Hi y’all! Sorry, I know there’s a whole pinned thread on this, but some of the answers are a good few years old, so I’m not sure how current the recommendations are.
One of my fillings has broken and I need to get it replaced fairly soon. Can anyone recommend a decent dentist whose through and doesn’t put you through agonies whilst working? My dentist at home is a dream - so gentle that I’ve almost fallen asleep whilst having work done there!!
More of less anywhere in Taipei City is OK, but the southern half would be most convenient, I live in Muzha.
Oh, and what’s the Chinese for ‘filling’?? And is the treatment likely to be costly? I can’t apply for health insurance for another few weeks - coming up to the end of my 4th month of holding ARC…
In Xindian -bus 252 or 10 from Muzha- we have two Australia trained dentists, totally fluent in English, very nice people. Place is busy but clean. It shouldn’t be too expensive to get a filling done, my best guess is about 400 up.
Summit Dentistry. Xindian. Intersection of Beixin and Baociao roads opposite MacDonalds and a few yards further south. One minute’s walk from Qizhang MRT.
I’ve been getting work done there and they’re good. I’m phobic about dental pain.
I also have a good dentist in Muzha. He has done repair work on my root canals after I got cheated by another one a few years ago, and he is very gentle when working on my kids’ teeth. Only minimal English, though. Is that OK for you?
I’m English too, but I can’t see the connection, sorry! :loco:
Thanks to those who have give suggestions - all very welcome. I’m very happy to have more details of any and all (in case they can’t fit me in etc). Language doesn’t matter too much as long as I can find out how to explain what happened, (and I have plenty of local chums who can help if need be). I can speak passable Mandarin.
What do they use for pain? The novacaine never seems to fully work for me and I have always found dental work sheer torture and as a result wait until things get bad before scheduling a visit. I read something about “conscious sedation dentistry” overseas, which sounded interesting. Wonder if any clinic is doing it in Taiwan. (I think it means they put you partially but not entirely under with a more powerful anaesthetic.)
A lot of dentists here don’t use anythign when they do fillings. I had three done last month this way and there was no pain. He just drilled the cavity out, avoiding touching the nerves, and then filled them.
Filings shouldn’t cost anything by the way if you have a medical card (other than the NT100 processing fee).
I use Dr James Lee behind the Sherwood Hotel near Zhongshan Junior High School MRT. He speaks English (though his staff don’t) and has a nice manner.
In the end I went to the local dentist, just around the corner. Partly my own fault as I’d left it several weeks since the filling broke to go (I went when it started to hurt - basically, I was just really nervous of going to the dentist here!), and so decay had spread and I needed it all picking out and re-filling.
Horror story side of things is that he didn’t use ANY anasthetic for it and even started preparing to do a root filling, including removing an obviously live nerve, also with no injection! I was stunned, but thankfully enough on the ball to totally refuse this un-necessary work and insist on a regular filling. He said he wanted to do it as it was infected, but I saw no signs of this and, even if it had been the case, you don’t do root canal work to deal with infections - you prescribe anti-biotics, if need be! It was like my saying to someone, ‘Oh look, your elbow is scratched, let me chop your hand off for you.’
So, I’m in NO rush to go back to a TW dentist and will only do so again if really necessary and then only on recommendation from another foreigner!
I now need a doctor I can trust to listen to what I have to say, to actually examine me and not just to push ganmaoyao at me! Sigh!
After getting fed up with New York Dentist (cursory 10-minute teeth cleaning, ignoring visible decay because it’s “not that bad”), I decided to give Summit a try. I was there yesterday for a root canal. I was impressed with their professionalism from start to finish, the facilities and equipment are clean and modern, most of the staff speaks enough English to communicate with me and I felt no pain. Even today, no pain. I am no expert, but my first impressions were all positive.
Somewhere here someone wrote about a dentist who didn’t wait for the Novocaine (or whatever they used) to take effect before they started the work. At Summit, they gave me the shot, then offered to put on the TV on the little monitor at the chair while we waited about 5 minutes. Besides the root canal, they also did a filling on the adjacent tooth.
I’ve scheduled an implant for another tooth, the price they quoted was about NT$3000 less than New York Dentist. Speaking of co-pay for covered work, Summit charges NT$100 whereas New York Dentist charges NT$150. Not a big deal, but just noticing…
Seems they are good for serious work. Let’s see how they are for cleanings. I hope they spend more than 10 minutes.
Actually once the infection is in the root I don’t think (maybe I’m wrong) any amount of antibiotics will stop it. I would it to abscess at some point. But it sounds like you need a new dentist anyway.
Bump! Does anyone have recommendations for dentists in the Danshui area? I’ve been to a couple of different ones over the years, and they’re fine, but I was wondering if any are particularly good with regards to level of English spoken, care taken, or whatever.
a dentist - ask an American would be my advice.
