Dentist Updates???

[wayne747]

^ thanks for update, will try shortly

[wayne747]

I went to Rak Fan.
Nice and clean lobby.
Nice and professional service. Good English command.
Got a cleaning, dental check - found a cavity. The cavity was treated and plastic filling used.
All in all 1500 baht including local anesthetic. That's like 15% of the price home.

The equipment (stool, drills etc) did look somewhat dated, like what you would expect from a dentist in the West who equipped his clinic in 1980es and did not update. However, what counts is the cleanliness, the diamond on the drillhead (not the sexy design of the drill handle;-), the workmanship of the dentist.

I will return next time.

[luangtom]

Glad to hear y'all had a good experience there. I will have them on my agenda for our next visit. Thanks for the update.

[douglas]

Hi,
A few months back i had toothache. Was recommended by a friend, to go to the hospital by the railway station.
I was impressed by the treatment, She said she could do some root work for me. I said i wanted the tooth taken out, it was a back tooth. She took a x-ray, show me it, and poinded out i had a abcess on the root, so she could not take out. Give me some tablets to take and told to come back in a week. Did this, she took another x-ray said it was O.K. and went ahead and got the offender removed. Total cost of the work, plus treatments, came to 1250B. A very good price.
Could not have got just a extraction at home, for that price. And the service was great.
Cheers Doug.

[wiking]

this i paid 300 baht for by ORAL-B

took one hour to get it out

we are many who going to this place, clean and they speak good english

[Chriss]

this i paid 300 baht for by ORAL-B

took one hour to get it out

we are many who going to this place, clean and they speak good english

where are Oral-B?

[daxbr]

this i paid 300 baht for by ORAL-B

took one hour to get it out

we are many who going to this place, clean and they speak good english

As another datapoint, today at AeK Udon Hospital bill:

Sterilization Fee 100
Oral Prophylaxis. Scaling and Polishing 1000
Dental Professional Fee 100
Total for cleaning 1200 baht

Wish I listened to posters above.

[wayne747]

Implant 45-50,000 Baht depending on the material. I only asked for a quote. So, can not comment one way or the other on their work.
But pleased with other work, e.g. extraction 500 Baht, cleaning 500 Baht, etc.
For the name, direction, and the tel no., please read the post by Parrot on the first page.

I have as mentioned visited Rak fan a couple of times while in Udon, but only for teeth cleaning and cavities. No complaints and reasonable prices (1000 baht a cavity approx.), much cheaper than in farangland. Very good service and no complaints re the work.

Now I might need an implant and compare the above 50k baht price with western prices.
Seems to me 50k baht (in 2008) is quite expensive - it costs the same as my local western dentist. I wonder why implants are so relatively more expensive in LOS.

Does anybody have recent implant / root canal experience ?

Thx

[jackspratt]

I had a crown (no root canal) done at the private dentist in Ban Dung about 3 years ago. From memory it cost about 5000 baht.

No complaints about the quality, or service.

[rick]

Used the lady dentist at Bangkok hospital (old panjeviter) today to have a tooth out (cracked). She seems quite competent, speaks reasonable english. Total cost 760 baht. Did give a complete run down of all the options. Now need to go back for a crown for another tooth in a few weeks. A crown costs 6500 baht there.

[wayne747]

Thanks guys.
6500 baht for a crown sounds more reasonable.
I wonder why an implant is almost ten times more expensive. It is not so much more expensive in the west.

Thanks again for input.

[hermajesty]

Since there seems to be so much interest in dentists in Udon, here's my most recent experience:
Went to the Rakfan Clinic, about mid-way on the one-way street between Phosri and Srisuk, same side as the small post office.
Walked in, asked if a dentist was available, waited less than 5 minutes, had my teeth cleaned by an English speaking dentist, clean and air conditioned atmosphere......500 baht. Been doing it this way twice a year for the past 9 or so years, twice a year. The last time she raised her prices for cleaning was in 2004 (from 400 to 500).
I'm not related to the doctor and I own no stock in the clinic. Just happy to get good service, virtually on demand for a reasonable price.

I just had my teeth cleaned at Clinic Rak Fan. I had not planned to, only to inquire and take a look around but the receptionist said they could do it now, so I went ahead. I loved the dentist, Dr. Saranyaa. It was the best cleaning I have had yet in Thailand. After she did the machine/water scaling (I don't know what this is called and have not had this done in the US) she then hand scaled problem areas. That was a first for Thailand, the hand scaling. Her English was excellent, I was very comfortable speaking and understanding English. I would/will return again, at least for cleaning. I only say it like that because I am a baby in the dentist chair and would choose a specialist for a root canal but I hope to never need one of those again.

I inquired about implants, for which she has a certificate on the wall from a German school, and she said it's 55k and they do them there in the office. Her business card identifies her as a major (as in army).

Cleaning today was 600, the base price. When I asked the price in the beginning it was "600 and up". I get regular cleanings so I know I don't need anything extra. I paid 600 6 months ago for the dentist in Central Plaza and would not return to her again. Her English was almost non-existant and her assistants were too giggly for a professional office. I still had plaque in between teeth that I could feel with floss and the mall dentist never flossed my teeth at all.

I was going to look in at Rak Fan and then head to the one across from the bus terminal but never made it there. Very happy to have found Dr. Saranyaa.

Thanks parrot!
HM

[dingdong]

You quoted 55K is that per tooth ????

[hermajesty]

You quoted 55K is that per tooth ????

Yes. 45k-55k per tooth for implants seems to be the going price. I have asked in other places and even in this thread that is the price referenced for implants.

[jackspratt]

If you are talking about a crown + root canal treatment, a few years ago I had this done, to my total satisfaction, in Ban Dung for about 5000 baht.

[rick]

I have been undergoing a prolonged course of treatment at Bangkok hospital, and i am reasonably satisfied. Have english speaking lady dentist, who takes her time to do everything, no butchery like i might get back in the UK where speed is the essence. Only gripes are the length of time it is taking to get work done (about 9 hours of work so far on a crown over 2 months). Some equipment is a bit dated.

Some things not as expensive as suggested. Standard charge per session if no materials used is 110 baht. Extraction add 600 baht. Crown is coming up rather expensive but is going to be pretty big; price depends on gold or other metal quantity used but over 10,000 baht. Orthodontist session to cut out bone about 1500 baht. I think implants are around 30,000 -50,000, but that is a treatment i would not really want to try - i hear that in the long run only 50% successful (may last a few years).

But if unsure about a small clinic give it a try. Examination is free.

[semperfiguy]

With all the uproar these days about the side effects on the body as a result of mercury vapors escaping from the old-fashion silver amalgam fillings in teeth, I have considered having all of mine replaced with the newest white colored resins. However, if the dentist is not equipped to perform the latest techniques in patient safety protocol, the end result could present more risk to the patient and technician than just leaving them in. Has anyone had a satisfactory and safe experience with having this done in Udon and can you recommend the clinic? If you're unsure about what I am referring to, take a few minutes and watch this video. It could potentially scare the pants off of you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

[hermajesty]

If you are talking about a crown + root canal treatment, a few years ago I had this done, to my total satisfaction, in Ban Dung for about 5000 baht.

An implant is not a root canal/crown but an actual metal rod implanted into your jaw bone, time to mend the bone around the rod, then another metal piece attached to that and THEN a crown. It's a 4-6 month (or more) process and it is to replace a missing tooth, not repair a tooth still in place.

Clear as mud?

HM

[jackspratt]

Thanks for the clarification hm.

From distant memory, the root canal/crown treatments I have had have sometimes involved screwing something into the jaw bone, after the roots (nerves) have been destroyed. This gave extra purchase to the crown I guess.

But certainly never took 4 or 6 months - probably 4 visits max, over 2 weeks or so.

[parrot]

"take a few minutes and watch this video. It could potentially scare the pants off of you!"

sf, I'd prefer to not watch the video as I have a mouthful of mercury and wouldn't consider going through the torture of having it removed. When I was young, I played with friends at a park/river that ran red one day, green the next, depending what dyes the woolen mill tossed into the river. We didn't think twice about wading into the water. I spent 3 months of every summer at the beach.......wicked sunburns a few times each year....the skin would peel and burn again....then after about the 3rd time, I'd darken to a nice chocolately brown. Every morning we'd lather up in baby oil.
Don't know where we got it, but we always had a vial of mercury handy at home. We'd coat dimes in it and play with it because it was slippery. I'm sure I picked my nose back then, because that's what little boys usually do when there's something in there.

Oh yeah, I smoke filter-less cigarettes for the first 12 years of my smoking life (age 12-24). When my brothers and I couldn't pay for a pack of smokes, we'd roll corn silk and smoke that. Yum! I quit when I was 38, but each year, the doctor reminds me that a chunk of my lung is destroyed......no cancer, but still!

Oh, almost forgot about lead. I was a paperboy when I was young....picked up 100 papers each day at the print shop.......there was always a pile of lead printset laying around and the guys inside would let me have as much as I wanted. My brothers and I would melt it down and make our own sinkers for ocean fishing. We never carried a pair of plyers, so we'd just split the sinker with a knife, insert the line, then bite the sinker closed. My oldest brother built a Heathkit stereo way back in the early 60's...but lost the counterweight for the turntable. He melted a pot of lead in the kitchen and fashioned a triangle out of it to use as on the turntable. It worked just fine.....we'd have to (touch it!!) to adjust it from time to time......but with all the lead paint in our house (I'm not kidding), that probably didn't matter much.

The only thing that worries me about all that mercury in my mouth is.....when the day comes that I'm cremated, all that mercury is going to melt and contaminate my body. And then, I'm royally screwed.
In the meantime, I'm basically a walking environmental ticking time bomb.....but at 63 and still healthy, I consider myself fortunate.