Dentists in Taiwan: FAQ and Resources

[quote=“synchen”]Does Anyone have any experience with dental implants in Taipei? How much do they cost and how many visits does the procedure require? I live in Shanghai but I am thinking about traveling back to Taiwan for this procedure.

Steven[/quote]

I was quoted between 70 and 80K for an implant. I finally took the 80K quote once I was confident in the dentist. The cheaper quote was done by a dentist that seemed to cut corners too often so I never committed to the operation.

The initial operation is the big op. It will be several hours when the do the actual implant. And then 6 months later you get the actual crown. It would definitely require 2 trips but it’s difficult to say how long each trip would require.

1st - a consultation
2nd - implant procedure - could be days later or months
3rd - fitting the crown (6 months later)
4th - getting the crown (a week or less)

I believe I also had a checkup a month after the implant checking to see if the bone was healing correctly (X-rays) and shortly after fitting the crown. Not sure what you would do if there were some minor issues. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through but it’s not a trivial operation either.

I did this at Art Dentistry on Zihyou near Mingcheng Rd (north of new Costco) in Kaohsiung. Dr. Hong.

There’s some great recommendations on this thread, but they’re years old.

Any current recommendations on excellent Taipei dentists that speak English?

I think I’ve got some cavities to be checked out.

Just wanted to throw in my Two cents. I researched here and found the info a little old and not very convenient to my location. I ended up going with a recommendation from a Taiwanese friend:

Taipei City Hospital / 臺北市立聯合醫院
Heping Branch 和平院區
My dentist: Lǚ Shào Wèi(呂紹渭).
Address:No. 33 Zhōnghuá Road Section 2, Zhōngzhèng District, Taipei地址:台北市中正區中華路二段33號 (Close to Ximen)

A quick Synopsis: Wisdom tooth extraction. I am more afraid of dentists than I am pretty much anything, aside from castration. This has resulted in me not going to a dentist for roughly the past 20 years. Luckily, most of my teeth are still in good shape, except the wisdom tooth. I highly recommend Dr. Lǚ. He is also Deputy Director of the Dental Department. I was sweating bullets when i first went in. He calmed me down and was very patient with me. His English isn’t the best, but his grasp far exceeded what was necessary to get through this with total understanding of each other. The highlight: He asked me my expectation when i showed him the problem, i told him i expect him to take it out. He said good, because that’s what is needed. Without great detail…his patience was amazing, he went very slowly with the anesthetic shots, so i barely even felt it. That was actually the worst part. I couldn’t even feel the extraction. If anything, he overstated ho much pain…or “suffering” as he kept calling it, that i would feel. The best part is…i paid $100 with NHI afterwards and the deal is done, except the followup next week. I think my fear of dentists has subsided as a result of this man.

Like maggiemaui, I too am looking for current info on dentists in Taipei who can communicate adequately in English. Any guess as to whether the dentist mentioned above, Lǚ Shào Wèi(呂紹渭) accepts patients without NHI? A phone number too perhaps? Thank you.

DO NOT go to METDent in Taipei. It has been recommended several times here in the past but the good dentists have left. The new dentists have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes. I went in for a teeth cleaning today. She literally sprayed water on my teeth and called it a day. It could not have taken more than 30 seconds. I was going to complain except that she stated that she spotted 6(!!!) cavities and shamed me for not flossing (btw I floss daily). She then had her assistant write down the affected teeth. Somehow in that 10 second span, the count went from 6 to 9 teeth. No xrays, no closer inspections, nothing. 9 teeth to be drilled and filled based on a 30 second teeth cleaning. I got up and checked my phone. Exactly one minute had elapsed since I last checked my phone (right as I was sitting down).

I went straight to the hospital for a second inspection. After 10 minutes and an X-ray, the dentist there said that he couldn’t find a single thing wrong with my teeth!

AVOID METDENT in Taipei!!!

Here is the dentist I’ve gone to three times now:
maps.google.com/maps?q=jinshan+ … 9,0,-1.46

They’re on Jinshan road south of Aiguo in Taipei.

The head dentist speaks English and was trained in the US. I paid 1200 NT for fillings and something a little less than that for a cleaning.

That’s excellent Xeno - thanks! Assuming that fee of 1200NT was without national insurance, of course.

Yes, of course. It’s something like 100 NT with insurance, isn’t it? I don’t know. I’m just a visitor here :wink:

A good dentist office just outside of Taipei.
Speak English very well.
The nurse would understand simple request for appointment.

The address (in English)
Cheers Dental Clinic.
No.520, Sec.2, Ren Ai Road.
Linkou District.
New Taipei City.
Call 02-2602-4198

(in Chinese)
心悅牙醫 (something like: xin yue ya yi)
新北市林口區仁愛路二段520號

Cost 150 TWD for most services (with NHI card of course)

Address could be found easily by asking a taxi driver for Linkou’s Carrefour.
It sits nicely just beside Carrefour.
There’re many people goes here. Please make a schedule beforehand, unless it’s emergency, of course.
They will call you just a day before the appointment, just to make sure.

Xeno - Do you have the name / address / phone number / website of the dentist you recommend? I’m not sure how to contact them…

Taipei Medical University Hospital on Wuxing Street.

It is a teaching hospital, and the professors are good. I got a rather thorough ultrasound cleaning there last week, had a crown and an implant, and an extraction of an impacted tooth. The latter was done well, and they are good at numbing you up.

I would steer very clear of small clinics nowadays, really, they are in in for the money. The one I went to in Yangmei refused to give me a proper checkup after he found out that I could afford implants. Rather wait until he could extract and implant.

Nope, I just wander in and make an appointment when I need to. You can see it on the link I provided earlier.

Are there any place to be recommend for someone without insurance? Thanks in advance.

As recommended previously, very competent and reasonable fees without insurance:
google.com/maps/preview?q=j … 9,0,-1.46

Can anyone recommend good dentist around Tianmu & Shilin district?

rinanae, did you find one?

A few weeks ago I was in urgent need of a check-up and hadn’t been to a dentist in Taiwan (or even a doctor for that matter). Looking through the list here it seemed to me even the recommended places had some negative comments, and some people posted denouncing small practices across the board for prioritizing money over patients. Since I don’t live in Tienmu and I don’t think I’ve even been up there before I was looking for something in a familiar area to me. I was looking for top Western-style care and dentists I felt comfortable with and could trust.

A little more research lead me to Taiwan Adventist Hospital on Bade Rd. (near Taipei Arena) and it ended up being the best choice for me. Zero language barrier as everyone I dealt with spoke great English. Most of the dentists are credentialed from abroad. They took X-rays for me, did a cleaning, and inspected my gums and a cavity. The dentist had good candor and answered questions I had about my situation to my satisfaction. In fact, she opted NOT to drill into a cavity as it was too early to treat the tooth. Reading some other stories on here I can’t imagine the smaller practices would react the same way. So I was grateful to be at a larger institution at the moment.

Yes, all this came at a price, probably the most expensive place to get dental work is a hospital. Total cost for me (including prescription mouthwash) was $90USD. So this option is not for everyone, but if you want familiar Western-style dental experience with no confusion or surprises, it’s a great choice. Personally, I just want the best care regardless of cost.

There is also the Primary Care Center which seems to give the same type of care if you need to see a doctor.

tahsda.org.tw/en/

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Came back from a cleaning (and x-rays) from Taiwan Adventist Hospital Dental department and was very impressed. I’ve been to that hospital before for other ailments and didn’t even know they did dental work until reading this thread. The cleaning was much better than the ones I’ve had at the two different clinics I’ve tried. It was much more thorough and similar to the treatment I’ve received back in California.

As the previous poster mentioned, English was not a problem. They take the Health Card so it was NT 200 if you have insurance. They also work nights and seemed very quiet when I was there so there was not a wait at all.

I found the business card of the dentist I went to in Taipei (and mentioned earlier in this thread) and figured I may as well copy the info here. The English name is Aspen Dental, the address is 142-1 Jinshan Rd. Sec. 2., and the phone number is 02 3393 7617.

Anyone know a good dentist in Tainan?

A filling done a few years ago by a PRC dentist during a regular cleaning seems to have come loose. My other dentist back in NZ later told me the tooth had not needed to be drilled in the first place, and that the filling was low quality and would soon fail. Seems to have happened.

Of course the Shanghai dentist told me his materials were top of the line - wasn’t cheap. Fucking PRC scam artists. Anyway. . .

From some of the comments in this thread it sounds like many Taiwanese dentists are not the best. If possible I’d really like to get this looked at by someone competent and honest. Price comes second. Any suggestions?