In Canada and Japan I was used to dealing with dentists for whom pulling teeth was a last resort but an in-law of mine told me that local dentists prefer to pull teeth rather than making an effort to save them.Is this true and if so are there dentists inclined to save teeth and how can they be found?
I don’t think that’s true. It hasn’t been my experience anyway. There are also quite a lot of cosmetic dentists and endodontists, who’ll do what they can to save teeth as long as you’re paying them.
I’m not sure how much is covered by NHI – the one time I needed endodontic work, I was told it would have been NT$20–30k and not covered by NHI, but then I didn’t have NHI anyway. And this was for a “maybe 20%” estimated chance of saving the tooth. For that I’m losing the tooth. 
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I am just looking for a regular dentist who fixes cavities rather than pulling teeth.Are you allowed to make recommendations?
I think pretty much all dentists in Taiwan nowadays are going to fix cavities. Was your in-law’s dentist working out of a stable…?
I don’t have any specific recommendations and of course it depends where you are. Honestly, all of the dentists I’ve been to in Taiwan (I think three or four) have been fine. Suggest using the search box though – there have been previous threads on this.
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So dentists with their own offices should be OK?
I don’t really get the question – which dentists don’t have their own offices?
Some hospitals also have dentistry departments, but I mostly just mean that I think you can choose a nearby dentist with good reviews on Google Maps and they’re going to fix cavities. Or use the search box to find the previous threads, or say where you are…
Go to a dental clinic in a hospital. I did that in Chiayi very happy with the work I had done. Better than going to a private dentist for me.
Probably depends on the exact clinic and the exact hospital, as well as the exact dentist. I avoid medical clinics in general, but for dentistry I think they’re okay. Some of them can be pretty fancy/advanced!
In my experience: yes, it is true
The ones in the hospitals are more responsible. Go to the dental clinic in a hospital. Don’t go to a private clinic on the street. Some of them are, I have found, trying to sell you services - like pulling all of your kids teeth out for no good reason - in order to turn a profit.
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Private Dentists here loved to push implants on you.
I was at Adventist hospital today, very good service.
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I once went to a really good dentist in Nankan.
I also go to hospitals. There is a reality in doctors trying to push profit for their boss (small clinics, the doctor is the boss). They should be in jail and not allowed to open a business in the future. It’s absurd how often this happens.
My personal opinion. Go in for a check up. Don’t let them do shit to you mouth, and ask MANY questions. Make your own educated decision whether they are good or not base Don their replies to your educated questions.
Dentistry is particularly bad in Taiwan. But this for profit issue is not limited to just dentistry, not even private clinics. It’s a ramlant issue. Lots of fraud, lots of issues. Whatever your health ckncern, go in guns a blazin with actual questions based on knowledge.
Even though many hospitals have posters about not recording them (lol), still record everything. I have voice recorder on at all times in hospitals precisely because so many times they are dog shit at their job. I wish I did it earlier, I wouldn’t be paying out of pocket for injuries caused by malpractice.
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Can you just walk in for a regular checkup and cleaning?
Why would it benefit the dentists to pull out your children’s teeth? (Baby teeth, I assume.)
Wouldn’t they make more money if you kept bringing them back to fill their never-ending cavities? Are you sure they’re not trying to be nice and save you guys the hassle?
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you need to make an appointment not just walk in. My first visit was to get a general look… second visit was to xray and photograph all my teeth.
My plaque build up was pretty bad so next 4 visits of 1 hour each to clean one section upper left then upper right then lower left lower right.
Needed another 3 hour surgery to clean plaque down at the bone. Local not general and didn’t feel a thing my dentist as the Chiayi Christian Hospital was excellent. Now I go every 3 months for regular teeth clean. Luckily I had no cavities so no need for fillings or teeth extraction. Cost me NT$340 for each visit. Teeth clean now NT$150. Same visit in Australia would cost NT$5000 and that would not be my 3 hour surgery.
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All I know is that they attempted to pull out all my kids teeth. It was their mother who was reporting this to me and my kid showing up with a bloodied minus one tooth mouth, repeatedly. Then one day she says that he has three bad teeth, so it finally dawned on me that it was very suspicious. I went to the hospital, where to my great surprise and relief I found out it was complete BS and the number of bad teeth was in fact zero. When I confronted the private dentist he showed me an x ray and gave me a ridiculous story that made no sense about why the perfectly good teeth should be pulled.
Based on my experience I believe that some of the private dental clinics on shopping streets are evil criminals who are basically just assaulting children and ripping their teeth out for no reason. They are preying on people who don’t question the doctor.
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I think you got unlucky.
I’ve been to three different dentists in my area, all with their own office, and the experience was always good.
The difference between them were to minor things such as working hours, price, and how delicate they were when pushing instruments in your mouth.
Generally, we got good service, fixing cavities and explaining all the process in a way that makes sense.
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Maybe there is just a cabal of evil dentists near my house, lol
My experience was based on several private dentists too, all based in the area. It was about the fifth kiddy dental crisis that made me realise though that it was a scam for sure at the last place. The previous places I am not sure, as I didn’t realise there was the risk and didn’t check for a second opinion. But I think its at least possible that there was unnecessary surgery going on there too.
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There are a lot of unscrupulous dentists out there. How many 30 year old women have you seen suddenly wearing braces…that’s a scam. They scare the women with exaggerated images of their overbite and tell them they need braces. Most cases they certainly do not.
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Walk ins are hard just because of quantity of people. You can do that theoretically, but loads of people also trust hospitals more so it’s best to register ahead of time to guarantee a spot. Probably won’t get an appointment same day.
I basically try to get 2 doctor visits in because a 1 to 3 hour wait is to be expected. I do a morning in and afternoon one to kills 2 birds with one stone and just take the day off work.
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