Note: While the cost of dental work in Thailand is considerably less than in the United States, you won’t receive the same bang for your buck that can be had in medical work. The standards of quality vary and, as suggested here, it is a bit more challenging to locate the right clinic from which dental services are to be procured.

My story in Thailand would not be complete without a narrative on the dental services received. I was told that Dentaland was run by a dentist who trained at the University of Michigan. This fact was not a major concern as I came to Thailand specifically to avoid the costs associated with American health care, dental included. I did however, walk into this clinic to become frustrated when I learned their first opportunity to see me would be five days out; we made an appointment for then.

I had been in Thailand for all of one week, swallowed into the role of patient, and already I was demonstrating tendencies toward growing comfortable in it. Expectations rapidly took root, and minor frustrations hid in the shadows when they went unmet. I became spoiled. Being immensely smarter than to wait for the appointment at Dentaland, I entered a different clinic to be seen by somebody who immediately took an x ray of one of my more serious dental concerns-–a post and crown arrangement I had fitted on a broken-off tooth for fifty bucks in Sri Lanka four years earlier. This x ray cost 150Thai Baht, or about US$5.00, was taken with the same modern equipment I am familiar with in the United States (or Sri Lanka for that matter, where the same x-ray cost $3.00), and consumed the same three to five minutes of labor.

The person to whom I had so far been speaking with was not a dentist, but assured me that real dentists shared different times at this clinic. An appointment with the real dentist filling the position of crown specialist was made for the following morning. I was sent to have a panorama x ray of my teeth taken for 200 Thai Baht (US$7.00), again with state or the art equipment and five minutes of labor, most of which was consumed with the paperwork.

The following morning, the same information greeted me from a different source, still not a real dentist, and I was again told to return in two days for the ‘real’ specialist. Growing a bit nervous, but not one to loosen the grip I hold on my judgements too quickly, I returned only to be told again some line about a super-specialist I must see who was scheduled to visit this clinic on some future date.

I thought it was kind of them to give me such special attention, and all they had charged me for was the initial x ray, but I asked for both x rays, and suggested I might locate another opinion.

While I trust my judgements to the very brim of stupidity, I have learned to never erase all of my options until things play out, and now I planned on keeping the original appointment at Dentaland.

My dentist saw me, looked at the front tooth x ray, then at the panorama x ray, then poked and prodded around my teeth before telling me a rear, upper right molar needed a root canal and a crown.

Awareness grew in me that my time-frame in Thailand would be dictated by dental care in addition to the upcoming surgery. Actually, to do everything completely ‘by-the-book’ would entail six months. Compromises must be made and I believe compromises are easier made by dental professionals here than at home.

A plan was assembled with my new dentist informing me that the root canal was a prerequisite to the crowns. The first appointment for the root canal was scheduled for the following day.

My knowledge at this point had me scheduled for surgery on Sunday, the first crown treatment the following Sunday, then follow-up crown appointments on the next two Sundays.

Yes and now I need a crown, whereas before I “needed” an implant. Remarkably, in the two years since I last saw a dentist, in the United States, and now visiting a dentist in Thailand, “you need a new crown, but for the long term, if you have time, an implant would be better.

I asked, “and how long can I expect your work to last on the current pin that is there? Three, maybe five years?”

“Oh, no, you should see ten to fifteen years, maybe longer.”

The dentist at home didn’t present this option to me.