)

Ah, and therein lies the power of the PM (private message, not Prime Minister—not so obviously...)

Thank you jackspade for sharing the desired information via private message.

As pointed out by Sheryl, it is more reliable to know the name of the dentist (and the clinic(s) he or she works at) than only the name of the clinic. We can all help each other by sharing with each other both good and bad experiences of medical procedures done, including the names of both the clinic and the medical practitioner. However, since this forum disappointingly does not allow explicit names when the experience was a negative one, that particular information must be communicated via private message.

[Sheryl]

This is not a peculiarity of the forum. rather it is the forum having to follow Thai laws, both for its own protection and that of its posters.

Thailand has draconian defamation laws. Unlike most countries, truth is not a defense...it is a crime to publically state anything that hurts another's reputation no matter how true it may be.

[MJCM]

This is not a peculiarity of the forum. rather it is the forum having to follow Thai laws, both for its own protection and that of its posters.

Thailand has draconian defamation laws. Unlike most countries, truth is not a defense...it is a crime to publically state anything that hurts another's reputation no matter how true it may be.

Oh so true, but still unfortunately a lot of members don't know that and just easily blame TV and the moderators but they are just protecting them from prosecution.