I went for a check up and clean in October as I hadn’t had a check in a year. I was recommended the dentist by several people I known close to Zhongxiao Dunhua which also has some good reviews on Google. I was told by the dentist my teeth are great but I needed one cavity which they did immediately. They are lovely people and very friendly, I was happy with that, I went home.
A few weeks later I had a lot of issues with the tooth they fixed. I went back and they did some more surgery and then after that I needed to come back for more and more appointments.
Long story short, i’m now on my 8th appointment since October, they just keep wanting me to go back to do more and more ‘fixing’ of the same tooth. They told me today I now need a crown which will cost 35,000NT (Not covered by NHI) if I don’t do it, my tooth will crack and they want me to get the surgery next week.
Has anybody else heard of anything like that? I feel they’re just trying to get as much money out of me as possible.
I believe something like that. My last 2 previous appointments they burned some nerve endings as I felt lots of sensitivity when eating or drinking when it touched that tooth.
There’s differences in crown materials. They’ll push you to use the highest-grade materials which can run to that kind of price. Cheaper materials will be at at that 8k range but as far as I know will probably be fine. They should have presented you with a range of options, in my book. I’d ask what options are available.
A dentist gets one shot to do it right for me, or I move on. I’d be thinking about that now myself.
It sounds weird to me for what you describe. Are you sure it was just a simple cavity? Eight appointments sounds crazy if so, especially if you originally went in for a check up and weren’t aware of any problem with that tooth. And I agree you’re paying for the location too.
Did they mess something up? On a related note, is there any kind of recourse in Taiwan for medical malpractice? Mostly just asking out of curiosity - I was wondering about this last year when I had a tooth extraction and the dentist seemed to screw up the local anesthetic injection and cause some temporary nerve damage that lasted a month or so (had an intense electric shock feeling during one of the injections, which I’ve never felt before during previous dental visits, followed by numbness on one side of my tongue for a few weeks). Not necessarily negligence on the dentist’s part and he gave me some follow-up appointments for free, but just curious what would have happened if it didn’t resolve itself and I’d had permanent nerve damage.
I’m thinking they messed something up. Originally it was just a cavity which they fixed. After that I had sensitivity issues which i’ve never had before leading me to believe they messed something up.
Ever since then it’s “Come back in 1 week/1 month to get the rest of XXXX done”. I’m not sure if I could get the xray from October and now then ask somebody else if they did the damage.
Prior to my appointment today I was told I needed to come back to get the temporary fix to be permanent. It’s only today he mentioned when I was leaving that I now needed a crown. I was confused as I thought today was going to be the final appointment.
It might be a bit late now, but I’m surprised you didn’t politely ask what the hell had happened for you now to need to spend 35k on a crown to fix what was originally just a cavity. It doesn’t sound normal at all…
The last time, I had two crowns done at the same time. Dentist was like “I’m not actually allowed to do two treatments for the price of one”, and laughed. Two root canal sessions later, the assistant gives me a chart showing the cost of crowns.
Me: Jesus. Are you fucking mad? I don’t need a Ferrari in my mouth! She calls the doc over.
Him: Well, how much are you prepared to pay?
Me: 8k per tooth. That’s all of my savings.
Him: Hmmm. We’ll see what we can do.
This is what I did. Go to the emergency dentist at a major hospital. Say your tooth is giving you major problems. Then see what they say.They will tell you what is what but not necessarily fix it.