Dentists in Taiwan: FAQ and Resources

[Skater bum]

How much would a dentist cost with no health insurance ? To fill a cavity.

[Craig]

I need to have a root canal done, I went to the MetDent clinic in Shi-Da, they replaced a filling that fell out for $1000NTD(separate from the root canal) (I don't have insurance). They have quoted me $5000 for the root canal, but after looking throught this thred it seems that is pretty cheap. Also they told me I need to appointments for this procedure a week apart, is this the norm? How long does a root canal take? How painful should it be? Is $5000 too cheap?

One concern I have is after doing a little research into root canals it seems I may not really have the need for one(but hey what do I know LOL). What has happened is a filling fell out, it is a large filling in a rear molar, it has become sensitive to temperature, there is no pain, and no infection, no discoloration, swelling or tenderness. Do Dentists here just call for a root canal when a filling is bigger?

Can anyone offer any info or advice about this? I have an appointment for this Friday evening and wondering if I am making the right choice.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Abacus]

I need to have a root canal done, I went to the MetDent clinic in Shi-Da, they replaced a filling that fell out for $1000NTD(separate from the root canal) (I don't have insurance). They have quoted me $5000 for the root canal, but after looking throught this thred it seems that is pretty cheap. Also they told me I need to appointments for this procedure a week apart, is this the norm? How long does a root canal take? How painful should it be? Is $5000 too cheap?

One concern I have is after doing a little research into root canals it seems I may not really have the need for one(but hey what do I know LOL). What has happened is a filling fell out, it is a large filling in a rear molar, it has become sensitive to temperature, there is no pain, and no infection, no discoloration, swelling or tenderness. Do Dentists here just call for a root canal when a filling is bigger?

Can anyone offer any info or advice about this? I have an appointment for this Friday evening and wondering if I am making the right choice.

Thanks in advance for any help.

If it's sensitive to temperature it means that the filling is very close to the root and at a really inconvenient time it will abscess. This really sucks so I would get the root canal done now unless you expected to get onto insurance in the next couple of months.

[Doraemonster]

As much as I was trying to avoid going to a dentist here, eventually I still needed to see one, so I compiled a list of dentists that were recommended somewhere to have something to choose from.

(Please note, this is just a list from other sources, I will post my experiences in a moment.)

Brian’s
Recommended by AU & CA Offices
民權東路2段152巷16號
02 2502 1273

Dr David's
Recommended by AIT
天玉街38巷10號1樓
02 2876 7658
http://www.ddda.com.tw/

Duen Ping (敦品)
Recommended by AU & CA Offices
敦化北路222巷10號
02 2545 9770

Excellence
Recommended by AIT
忠誠路1段171巷3號
02 8866 2725

Landmark (達美)
Recommended by AU & CA Offices, there is NHI, Dr. Hsu (許博能) recommended on Forumosa, but doesn't work there anymore
忠誠路1段159號
0922 888 818
02 2838 0201

Leader
Recommended by AU & CA Offices
敦化北路222巷62號
02 2712 2472

Lin & Partners (崇民牙科)
Recommended by Community Ctr, AIT, AU, CA Offices, no NHI, Bad experiences described on Yahoo Knowledge (in Chinese)
天母西路60號5樓
02 2873 6488
南京東路三段259號3樓
02 2715 2476

Professors' (博世)
Found it myself, current workplace of Dr. Hsu (許博能) that previously worked at Landmark, no NHI
濟南路1段7號8樓
02 2729 1181

Seattle
Recommended by Community Ctr, NHI
中山北路6段470號2樓
02 2875 5119
http://www.cunc.com.tw/drchiayifu/

Summit
Recommended by some Forumosa users, NHI, Bad experiences described on PTT (in Chinese)
新北市新店區北新路二段53號
02 8911 2576
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r36/ ... istmap.jpg

Recommendation sources

AIT: http://acs.ait.org.tw/medical-info.html
AU Office: http://www.australia.org.tw/tpei/Medica ... aiwan.html
CA Office: http://www.canada.org.tw/taiwan/assets/ ... 20List.pdf
NZ Office: (no recommendations at all)
UK Office: (no recommendations for dentists), http://ukintaiwan.fco.gov.uk/resources/ ... als-taipei
Community Ctr: (e-mail question), http://www.communitycenter.org.tw/

[Doraemonster]

My experiences with dentists here:

First, I called Lin & Partners (Tianmu branch). From the compiled list of recommendations they seemed to be the safest choice. They don't accept NHI and are probably the most expensive, but I'm fine with that as long as the quality is also fine. I didn't want to take any chances.

I was told I could make appointments in English there, so I started speaking in English when I called them. This was not a good decision, as the receptionist's English comprehension was clearly insufficient. Even though I spoke rather slowly she could not understand me, and when I said "I need a filling," she thought I needed "cleaning." Then, out of the blue, she switched to Chinese. The conversation went much smoother from then on, but if I couldn't answer her in Chinese I doubt we could continue at all.

Although I called in the morning, they did not have free slots for the whole day, so I decided to go somewhere else. It was just a single phone call so I might be wrong, but my impression was that they already had enough customers and didn't really want my business.

My second attempt was to call the Summit, which seems to be the place most often recommended on Forumosa. When I called them at the time they open (2.30 pm), they said they were full and would not make an appointment for me: I could just come and wait, but this was something I didn't want to do, so I decided to try yet another place.

This time I called the Landmark, the workplace of Dr. Hsu also recommended on Forumosa. He doesn't work there anymore, so (somewhat reluctantly) I made an appointment with Dr. Chen. He turned out to be a very good choice, fixing my long-neglected cavity really well, giving me more time than necessary and also explaining things as he went on. I got local anesthesia when I asked for it. The amount was sufficient and Dr. Chen waited approx. 10 mins for it to start working, so I didn't feel any pain at all. (This part I was worried about because many people had mentioned problems with anesthesia in other clinics.)

I went on to see Dr. Chen again later for cleaning and some miscellaneous stuff. Each time he spent about 1 hour for me, and there was no time pressure of any kind. The room is for a single patient only and there are window blinds, so the degree of privacy is higher than usually in Taiwan. (I saw pictures from another recommended clinic, I think it was Duen Ping, and there were 5 or more chairs in one large room without even any curtains between them. It is also common for dental clinics here to have large windows anyone can see through from the street.)

I can definitely recommend Dr. Chen at the Landmark. We spoke Chinese but I believe he also speaks English. Also, this clinic accepts NHI now, so the total price I paid was 150 TWD each time.

Also, I later found Dr. Hsu and in fact also made an appointment with him. He works at another clinic now (Professors'), where he specializes in prosthetics, but he was also OK to see me for the cavity. I cancelled the appointment though because it was not necessary anymore. The cost of having a cavity fixed there would be about 3500 TWD (including anesthesia but not root canals), they don't accept NHI.

Hope the above helps someone else in the future.

[Water Dragon]

@ Doraemonster
Nice post on your experience with the dentists. Especially on the part on privacy which, till today, I find it weird to have several dentist chairs in one room and people off the street can watch you - maybe people do enjoy a freak show LOL

[Lo Pan]

I am having a fairly serious dental issue and need to find a good dentist that can handle crown-work and possible dental surgery... ASAP. I have a crown that I believe has failed and resulted in an infection bad enough for a 39.5 degree fever.

I don't care about going cheap, I just want the biggest, bad-ass dentist/dental surgeon in the Taipei. Anyone know who it is?

[Ovechkin]

has anyone gone there recently? it's been a year since craig's post so I'm wondering if everything is still wonderful!

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I tried a place called MetDent Dental clinic. It's just a bit north of Shi-Da and west of Da'an Park.

162-4 Jinhua St, Da'an District, Taipei
02-23560277

There are 2 dentists there and the English name of the one I had my appointment with was Steven. Both dentists were educated at New York University. The office atmosphere was very pleasant and comfortable, not chaotic like the others I'd been to, and the equipment was probably the most modern I've seen here. Michael speaks English fluently (not sure about the other dentist), but unfortunately the receptionist doesn't.

When I've gone to other dentists, I got very little information about the condition of my teeth/gums or about the procedures I was having done. It could have been the language barrier, or just the attitude that they are the doctor and don't need to explain anything. I had a routine cleaning, x-rays and started the process for an implant and repair a chipped tooth and Michael explained everything very clearly, which I really appreciated. The routine cleaning was fairly typical for Taiwan.

I'll let you know how the implant goes.

By the way, I have tried NY Dentist, but was not impressed with their office or their service. I also went to Summit Dentistry, which was pretty clean, modern and efficient, but they skimped on a root canal (no temp crown ) which resulted in a broken tooth, more work required and additional cost.