Dental Work SE Asia

[twoteachers]

I need to have a tooth extracted. It's getting done in the states and I go to Malaysia in July. My dentist said since it's the last tooth on the jaw, I may not need an implant...which would be about 5-6K here in the states. If down the road, I think I need an implant, has anyone had experience with dental work in SE Asia, and it was a positive experience?

[gibwise]

I had dental work in South Asia. Get a recommendation for your specific location but apart from that it should be fine. I paid a fraction of the cost it would have been in western countries for wisdom teeth extraction and it was perfectly good. Machinery was a little dated but everything went smoothly and my dentist was western trained. The worst part was trying to tell a rickshaw to take me home afterwards.

[calvin76]

If you're going to KL, you'll be absolutely fine. Just ask around your staff for a good referral and you will surely find a good doctor, dentist, eye doctor, etc. There are many, many very good local doctors trained in the US, UK or Europe. When I lived in KL I dealt with doctors, surgeons and dentists with absolutely no hesitations. And gibwise makes a good point too - cost is generally lower than you would pay at home.

[PsyGuy]

It shouldnt be problematic, the hardest part is getting a good referral for someone who is a proficient English speaker, but there are lots of western trained medical professionals. Cost is a fraction of what youd pay domestically, your implant and the procedure wouldnt cost more than a couple hundred USD. You also get a lot more choices in materials and service professionals. You can have a technician do fillings really cheap. By paying out of pocket you can choose a noble metal implant, porcelain or composite.

[tck4life]

yeah. but dental work in TX is so different from overseas...

[wntriscoming]

I've had very good experiences in several countries. In Thailand, my favorite was dentist that also employed spa touches like aromatherapy. Bangkok Dental Spa has a lady massage your feet during the cleaning and any subsequent drilling. Sounds kooky, but totally legit and really kept my mind off my mouth! :D You can look it up online.

[PsyGuy]

@wntriscoming

Was there a happy ending afterwards?

[wntriscoming]

My cavity was gone. That's happy enough for me!

[PIEGUY]

Bangkok.

[nikkor]

If you can go to BKK, go to Bumrungrad Hospital. They have an extensive amount of info on their website, which usually includes prices.

[dover2013]

BKK or KL. Fraction of the cost (5-6k is a joke) with at least the same quality. You'll be going to KL so get it done there.

[twoteachers]

I feel a lot better about this now... Thanks for all the posts..

[aussiechick]

PsyGuy said, "Cost is a fraction of what you'd pay domestically, your implant and the procedure wouldn't cost more than a couple hundred USD."

I don't know about elsewhere in Asia, but an implant in Bangkok will cost at least $2000 and probably closer to $3000. That's assuming it's a straightforward case. I don't know how much implants cost in the US, so probably this is still a saving, but it's nowhere near as cheap as PsyGuy is suggesting. And the same principle applies to other kinds of dental work. You can certainly get high quality work from well-qualified professionals, but it's not that cheap.

[PsyGuy]

@aussiechick

We have vastly different experiences that I can not reconcile. I had an abscessed tooth extracted and implant installed to replace it the cost was just under $300 USD in Thailand.

[aussiechick]

Where did you have that done?!!