Combine Your China Trip with Your Dentist Trip and Save Big
Many Chinese students studying abroad wait until they return to China for the summer before visiting the dentist. The reason for this is that dental work in China is generally much cheaper than it is in the west.
Personally, I have been to the dentist many times since living in China and have had a few small cavities filled. To have a cavity filled at a Chinese hospital in Beijing costs about $10US, altogether. All I can say about the quality is that my family dentist in the US has looked at the fillings I had performed in China and said there was no problems with them that he could see and that they looked good.
Most recently, I had a root canal performed. Compared to costs in the US, it was cheap, at about $300 altogether, including the root canal and a gold crown covered in white enamel. I had it performed at Beijing Number 3 Hospital, 北医三院, by a Chinese dentist who had studied dentistry for a while in Germany.
Warning: this is not for the faint of heart. Dentists in China tend not to use anesthetic, and I can say, first hand, that a root canal without anesthetic is pretty damned painful. On the other hand, you can request anesthetic if you really want it.
If you are planning a trip to China and also just happen to need a root canal done you could get the root canal done in your home country and then get the still expensive, but less important crown done in China. You could also save big on something minor, like a cavity. If you are brave and want to save this might just be a good solution for you.
February 21, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I am as cheap as anyone, but I don’t have the guts for this, so I usually just stick to bringing over a pair of pants that need mending.
February 21, 2007 at 2:33 pm
lol
February 26, 2007 at 2:09 am
Well, I’m delighted to get to share my story on foot of this post, you see I have a bad dentist story. I lived China, Sichuan, Suining at the time and my friend who was a civil servant for the foreign affairs bureau in that city recommended when I complained of toothache that I should visit a certain dentist. That dentist was located in the city hospital whcih was a clean, newly built and modern facility. He saw to me straight away, whixh is the only bonus of the dental treatment as usually in my home country of Ireland there is a three week wait for dental treatment. He had a look at my tooth, didn’t take an x-ray when I more or less insisted he should, then he didn’t give me an injection and put a filing somewhere inside my mouth. The pain stopped and I very happily handed over 90 yuan and agreed I wouldn’t eat hard things, did hard things include peanuts I asked, and ‘No’ was the response. So that is a good story right?
Then I came back to Ireland and one day eating my dinner the pain started in exactly the same place! Why I wondered never doubting my fabulous Chinese dentist. the pain was so bad that the next morning I got my regular home dentist to see me immediately. He took an x-ray and told me the bad news. The Chinese dentist had given me a filing but had bothered to take out any of the decay so only sealed the decay inside my tooth. That was very surprising! So y dentist needed to drill the wole lot out and very nearly had to extract my tooth, he said that the way the dentistry was performed I was asking for root canal treatment.
All I can say then, is that there will be good stories and bad stories. China is a developing country, it is not subject to the rigours of professional practice panels, becoming disqualified, malpractice and so on that exist in the west. They are remote notions and the quality of what you get as happened in my case depends on who you get. To blithely state that all of China’s dentists are good is foolish, that is common sense when you know what your dealing with.
February 26, 2007 at 9:47 am
Declan Lohan, great story.
I have found that Chinese dentists tend to treat the specific problems I raise, but pretty much ignore the rest of my mouth. I have tried to go for regular checkups but the dentists just look at me oddly, “What’s the problem?” they ask.
“No problem, yet. And I want to make sure it stays that way. Will you clean my teeth and check for any cavities?”
Dentist looks around my mouth for a bit, poking me with his little pain device, scraping off some excess plaque here and there and exclaims, “Your teeth are clean. No problems.”
“Um, maybe you could take some X-Rays just to double check that things are ok?”
“That’s unnecessary,” he replies.
Yeah. Well, I’d just like to point out to anyone reading this that I never would have had to have a root canal done if my dentist in Weifang had done what I asked. Dental treatment in China can be fine, as my experience shows, though one should keep Declan Lohan’s experience in mind too, but there is little concept of prevention as yet (you could apply this formula to so many things in China it’s not even funny).
July 10, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Hi Kevin, great post.
I hope you don’t mind if I openly promote a dental tourism service operating from Canada to China (Nanjing and Suzhou in particular), on behalf of my client?
The service - The InciDental Tourist - caters to both Westerners looking for the trip of a lifetime to China, as well as expats currently residing in China. All dental procedures are performed at top-notch facilities in Nanjing, at Western standards, and all at excellent rates.
You can learn more at the website, http://www.incidentaltourist.com, where there’s also a number for those currently residing in China.
Cheers,
Jon
October 19, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I’m planning for my son and I to go to China in May/08. Looking for a good dentist thats resonable for repairs and alot of implants. Can you advise me if theres a city or certian place to start the procedure. I’m going to see a local dentist before I go, would it be recomended to have the basic work done here or e-mail a treatment plan? I don’t know if you can help me with my concern. Thank you, Gordon Michael
October 20, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Sorry, Gordon, but I don’t think I can really help you out, except to say that I wouldn’t expect much from email. It would probably be better to post any documents and follow up with phone calls.
December 9, 2007 at 11:16 am
I am now looking for a dentist in China. I need a implant, and birdge.
Plese recommand a dentist.
thanks in advance.
December 23, 2007 at 11:28 am
[...] instance, while living in China I wrote about seeing the dentist and getting a root canal without anesthetic. By contrast, I had a root canal here in the US last [...]
February 10, 2008 at 10:03 am
Yo ho ho, I would like to giev you all the name of the dentist i am going to see, but alas, i dont know his name.
But, heres the story.
I met a chinese dood and missus at a local restaurant, and over several years got to know them very well. One day there was mention of dental work whereupon andy showed me the 8 teeth he had implanted. I was surprised to see that the work was very good, and had lasted so well over the last 8 years.
Recently, he mentioned he was going back to china to visit, and his wife was also going back (not at the same time), whereupon I mentioned that i wanted to go to guangzhou too, to get my teeth done.
The wife came back a few weeks ago, and i immediately ripped over to her place to have a gander at her ivories. She had 5 implants. They were excellent, and cost NZ$400, or 1,900rm.
Not bad when you consider that it generally costs around $1,200 - 1,600 for just ONE implant here in NZ.
So, 2 march i fly out to meet andy in guangzhou. He will take me to meet his friend the dentist in lingmun,
I plan to be there for 3 weeks to get my teeth done at a total cost of around NZ$600. A saving of at least $4,500.
I would love to be able to help anyone who is interested, because I see it as not only helping the dentist increase his business, but also to save the patient from being ripped off by exorbitant local costs.
Ric
April 15, 2008 at 3:27 am
Hello,
Re. Ric’s letter… I too want to go to Guangzhou; at the same time I hope to be able to find a reliable dentist in order get a new set of false teeth… so any feedback/ recommendations would be very welcome.
Jane
May 9, 2008 at 3:42 pm
DER SIR
PLES SEND CATALOGEST AND LIST PRIEC ALL PRODUCT DENTAL