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Q: Dentist in China- a fools errand?
Feeling a twinge of pain, are the tooth pullers worth their salt in China?
It's bad enough going at home but really dreading it here.
Any advice much appreciated.
10 years 27 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
find the best dental school in the nearest major city and the big bosses get their perks at the school and run their own clinic at night for side income. they can have crowns made at the school at no cost to them and charge lower prices, probably need a chinese speaker to get the information, i have a dentist professor at the school who runs her own clinic and did a root canal and crown for 800 rmb, the hospital she teaches and works at wanted 2000 rmb, but it is the best in jinan, so they say.
Like in the hospitals, patients at the dentist get the joy of sharing their tooth problems with all and sundry. Let me list a few quirky things about the dentists:
1. Windows that allow passers-by to watch the show
2. Don't expect a pain killer or a local anesthetic
3. Watch carefully where the instruments are taken from - there is likely to be no sterilization and what is put in your mouth was recently in the mouth of the previous patient
4. Ask for a cup of water to rinse. It won't be offered and hence not supplied unless requested
5. On a positive note you won't need to take a lot of money with you. It is cheap but the above 4 points tells you why.
I am sure you can do better with dental care in Shanghai and Beijing but in the outer provinces this is my experience. Good luck.
Rin:
I paid 10 kuai for an anaesthetic. I asked for it or I wouldn't of got it.
dentists are scary and i dont wanna try them in china.
better dont take the cheapest one
I live in Suzhou and can only speak about the dentist there, but there are several ultra modern dentist offices with western trained/certified dentist from Canada and the US. They are not exactly cheap, but then again do you want some 3rd world dental student in your mouth.
DrMonkey:
Hum, if you could give an address, me and my teeth would be quite thankful 
CharlieB:
Sorry, I was in the middle of moving and without internet for a few days. There is one next to Starbuck's at the corner of Jinji Hu Lu and Xing Gang street in SIP. Also check out this link. It is echinacities guide to the best English speaking dentist in Suzhou.
http://www.echinacities.com/Suzhou/city-guide/The-Best-English-Speaking-Dentists-in-Suzhou#page_cmt
I found it by typing dentist in suzhou china into google
I was at the dentist here recently. Observations
1. She didn't actually touch my teeth with fingers nor tools.
2. She said she couldn't fix the problem that was the reason I was there (small chip of a molar) She then went on to say it couldn't be done blah blah blah and only solution would be to put a crown on it. I then pointed out that I had a tooth in the other side of the mouth that has had the exact same problem. Dentist said, this is not possible to do. And this is the important part, she didn't say she didn't know how to do it, but that what has already been done, couldn't be done. And I paid 5 RMB for that consultation. Guess my tooth will have to wait until next time I go home.
3. The lack of privacy. The chair I was in was in a room next to another chair. A girl was having major drilling done. After I was done, the wife was talking to the dentist a bit and in comes a kid running, he stands right next to the girls and stares into her mouth... OK, but the dentist continued drilling while he was staring at the kid, this was perhaps 3-4 seconds of unsupervised drilling, could hear the grinding sounds, so he was actually moving through the tooth.
4. The clinic was recommended to me for being one of the best and most modern in town. I don't want to see the other clinics. Like hospitals, there is lack of cleaning, mold on the walls etc.
IrvineWelsh:
Had a very similar experience today, only it was a lower front tooth that was impossible to repair.
The place was also filthy beyond belief- despite being in one of the 'best' hospitals in town.
I went to a large hospital, it had a dental office within. I had a check-up because there was some pain the previous week and I believe I have a cavity. She said she didn't see any cavities. (It's been three years since I saw a dentist, so i'm pretty sure there's at least one, but anyway..) I got the cleaning done, which was a scraping of the plaque. There was a private cubicle and all that, but the spittoon sink where you spit...blood and mucus all over the place. That was unsettling but it was fine just getting a cleaning. Left with smooth teeth, a little reassurance that I didn't have cavities, and only 100 RMB poorer. No pain. The downside was that it took all day to get in, waiting in a hospital waiting area. That sucked.
Personally, I've used Dr. Lu in Guangzhou:
http://www.drludental.com/english/index.htm
He's runs a more modern operation in a upscale office tower in downtown Guangzhou, it actually feels like a dentist's office back home. Clean, modern equipment, single use tools/needles/instruments are opened in front of you, etc.. suction, water, rinse dish, it's all there with complete privacy.
I find the price to be around 1/2 to 2/3 the price of back home. If I recall, It was around 300 RMB to do a white enamel filling (less if you just want silver) and it was around 4000-5000 to do a root canal + color matched crown.
Lots of the expats here in Kunming take a trip to Thailand. We are pretty close to Thailand so not an expensive trip and the dental work is top class.
Larger cities have international dental clinics with expat dentists and international prices.
Good luck!
Only once went to someone claiming to be a dentist with one chair in a corner of a pharmacy.
He was sound asleep. Everything looked dirty, but he had been recommended. So, I' sucked it up' and asked him to look at a tooth that was giving me a pain. Without an x-ray, but a quick glance he decided the tooth needs pulling. I left before he could do this, paid him 5 RMB for consutlation. Then he went back to his nap.
I prefer not to take a risk so I wait for my summer holidays to get my teeth fixed. Besides it seems ALL of my chinese friends/students have never been to a dentist so they can't recommend me a clinic in town. I'm envious to them and their teeth.
Scandinavian:
Yeah, Growing up in a country without sugary candy does have it's perks. Wait 10 years and see how all the little emperors teeth will handle being filled with western garbage each time they ask.
Rin:
Wow, I worked in a kindergarden before, all the kids had rotten/black teeth.
dom87:
yeah but they are young to the teeth fall out and they get the real ones. maybe after that they dont eat candy anymore lol
Samm11:
Its not all about candies. I'd say genetically chinese teath are better.
I have pretty much spent the past month in the dentist and have had two teeth extractions (wisdom) and cannot praise my dentist enough. His cleanliness is the best I've seen, he's kind and does a professional job, plus all the work i've had/having done costs more than ten times less than back home. Ask a Chinese person you trust to look into a good dentist (this is what I did) and decide when you get there. I honestly was not expecting such a good service.
my first visit in 2006 the guy just starts drilling,,, no pain-killer or nothing ! that's an eye-opener for sure... felt like some B-grade Horror movie... I stopped him and made him give me a pain-killer shot... he gave me that shot with what looked like a syringe from the 1950's... lol... classic. gave me the shot w/out a topical either... another eye-opener I can tell u !
*on the 'why do you want to be a Dentist' questionaire is there sth about 'I'm into sadism' ?
dom87:
well thats everywhere like that, you have to be a sadist and like other peoples pain to be a dentist or you gonna hate your life.
EVERYONE hates dentists, tooth pain is the worst of all pains
Samm11:
Why would you need pain-killers for simple drilling? Unless your root channell is opened, the pain is tolerable and its a shame to waste anesthetics. Don't be sissies.
diverdude1:
yeah samm you must be thinking about that Dustin Hoffman movie (Marathon Man) where the crazy Nazi guy starts drilling on Dustin's tooth,,, then he explains to him how it is hella more painful when he starts drilling on a live tooth ! damn, I never forgot that scene !!
Samm11:
I haven't seen that movie but I've been at the dentists' lots of time and I never asked for a pain-killer unless they opened my root channel.
Scandinavian:
I always ask for pain killer. If you've once tried to have the a-hole drill straight into a nerve, then the cost and the half day of drooling is cheap.
I'm going on that very fool's errand tomorrow as it happens. I can't wait. Last time I went there I had to complain that the guy was being cheap on the anesthetic. He then started laughing and joking about westerners being afraid of pain. Made me want to stick his drill up his arse. Another time years ago I had a cap put on so badly it came off within a month.
mArtiAn:
Well of course i'm afraid of pain, who the fuck isn't? Only an idiot puts up with it unnecessarily, but a dentist taking the piss out of his patients is unprofessional.
Samm11:
All the normal people are not afraid of pain. Unnecessarily taking anasthetics - that's what idiots do.
mArtiAn:
Samm.....11. C'mon, that's your age isn't it? Be honest now. Normal people aren't afraid of pain? Y'know what? Actually yes, if they're honest, that's kind of what normal people 'are' afraid of. That's why torture works. But you stick with your bravado, and i'll stick with my anesthetic.
mArtiAn:
Haha, I think someone's looking for a fight. Sorry sweetheart, i'm not gonna oblige. You're right, i'm a sissy, I don't like having metal drilled into the nerves of my teeth.
Samm11:
If your root channell is not opened, your nerves are not touched therefore the pain can hardly be felt, you don't need pain killers for that. But if you do, sure, ura sissy, babe.
mArtiAn:
You still at it are you? Well thanks for the dentistry lesson, you're a regular fountain of knowledge, and yes you're quite right, it the nerve isn't reached it's not as painful. You must be a professional in this field. Very impressive indeed.
Samm11:
I'm happy you managed to get some knowledge from me. Educating sissies is never easy. *sigh*
mArtiAn:
You're a troll aren't you? You like to get a rise out of people on the internet because if you manage to irritate a stranger from the safety of your living room you get a perverse, if not somewhat cowardly thrill. Do you not recognize that as being just a little bit pathetic?
Samm11:
You started it yourself you damn pussy so stop being a whinny and get the hell outta here back to your mommy.
mArtiAn:
I'm not searching out your posts, i'm just answering what you keeeeeeep on leaving in my message box. I think you need to work out who you've really got a gripe with, mommy or daddy, because it ain't me.
Samm11:
that's exactly what your doing - searching my posts, waiting for them and pathetically replying with your retarded BS.
mArtiAn:
I only ask because i've noticed your grammar is hugely flawed, suggesting English is perhaps your second language, though by the nature of your repeated attack upon a complete stranger it also seems likely you are simply intellectually feeble. I'm just curious.
Samm11:
And I'm curious why your parents used to beat you over your head too much so that you grew up retarded
mArtiAn:
I'm wasting my time on a child aren't I? You're early 20s i'm guessing, anything older and you have no excuse for being so juvenile. You do realize what you're doing, don't you? You're crying out for attention, I know, I see my youngster students do it in this same way all the time. What's the problem, did daddy want a boy and got a girl? And English clearly isn't your first language. And you're a teacher, right? What a state of affairs.
Samm11:
Your pathetic, really. Got nothing to say and trying to get me with my English flaws. A pathetic sissy loser like you in no way can affect my self esteem so go fuck your mom bitch.
mArtiAn:
I'm not trying to damage your self-esteem, you already have exceedingly low self-esteem, it is evident in the very nature of the fact that you opened this entire discourse with an inflammatory statement designed to get a rise out of a complete stranger. From that moment on i've been treating you as a social experiment, watching you like the clockwork dummy you are, running backwards and forwards to your computer searching for my replies. Personally i've simply got on with my day, but sure enough, when I find myself with free-time to sit back down at the computer, there you are, waiting for me in my message box. I've literally got you dangling on a string like a puppet, my only real curiosity being how long it would take for your puerile attempts at being insulting to turn into genuine hostility, and sure enough and hey presto, there you are with the grand finale of insults, the old 'fuck your mother' attack. Jesus, if you were any more predictable you'd be a Jackie Collins novel. And your English, by the way, is very good for someone who speaks it as a second language. If however, English is your first language, then............you have a problem.
mArtiAn:
On the contrary, it's not tiring at all; but then forming coherent sentences is a simple achievement for a literate mind, as opposed to that of a semi-literate, intellectual vagabond. I'm quite certain i've spent far less time in answering you than you have in searching back and forth for my replies. How many times have you done such since my last post? Be honest, what's it been, five times? Ten? Whatever the number it's a testament to the unwavering resolve of a simpleton to find meaning beyond its purpose. For my part the purpose of this little experiment has been served however, and you have been a most willing subject, but as all good things must come to an end, so to must I bid you farewell, as the sun has now set on our little parle. I'd no more continue this discourse than a laboratory technician would after performing similar experiments on a chimp. For you of course, the last word is all that matters, that much has been clear from the start, and you're welcome to it, though i'm afraid i'll not waste my time in reading it, as like the rest of the effluent discharge you impart so freely, it would be as predictable as the splash made by the falling of a turd. You may leave now.
Samm11:
I honestly feel sorry for your wife. It must be a torture to live with such a vain self-centered piece of shit.
Cheers for the advice guys.
Horrific conditions today, refused treatment for a chip and the dentist had never heard of Tori Mandibularis.
I suppose it depend on where you live? For the last ten years I have had all my dental work done in China ( Nanning) there are many dentists there. The ones I went to all had very up to date equipment. As I have never had novocaine for any of my dental work, fillings, crowns etc. I do know that the ones I went to (3) were very good. There is a 27 story modern hospital in Nanning that has an extensive dental department that has all up todate equipment. I live in California. It i cheaper to fly to Nanning to have my dental work done there than have it done in California by the bill padding dentists there. There is something wrong with site, the typing is malfungtioning?
Samm11:
http://answers.echinacities.com/question/do-you-have-trouble-typing-site?type=alatest#lastcomment
