New Dentist Needed

[chiang mai]

4 minutes ago, rawhod said:

Before we had any treatment at Elite, we received an itemised estimate, which gave an opportunity to check the treatment and the prices.

 

OK, they weren't in the "85 pence" price range, but they certainly weren't in the extortionate price range for private treatment in the UK.

 

KKK...maybe your implant post is 40 dollars on-line, but it's hardly a DIY job...

Fiber post and root canal work is hardly expensive at 7.5k baht.

 

I think that what happens, as most new patients enter dentists for the first time, is that there is a price sensitivity involved, for larger more complicated procedures or courses of work an estimate is given - for the more routine procedures many dentists post their charges on line BUT always in very large ranges of costs. It is then up to the patient to accept or turn down the offer, most newly arrived expats and tourists will compare their estimates against how much they would pay "back home" and look at the savings in that context.

 

But over time, that price sensitivity erodes, as does the comparison with money saved "back home" because this is now home, ergo the way in which we measure these things and our tolerance for them changes. So whilst 1,500 for a filling may have been good value five years ago, because the same cost in the UK then would have been, say, 3,000 baht, it is not necessarily such good value  today, simply because most local people would never consider paying that much money and it is disproportionately expensive in Thailand.

[elektrified]

6 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

I needed a crown and root canal so I shopped around like the thrifty person I am.

 

After several recommendations on here, the same 2, Elite and Empress were on the list.

both places were coming in at circa 25k.

These were the most expensive places.

I was recommended by a Thai to go to the place opposite chiang mai gate market, lots of Thais go there and its run by the professor from the dentistry faculty at the uni. that sounded promising.

 

Went there,it was like stepping back in time....1980s, the place was a hovel, 3 or 4 chairs in bright blue all in the same room, with just one or two strip lights on the ceiling.

 

The price for the same treatment would be circa 16k; however the wait is 5 weeks to get the first procedure (of 5) underway.

 

The thing about the expensive places is they are now almost uniquely running for farangs, no one else can afford them and as such you can get any procedure started the next day.

 

I ended up with the Empress. The first time I went a farang came out and was asked to pay 50k baht for his crown works "but I already paid 50k three weeks ago"

"solly sir, but that was only for the gum surgery and root canal, not the crown"

 

He was floored, both me and the lady beside me just looked at each other in amazement.

 

Over 5 visits of mine, they added on bits and pieces to suit themselves....a difficult root canal or simple, up to them to decide, I pressed for it to be simple.

my root canal work was a pain; I had to cancel the following appointment becasue the dentist had trapped my gums with his clamps. they gave me some medecine of course and I refused to pay for that.

The final fitting of the crown procedure at the end was I think 14k, the cash in my pocket; yet the girl wanted to charge me 200bt for the xray for the benefit of the dentist checking he had fitted it correctly.

 

I refused, I created a scene, and told them how petty they were being after I had paid 25k.

In reply they tried to fob me off with a free tube of sensodyne toothpaste.

 

sensodyne...i ask you, I just had a root canal, why the hell do i need thier sensodyne

my experience was terrible, I think 4 different specialists carried out work on my tooth. in the uk it was one dentist to do the lot, its like everything else here, they always need at least two people to do every job.

 

.

i will not be going back there in future.......the staircase is nice though.

In all fairness the owner is as good as any good dentist in the West, and she is a lovely person. But she has so many patients and is so busy that at times it can take weeks to see her. Then, she only does specific procedures. She does not do fillings, crowns, extractions, etc. anymore. Instead she refers to her many colleagues whom judging by their ages, are perhaps former students? I didn't like any of her colleagues and didn't think the ones i saw were very good or very experienced.  My wife had a horrible experience with one of her oral surgeons and was in excruciating pain. I had a terrible experience with one guy.

 

But we love the owner... Unfortunately her practice has grown too big and the fees are too high now.

[DKNY77]

Empress is horrible and only an idiot who enjoys being ripped off would use Elite..

[Oscar2]

1 hour ago, DKNY77 said:

Empress is horrible and only an idiot who enjoys being ripped off would use Elite..

i use Elite and don't consider them a rip off. almost all the patients are Thais and the quality of dental work is high and pain free.

[Sparkles]

5 hours ago, DKNY77 said:

Empress is horrible and only an idiot who enjoys being ripped off would use Elite..

Well that qualifies my wife and I having many  "horrible" experiences at Empress  along with many other people who are repeat customers. My wife had a crown only 6 weeks ago ,it entailed 4 visits and the quote was 13,000 baht and that's what we paid.At the same time I had a filling and it was 1,000 baht.The price list for all treatments is on the front counter, we were shown it prior to treatment ,its not hidden.  

 

I have never waited for more than 1 week to see Dr Jarunee over the last 5 years,last visit 2 weeks ago,in fact they rang me to remind me the 6 mths was up I was in to get it done within 2 days.I'm not sure where all these horror stories evolve.

 

Eyecatcher As for being given a small tube of toothpaste, that's standard practice , the companies give them to dentists for free,you can use later is that offensive to you?

 

Dr Jarunee is very qualified and I doubt she would employ people who dont know their job.Sure many are not long out  out of Dentistry school.The ones who have given us treatment have all spoken very good English better than some native speakers in fact. All have been very professsional explaining the procedure as they move along.Its not a crime to be young and CMU has a very good record of producing excellent practioners in both the medical and dentistry fields

[MadMac]

Empress is ok, but not special. You get the normal staff treating you and they try to sell you a tooth cleaning the week after you had the last. Ridiculous. Been there for a crown, but wont go there again. It's just convenient if you stay in the south.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed. 

[chiang mai]

Just to wrap this up:

 

So Mrs CM went to see a local dentist in Mae Rim, she went there with the intention of seeing what the new dentist could see in her mouth without being prompted with the findings from her previous visit to Elite.

 

Mrs CM reports back that the premises are very clean and modern looking, staff were all courteous and professional. The initial check up identified a back tooth needing extraction, one x-ray later followed by a totally painless extraction Mrs CM walked out armed with a seven day course of antibiotics and a free tube of toothpaste, less the Baht 800 she paid for the entire process. Note, a second x-ray was taken after extraction to ensure all was kosher. Second Note: fillings are a fixed flat rate of Baht 600.

 

I think I have found my new dentist, courtesy ES for his suggestion. But thanks to all the other posters who have made useful recommendations which may come in handy in the future, thanks even to the dimwit who tried to run interference for providing short lived entertainment.

[llp]

On 8/31/2016 at 11:06 AM, elektrified said:

O.K. but fillings.......another story altogether.

do explain please?  had some cleanings here and molar extraction without an issue

[elektrified]

3 hours ago, llp said:

do explain please?  had some cleanings here and molar extraction without an issue

P.M. sent.

[amexpat]

What's great is there are so many fine dentists in CM. Mine is by on Thapae  rd by the moat.

 

CM dental4u (google)  is at least as good as any I had in the USA.  If a filling is +/-  100 baht, well, c'mon.

 

They have done some very complicated stuff for me with excellent results. e.g. implant with bone graft,

sinus lift, crown.  Perfect.

[Oscar2]

19 minutes ago, amexpat said:

What's great is there are so many fine dentists in CM. Mine is by on Thapae  rd by the moat.

 

CM dental4u (google)  is at least as good as any I had in the USA.  If a filling is +/-  100 baht, well, c'mon.

 

They have done some very complicated stuff for me with excellent results. e.g. implant with bone graft,

sinus lift, crown.  Perfect.

all the same dentists from Elite!

[chiang mai]

3 hours ago, amexpat said:

What's great is there are so many fine dentists in CM. Mine is by on Thapae  rd by the moat.

 

CM dental4u (google)  is at least as good as any I had in the USA.  If a filling is +/-  100 baht, well, c'mon.

 

They have done some very complicated stuff for me with excellent results. e.g. implant with bone graft,

sinus lift, crown.  Perfect.

 

+1, we're actually spoiled for choice, even more reason not to spend 2,000 baht for something that costs 800 baht.

[rogeroc]

Be wary of Dental 4u , i was quite impressed with the procedures they did but left when they became pushy about trying to sell me expensive implants. If you wanted the implant for cosmetic reasons fine but did you really need it?

[chiang mai]

Something similar happened with me at Elite about a year ago when they suggested I go through a process of wearing braces followed by implants and gum restoration. Wearing braces is just not the sort of thing a 67 year old does and the plan was cancelled on that basis. In fact, a dentist at RAM poo poo'ed the idea when I first raised the idea five years earlier, for that very reason, you're 62 she said, do you really want to be wearing braces at age 62, or indeed should you!

[amexpat]

5 hours ago, rogeroc said:

Be wary of Dental 4u , i was quite impressed with the procedures they did but left when they became pushy about trying to sell me expensive implants. If you wanted the implant for cosmetic reasons fine but did you really need it?

 

I absolutely needed it.  The owner, who obviously doesn't also work at elite, shows and explains everything very clearly and will often recommend the least expensive options. Far from pushy. 

[Oscar2]

59 minutes ago, amexpat said:

 

I absolutely needed it.  The owner, who obviously doesn't also work at elite, shows and explains everything very clearly and will often recommend the least expensive options. Far from pushy. 

are Dr.'s Tuen-aree and/or Turen the owner(s)? just curious as all of the other dentists listed on their website practice at elite, dental4u, dentalworld, while Dr. Tuen-aree also has a practice in Silom, Bangkok.

 

i would also be curious to know how much the same dentists from Elite charge at the other 2 clinics. does anyone know if there is a big difference in price from clinic to clinic?

[chiang mai]

29 minutes ago, Oscar2 said:

are Dr.'s Tuen-aree and/or Turen the owner(s)? just curious as all of the other dentists listed on their website practice at elite, dental4u, dentalworld, while Dr. Tuen-aree also has a practice in Silom, Bangkok.

 

i would also be curious to know how much the same dentists from Elite charge at the other 2 clinics. does anyone know if there is a big difference in price from clinic to clinic?

 

Their respective price lists are here:

http://www.elitesmiledentalclinic.com/free&duration.php

http://www.empressdentalclinic.com/wp/fees/

 

They are broadly similar and both are as vague as can be, a filling for example can cost anywhere from 800 baht to 2,500 baht, guess where the median costs is, based on our experience it's never in the lower 50%!

[amexpat]

OOPS!  There is a lot of overlap with elite and dental4u.  Both have websites that list the dentists, fees, etc.

 

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, amexpat said:

OOPS!  There is a lot of overlap with elite and dental4u.  Both have websites that list the dentists, fees, etc.

 

 

Market forces or cartel pricing?

[norfolkandchance]

Phimai . 50 km from Korat. private clinic

2 fillings

Clean and polish

1 extraction

All in 1 sitting

Baht 2.200

 

Happy but Ouch

 

[MissAndry]

I fell over and broke my mouth (silly old moo) last week.

Bone above my front teeth broken and both front teeth forced back, both eye teeth snapped (vampire impression). Went to the CM SiamRat Hospital as they had a Dental hospital attached (corner of Chang Puak and Superhighway). Hospital did stitches and drugs on my Kasikorn accident insurance, but wouldn't pay for dental hospital, wheeled me right out of the accident and emergency into the dental hospital, then back at the end.

 

Dental Hospital

Setting the bone, realigning my front teeth and splinting 1,100bht, no anesthetic just brute force and white Araldite. (I guess he thought it wasn't needed with all the novacain injections the hospital gave me around the lips and nose). A bit of grinding to level everything up. One week later, rebuilding the eye teeth (2 fillings) and resplinting, 1,600bht all my upper teeth are now glued together. I didn't think that was too expensive!

 

He did a really good job of building up my snapped eye teeth, not sure I will need any further repairs to those teeth. Back in 1 month to see what it's like after the bone has healed. Teeth look better than they originally were, much straighter, and a more even bite (but I'm not allowed to bite on them for at least a month). You can't tell there was any injury now, you would need to look really close to notice what appears to be white braces on my upper teeth.

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by MissAndry

[SooKee]

Had an old back filling collapse last week and went for a scout today to check out some pricing.  Tried to go to the fellow in Jhoban Rd but seems they are closed on Friday.  Then went to Dental4U.  Seems the work I need is not quite so simple and the quote for the full extent of the work on an upper right molar:

 

Full X-Ray: 800

Root canal: 6,500

Post: 3,500

Crown: 12,000 and up

 

Other charges were:

 

Clean: 1,000

Deep Clean: This they seem to charge by section of mouth for at 300 a shot.

 

At some stage she also suggested replacing a filling I have with a crown, but, up to you.

 

Core: 1,500

Crown: 8,000

 

 Not crazy pricey but not cheap.  Probably the most expensive job you might need to get done I guess. Dread to think what it'd cost in the West!  I had the X-Ray there and they did a quick simple filling too for which the charge was 800.

 

On the way home I called in at Empress to compare prices, just for the big job though..

 

X-Ray: 200 / 500  (200 was for a small X-ray targeting a specific area)

Root Canal: 8,000

Post: 3,000

Crown: 9,000 and up

 

Swings and roundabouts I guess.  Not a great deal in it, assuming all other things are equal.  The cost of the crowns is lower but the other work racks the price up again.  Plus I'd need the X-Ray again, cutting in to any savings.  I might look at Empress for the simple crown if the prices come out lower than 9,000 all in.

 

I'm keen to get it over and done with and D4U can fit me in for tomorrow morning for R/C work and Sunday for cleaning etc.  Then later in the week for the post / crown.  That'll be 22K thank you very much 

 

I might call in at Jhoban Road on the way to D4U tomorrow and see what he quotes.  If there's a drastic difference I might switch.  I was impressed with D4U though, with the surgery, their equipment (that all seems very modern) and the staff, and esp the dentist!!  The simple filling was done quick and painlessly without anaesthetic.  All done in about 15 mins.

 

Not looking forward to the next bit mind.

Edited September 30, 2016 by SooKee

[SooKee]

Just by way of update. Today I called in and compared prices at Jhoban Road. The prices for the same root canal / crown were much the same.

X-ray: 500
Root Canal: 5-6,000
Post: 2,500 - 5,000 (though I guess for upper molar it would be at least as much as the other places at 3,500 given its an upper molar)
Crown: 12,000

They explained that better crown material was all they had. Seems the cheaper options might not be on the menu at some places.

Clearly a popular dentist but as a one man show the problem was I couldn't have got an appointment before 18 October. But at the same price I wasn't bothered. I guess quite happy that I'm not paying over the odds at D4U given I they could do the work immediately.

I'll likely stick with D4U for now I think given they have my X-Ray and history already.


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[cmsally]

Another very good option is the dentist on corner of Moonmuang soi 2

[CaptainCM]

I tried DENTALWORLD before for cleaning, filling and Implants.  All is fine and not over-charge for 'farang'. They just charge about the same as the price listed over their website.  Dentist with good English speaking. I did not have any communication problem.  At that time, the dentist, who is an owner, took care of my 2 implants about 2 yrs ago.  Very impressed and no problem at all till now!

[Viking7113]

A good dentist!!

 

     I have just used  a dental office that I can recommend  whole heartedly.   The  Friendly Dental Clinic on Prakkplao  Road is awesome  as far as dentists go.    The  office is  on the corner of Prakklao road and the moat  next  to the  moat.  The office hours are monday to friday 100pm - 800pm  monday to friday.  I am not familiar with the weekend hours. The dentists  were thorough and consulted  extensively and gave me  some options and issues to be aware of.  I found the dentists to have good english skills and answered my question.  The charges were reasonable-- fillings 600baht- cleaning  600 baht-  tooth extraction--500 baht  to 1000 baht depending on complexity.  A good sign is that the  office is usually very busy.

[stament]

I love these dentist threads that come up from time to time, everyone seems to have good and bad experiences about all those mentioned most of the time so it's diffcult to make a choice in most cases. Pricing also tends to become an issue and rightly so if it's major work as it can be very expensive as opposed to a routine check-up.

 

I am a simple guy, if I like my current dentist and I think he does a good job then provided the prices aren't hiked excessively I prefer to stay as I trust him. He has some some very good work for me, quite major work all which was pain free.

 

One thing I have noticed here is that dentists seem to distinguish between treating adults and children, whereas in England most dentists treat all patients. Is there any particular reason for this? I would have thought all teeth were the same, apart from the obvious milk teeth, but the principles I mean, which to me wouldn't necessitate separate "specialist" children's dentists like they have here. Am I wrong in my thinking?

 

Or do some dentists just prefer not to treat children perhaps due to their behaviour and others perhaps prefer not to treat adults for the same reason! . Interested to know the reason for this as I have tried to take my sons to dentists before here in CM only to be told, oh no we don't treat children or we only treat children on a Tuesday! Perhaps Tuesday is when the child dentist works? Or is it perhaps just the usual Thai logic being applied and no deviation however rational?

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, stament said:

I love these dentist threads that come up from time to time, everyone seems to have good and bad experiences about all those mentioned most of the time so it's diffcult to make a choice in most cases. Pricing also tends to become an issue and rightly so if it's major work as it can be very expensive as opposed to a routine check-up.

 

I am a simple guy, if I like my current dentist and I think he does a good job then provided the prices aren't hiked excessively I prefer to stay as I trust him. He has some some very good work for me, quite major work all which was pain free.

 

One thing I have noticed here is that dentists seem to distinguish between treating adults and children, whereas in England most dentists treat all patients. Is there any particular reason for this? I would have thought all teeth were the same, apart from the obvious milk teeth, but the principles I mean, which to me wouldn't necessitate separate "specialist" children's dentists like they have here. Am I wrong in my thinking?

 

Or do some dentists just prefer not to treat children perhaps due to their behaviour and others perhaps prefer not to treat adults for the same reason! . Interested to know the reason for this as I have tried to take my sons to dentists before here in CM only to be told, oh no we don't treat children or we only treat children on a Tuesday! Perhaps Tuesday is when the child dentist works? Or is it perhaps just the usual Thai logic being applied and no deviation however rational?

Do a bit of research and you will find that there is special dental training for dentists treating children, done properly it requires some special knowledge.  Quite reasonable if you think about it, growing death and mouths are different from those no longer growing.

[stament]

No research required Dante99 as you've now answered my Q. Perhaps we should adopt the same practice in the UK if it leads to better treatment. 

 

Now I have my answer I sense a new thread coming on