After running around with a broken tooth for months I finally had an onlay done last week and so far things are fine. I went to Cosmed (康是美) - not the drug store but it happens to be the same name in English and Chinese - just South of the Nanjing MRT station on the East side of Fuxing Road. I asked for an English speaking doctor and that’s what I got. The treatment went fine and it was thorough as far as I can tell.
It’s a rather big clinic and doesn’t seem to be too busy, I got the two necessary appointments within the same week. You don’t have to lie in the display window like at other places and even though there are no individual rooms privacy is ensured by separating walls/milk-glass.
The clinic accepts NHI but the onlay is not covered by that, so I had to pay myself (NTD10,000). Credit cards are accepted.
I had fantastic help from a Taiwanese dentist in Chungli (Zhongli). She spoke good English and had obviously lived overseas for a while. What was your dentists English like?[/quote]
I live in Chungli, What is the name of the clinic?
Taipei County
I didn’t read through all the posts about dentists but thought I would post my experience. Sunrise Dental Clinic opened in Banciao about a year or so ago. I noted their shop so when it became obvious that I needed a prosthesis (actually 2) I went in to check it out. Receptionist English was minimal but she was kind, friendly and helpful. Exceptionally clean clinic. She quickly summoned a doc who spoke English. I had an insurance paid tooth cleaning, x-rays and examination even though I hadn’t stiopped in for that purpose. Charge - 100NT. The balance was on the National Health Insurance. He made me another appointment the following week and got started. Impressions for the prosthesis, etc. No charge. After he was very familiar with what I needed he explained it all to me in clear and concise English. He gave me a set charge to which I agreed. Total cost of 2 partial plates (not actually a plate but more of a partial) 20,000 NT. I spoke to my dentist friend in the states about what I was doing and the cost. He told me that local charges would have been about 3,000 U.S.
I have my last appointment next week and so far, I just couldn’t be more pleased. Profesionalism, timely appointments, clean enviroment and obviously well trained docs.
Sunrise Dental Clinic
02 2954 9649
Directions:
Exit No 1 at Fuchong MRT (next station south from Banciao train station/mrt stop on the south blue line
Walk across the main street in front of the exit. Hi Mart Department store will be across from you after you cross the main road.
Walk to the next light which is on Jongshan Rd. Cross the street and turn left.
Sunrise is about 2-3 shops down the street.
Jhongshan Rd Sect 1, No 30, Banciao
Just to inform you all: the New York dental clinic on Roosevelt Road (near CKS) has lost the English speaking dentist that earned them their good name here. I’m talking about mr. Lai De-wen (and his wife?). I really don’t know if they are worth keeping the good reputation, but I cancelled an appointment I made with the assistent who told me this. I just thought, why still go there, they’re probably an average Taiwanese dental clinic now. (Count that highly probable, the assistant was unfriendly on the phone).
Ectoplasma that’s a killer, I read most of this thread and then found your post as the last one. I’m wanting to get 4 wisdom teeth removed pretty soon and I live in downtown Taipei - after reading this thread I was set on the NY place. Does anyone have ideas for another dentist in the area?
I’ve come from France and my dentist there said I needed them out but I didn’t have the time. They’re the nasty type as well - going horizontal.
Do you have to make an appointment at most clinics, or does everybody just waltz in off the street and wait in line?
Also, I’ve read that the basic cleaning just involves a magic wand. How can you get a good tartar-scraping with your cleaning?
The last thing: does anybody here grind their teeth? A night guard in Canada costs about $450 CAD, so I’m wondering if I can have one made here. Any experience with that?
For the Sunrise place mentioned above you could just walk in off the street but be prepared to wait a while - best bet is still to make a booking if you can.
I can also recommend Sunrise very highly. I got 4 wisdom teeth out (two were horizontally impacted) and it cost me 300ntd all up (3 visits).
I went to the Dr. Wells clinic today for a filling (the dentist I see speaks English very well, name is Dr. John Lee 李建煌, if anyone is looking), and now I’m going to need a crown on a molar. He quoted me NT12,000, so I checked this thread to compare prices. However, the prices others have listed are a couple of years old, so I’m wondering if anyone has a more recent price to share. I just want to know that I’m not getting charged too much.
I didn’t realize that the national dental insurance didn’t cover crowns, or I may have looked into it when I was in Thailand over the CNY holiday! Silly me, I thought it would be like dentail insurance in the US and that they’d cover at least part of the cost of a crown. It’s still way cheaper than the US, but that’s a whole month’s rent!
Well I can tell you that a crown for a molar of around the mid level price - porcelain, I believe, and white, will set you back around Bt12,000, or did where I got mine done in Thailand. I think from a few years back I paid around NT$10k for a silvery one.
Not sure if that included the interminable boring through teeth with hand tools they call “root the fucking canal.”
I was also wondering about the cost of a crown. I’ve just had one root canal and am getting another next week, so I’ll need two crowns… I suppose I should have asked for a quote for the crowns, but I guess I was so happy about not having to pay US$1000 for the root canal that I didn’t even think of it.
After living in the US without dental insurance for the past 6 years, and having to pay to have all my wisdom teeth pulled, a root canal, a crown, and like 8 fillings (to the tune of 1000’s and 1000’s of US$), the value you can get here is pretty amazing.
I always thought “root canal” was slang for a woman’s naughty bits, well, until I needed one about four years ago. I had a choice of three crowns ranging from NT$9,000 to 15,000, so the figure of 12K sounds about right.
The moral of the story is to go to the dentist when a problem can be dealt with for just NT$100. Wait a year or two and you could be looking at serious beer coinage.
Thanks for the quick responses, everyone. Guess I’ll make my appointment. This wasn’t something that could have been fixed early, I broke a large chunk of tooth off when I bit down on a miniscule piece of something that probably shouldn’t have been in my pesto pasta, and the tooth already had a giant, very old filling in it, so best fix is a crown. At least I don’t have to get the root canal to go along with it!
And yeah, it was sweet to only have to pay NT150 for the filling. With insurance in the US it would have cost more than that!
I had 8 teeth root canalled and crowned about four years ago. The porcelain ones were 7000 and the silver one at the back was 5000. Things are a little cheaper in the picturesque hamlet called Sanchong.
It’s still way cheaper than the US, but that’s a whole month’s rent!