Another one of my objectives for this trip was to experience Thai dental service. Many visitors to Thailand get dental work done which would cost much more in their home countries. A whole class of tourism has sprung up, medical tourism, of which dental tourism is a subset.
The issue is complex. When things go right, you can receive service just as good as in your home country. The practitioners can be just as qualified as those at home because they studied in a first-world country, and are quality certified. When things go wrong however, the consequences in botched care and cost of remediation could be severe. This is not something that can be settled by reading one article. You should do your own research into the pros and cons, and also the qualifications of the facility you intend to patronise. I do not recommend any particular course of action.
Fortunately I only needed to get a filling done on an upper incisor, not major surgery. I figured that there was little risk in getting this done by someone other than my usual excellent dentist. It's the sort of thing you would do on a holiday if your filling breaks.
There was only one dental clinic in the Central Airport Plaza shopping centre. I walked up to the front desk and asked to have a session with a dentist. The receptionist didn't speak much English, but she understood and got me to fill in a particulars form.
About 5 minutes later I was ushered into one of the rooms where a young dentist asked me what I needed done. She understood top incisor and hole, and proceeded with the work. There were two other young women in the room, assistants no doubt. Usually only one is needed, so perhaps the second assistant had no other duties at the moment. It was quite intriguing, they chatted away happily in Thai during the procedure. The relationship between the dentist and the assistants seemed to be collegial, rather than superior-inferiors. Perhaps it was part of the general Thai good-nature.
The filling done, the dentist tested the fit with carbon paper. She understood the phrase too big, and ground it down to get a good fit on biting. I found it quite satisfactory on leaving. For this I paid 800B, less than half what it would cost me at home.
This was only a small procedure. I cannot come to a conclusion on whether a large dental procedure would be safe to undertake. For sure I would want a large facility and better communication. Fortunately there are no such procedures that I need on the horizon.
The issue is complex. When things go right, you can receive service just as good as in your home country. The practitioners can be just as qualified as those at home because they studied in a first-world country, and are quality certified. When things go wrong however, the consequences in botched care and cost of remediation could be severe. This is not something that can be settled by reading one article. You should do your own research into the pros and cons, and also the qualifications of the facility you intend to patronise. I do not recommend any particular course of action.
Fortunately I only needed to get a filling done on an upper incisor, not major surgery. I figured that there was little risk in getting this done by someone other than my usual excellent dentist. It's the sort of thing you would do on a holiday if your filling breaks.
There was only one dental clinic in the Central Airport Plaza shopping centre. I walked up to the front desk and asked to have a session with a dentist. The receptionist didn't speak much English, but she understood and got me to fill in a particulars form.
About 5 minutes later I was ushered into one of the rooms where a young dentist asked me what I needed done. She understood top incisor and hole, and proceeded with the work. There were two other young women in the room, assistants no doubt. Usually only one is needed, so perhaps the second assistant had no other duties at the moment. It was quite intriguing, they chatted away happily in Thai during the procedure. The relationship between the dentist and the assistants seemed to be collegial, rather than superior-inferiors. Perhaps it was part of the general Thai good-nature.
The filling done, the dentist tested the fit with carbon paper. She understood the phrase too big, and ground it down to get a good fit on biting. I found it quite satisfactory on leaving. For this I paid 800B, less than half what it would cost me at home.
This was only a small procedure. I cannot come to a conclusion on whether a large dental procedure would be safe to undertake. For sure I would want a large facility and better communication. Fortunately there are no such procedures that I need on the horizon.
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