Dentists in Taiwan: FAQ and Resources

To anyone living in Kaohsiung,

After also having some “bad” luck at some dentists, I seem to have found a fairly good clinic.
It’s called Art Dentistry and is situated on Tzihou between Dashun and Mingchen roads. Most of the doctors speak some English, and they seem to listen when you ask them to do something. You may have to wait the first time you go there, but after that you can just make appointmenst as needed.

So I live in Hsinchu and I haven’t been to the dentist in over a year, as I’ve lived in Taiwan the past year. I now have a cavity and it’s hurting alot. I wanted to know how much dental care costs here in Taiwan and if anyone has had experience having cavities filled…

Thanks!:slight_smile:

If you got health insurance, NT$150 per time, including fillings and x-rays.
Most dentist here are clean and good, just pick one that looks new and I think you’ll do ok.
Only ever been to one dentist here though and he’s really good imho.

Wish I could say the same thing. I’ve been to 3 different dentists, two of which were recommended by people on this forum, and I’m still looking for one who spends more than 10 minutes on a cleaning and will fill a cavity before it becomes a root canal. At two different dentist (New York Dentist on Roosevelt Rd and Summit Dentistry in Xindian) I’ve pointed out visible decay, they said it didn’t require filling yet. At NY Dentist I had to insist and they finally filled it. At Summit, they said it was just coffee stain… In the mean time, that tooth has now chipped where the “coffee stain” was.

Sorry, but I’ve not found any dentist here I can recommend.

Summit Dentistry on Beixin Rd, Xindien is one I recommend. Just had a chipped tooth dealt with, no questions asked, along with a cleaning that lasted 25 minutes (I timed it).

Maybe I’ve just been lucky then.
My dentist is here maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=25.0 … 29,2,3.87
The number is 0223-418118
The receptionist doesn’t speak English, but the dentist does.

After reading this entire thread’s 15 pages, I’m rather disappointed that there’s not a substantial amount of information regarding plain 'ol regular dental cleanings, i.e.: teeth scraping for plaque removal, dentist flossing, basic x-ray, fluoride treatment. It seems as though most people posting are in need of substantial dental work (i.e.: crowns, root canals, tooth replacement, etc.).

I just need a nice, THOROUGH, regular dental cleaning. I am an American who is anal-retentive about tooth cleanliness and oral hygiene; the type that goes every six months for regular cleanings. Like others have noted already in this thread, I have found Taiwan dentists to be severely lacking in their attention to detail and level of shoddy “routine cleaning” service.

I live in the Da-an district, near Renai circle. The Aria clinic that someone had mentioned at 37 Dong-Fong is total garbage, and Harvard educated, English speaking Dr. Jerry Lin in fact doesn’t work there; he simply takes Aria’s referrals for more heavy-duty dental work. My personal experience at Aria is thus: They take 15 minutes (tops!) for the total appointment, and do not do teeth scrapings for plaque removal. When I asked why (I’m natively fluent in Mandarin), the dental hygenist there said that it is not common policy for National Health Insurance (Jian-Bao insurance coverage) to provide this. Additionally, the dental hygenist stated that teeth cleanings using the metal hook-like scraper were only used for “deep cleanings” in cases where the patient had “several dental decay”. WTF?!??! :loco:

I researched Jerry Lin, and liked what I found: he in fact does take appointments for routine cleanings, he does the “American full cleaning” routine, and he takes a good 40 minutes to an hour for appointments of this nature, with an emphasis to the abovementioned tooth scrapings. The downside? He doesn’t take National Health insurance. This boosts his cleanings cost to between 3500-6500 NTD, with the following cost breakdown:

1500 NTD for new patient x-ray and review (kinda BS, but whatever)
2000 NTD for the abovementioned THOROUGH teeth scraping
1000 - 3000 for “wet sand” tooth polishing (for stain removal, etc.)

I was advised that the “wet sanding” is only for those with some serious stains, hence, the potential for only a 3500 NTD cost. Dr. Lin’s office address is:

Fuxing S. Rd., section 1 (between Renai and Zhong Xiao), #200, 2F.
Dr. Jerry Lin 8771-3302

I’m scheduled for a July 12 cleaning, and will provide an update here afterwards, if I don’t forget. Does anyone else have a recommendation for me to a Dentist (preferably close to Renai circle) that provides a similar service to Dr. Lin for less $$$? I am willing to pay for quality service (clearly!). :smiley:

Allow myself…to reply to…myself…[/Austin Powers]

To all readers of this thread, I wanted to simply update everyone on my experience at Dr. Jerry Lin’s dental practice last night (see above for relevant info):

This guy is LEGIT. Let me repeat. LEGIT! He gave me an incredibly thorough deep cleaning, including: x-ray + review of x-ray w/ you, teeth scraping (done by him, not some assistant-in-training), “wetsand” stain removal & polish (I’ve never experienced this before in the USA, and let me tell you: its results are very impressive), followed by the tried and true professional electric toothbrush + toothpaste polishing.

Quick rundown of pros and cons of the experience:

Pros:
-insanely thorough
-friendly, fluent english speaker* (*Caveat: he didn’t get his DDS at Harvard, but rather, a specialty dentistry certification there)
-very high-tech, modern, clean, professional office
-not hurried to make a buck; takes his time with you. You feel as though you got your money’s worth
-Explains EVERYTHING
-gives referrals to other english-speaking, quality dentists/specialists/orthodontists (I discovered my first bloody cavity yesterday…:fume: )
-open late (to until 9-10 pm)
-hot assistants :smiley:

Cons:
-No National Health Insurance taken.
-Expensive. My visit cost me $4500 NTD.
-Harder to book (I booked 2 weeks in advance)

Bottom Line:

You get what you pay for. This guy is the real deal. My teeth haven’t EVER felt this clean (even comparing it to top dentists in the USA). I give a hearty endorsement. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Does Jerry Lin also do fillings for cavities as well? I just came to Taiwan and I am now starting to receive pain that is associated with cavities. I have no National Health Insurance card, and I am just looking for a routine clean and cavities to be filled at a good price. Any recommendations?

I went to visit Image Dentist on Minquan E. Road. I need to have 2 crowns with accompanying posts as well as a route canal. Does anyone have any experience with Dr. Chen from this clinic? Also, does 25000 per ceramic crown + 5000 per post sound reasonable?

I have 7 ceramic crowns, all done in Taiwan. None of them cost more than 5000 for the whole caboodle. 30k for a post and crown? :astonished: Someone’s getting ripped! Shop around a bit more. :thumbsup:

5000 seems low. Two dentists, one at NTU Hospital, and one that I trust from a clinic said 5000 is possible, but it’s shitty material. 8000 is your starter. It goes up if you need a pin or want better materials. I had a pin and a crown for 12000. For that you can get ceramic or metal. The ceramic isn’t as strong as the metal, so that’s your trade-off- white vs strong, or you can get bot for a higher price, but 25000 is too much, for sure.

25K is pretty high. But that’s nothing compared to the 80K that I got quoted for an implant and crown from one dentist. I said no thanks and won’t go back to that dentist even if it’s recommended in this thread. since I’ve found a dentist that has quoted me 10K for a crown and I still need to ask about the implant cost.

I dont think 80 for an implant is that crazy. Ive been told 70 from several sources for an implant. Much more expensive than just a crown

That turns out to be true although I got a quote for 60K. I might be getting a bridge instead at 30K. Those kind of prices are a lot for an English teacher though.

It is funny since the dentist was surprised that I haven’t done anything about my missing tooth yet I have such an expensive full face helmet (1800NT). :doh:

[quote=“Tigerman”]
主治醫師: 廖醫師
敦里牙醫診所
台北市信義路四段360號

The clinic is on the south side of Xinyi just past Tonghua Street (going east on Xinyi).[/quote]

The address is wrong - it’s #306, not 360.
Anyways, I just went there last night after I had broken a piece of my tooth during dinner (damn hidden bones in meat here). They provided an English copy of their registration form so you could fill out the Chinese one in tandem. The receptionists and assistants spoke English, although they did have the “Aaah! A foreigner! Who can talk to her?” moment at first. They have TVs in front of the dentist chair so you can watch TV if you prefer (I brought my Scientific American and read that instead). It is also a monitor where the dentist will pull up the images of your x-ray and discuss options with you. He mentioned my note about leukemia and asked whether or not I had cranial radiotherapy done, after looking at my x-ray, since the radiation impairs the strength of your bones and teeth (first dentist to ever ask that question since my treatments ended in 1996 and I was thoroughly impressed on just that point alone).

When he told me that he was going to give me an injection and saw me wince a little at the thought, he reassured me that he would be very gentle and was. I had no pain, even with the injection (unlike the dentist I had been going to down the street before his office was shut down without any notice) as he took steps to ensure I was numb before moving to the next level of injection/operation. The assistants leave a little to be desired in their “bedside manner”, but were negligible compared to the fantastic service I got from the dentist. His English is impeccable and he is very good at explaining things and letting you know options and is not afraid to recommend something that he won’t make a bigger profit from. I highly recommend him.

Again, the address for the Dental Laser Institute is 信義路四段306號 (#306 Xinyi Rd., Sec. 4).

For the record, the cost of an implant is $60,000 if you use Asian-standard components or $80,000 if you use American- or European-standard components. For a permanent crown with a post, the cost starts at $10,000 (he didn’t recommend anything cheaper since it doesn’t last long). Apparently the laser part comes into mostly cleaning (of course) and implants. They use the lasers to prepare the gums and bones for the implant rather than cutting them with tools.

Does anyone have any idea how much it is to get wisdom teeth extracted in Taiwan?

If you have health insurance, 150NT.

I have no desire to rain on these dentists parade but anyone getting their teeth done need to go to either the Philippines or India. I have a retired Marine Corp. friend who needed a whole mouth full of work done including 4 implants. He was quoted 32,000 in the US. He was quoted 28,000 in Taiwan. He got it all done in Manila from a Doctor who graduated from USC in the States for 4700.00 US.

Dentists here and in the states are a rip.

His math skills aren’t very good then.