What's a reasonable price for dental work? Where's a good place to go?

Went to a dentist for cosmetic work.

Eight cavities were found.

Which was surprising because when going for cleanings elsewhere I was told, "No problems; no cavities."

How did I get so many so quickly?

The cost is 2.45 million, none of which would be covered by insurance.

I was told if I paid up front and had the work done that day, I'd get a 10% discount.

It was towards the end of the day, so I was wondering how over two million worth of work could be done in such a short amount of time.

Recommend a good dentist, please; I'm gonna get a second opinion.

I'm curious - where did you go?

Last winter I went to Global Dental clinic in Itaewon and I suddenly had 3 cavities. I know one was definitely there - I have a tooth that's been weak and odd since I was young, but I've always been good with my teeth. I wasn't really buying the other two. My teeth did get a bit wacky with the change in water here, but these days it's good. I'd like to find a different dentist too come winter for my next annual check.

The cost is 2.45 million, none of which would be covered by insurance.

I was told if I paid up front and had the work done that day, I'd get a 10% discount.

They wanted to do fillings - I presume? Unless the decay was bad enough to necessitate root canal treatments in some of the teeth. Or crowns/implants, if it's really bad.

Sounds like a scam. I had all eight of my front teeth crowned for 2.8 million. Fillings would be considerably cheaper. Crowns go for about 400k - 600k each these days, and implants are about a million.

Reckon I'll have to make a trip to Thailand or India before long. Get me some of those all-on-four implants. Not cheap, though.

Went to a dentist for cosmetic work.

Eight cavities were found.

Which was surprising because when going for cleanings elsewhere I was told, "No problems; no cavities."

How did I get so many so quickly?

The cost is 2.45 million, none of which would be covered by insurance.

I was told if I paid up front and had the work done that day, I'd get a 10% discount.

It was towards the end of the day, so I was wondering how over two million worth of work could be done in such a short amount of time.

Recommend a good dentist, please; I'm gonna get a second opinion.

I'm convinced that there are almost no good dentists here. I've visited about eight different dental clinics here, ranging from small and local to fancy Gangnam ones, and they all have recommended unnecessary dental work. I've also never been able to find anyone that will do a proper cleaning here. That's why I only go to the dentist when I visit my home country, even though it's super expensive.

No advice for you, other than to try not to trust dentists here.

Damn. Did a search. Got freaked out.

I went to a Korean dentist recommended by my CT for his honesty. Eight cavities he said. I got a second opinion in Ireland two months later. Zero cavities. Perfect oral health.
My experience and the experience of countless other expats: Korean dentists recommend treatments which are medically unnecessary and quote inflated prices regardless of necessity.

Same here. In Ireland my dentist told me everything was perfect during the checkup. Only a couple of months later I went for a deep cleaning here in Korea and amazingly they discovered eleven cavities!

My experience with Korean dentists has been TERRIBLE. Whether they speak English or not doesn't matter. A lot of them see any patient coming in as a walking credit card and nothing else. I went to one in Gangnam that had good recs on expat forums and it was a joke. They jack up their prices for foreigners, do crappy work, ignore your requests and come up with God knows what to be 'wrong' so they can 'fix' it for you.

My wife practices dentistry here in Cheongju. Its a bit far but she wont cheat you and she speaks English quite well.

T.C.

Well, I had a Syrian dentist (refugee) do the same thing, he maxed out my annual insurance limit of 2500 Euros by giving me badly fitted unnecessary porcelain facings, now I can't eat any apples or spare ribs anymore...

I've been to Boston Dental Clinic in Seoul around 4 or 5 times. Ive had a pretty good cleaning from them, X-ray checkup etc for around 30-60,000 and they have never once told me I had any cavities or other problems. A friend of mine also went there for invisilign and I don't think she had any problems. The only thing is they used to be open on Saturdays, but they aren't anymore.

I always go to Boston Dental Clinic, downtown Seoul near line 1 Jonggak Station. I've been going there for years. Never had any overcharging/overdiagnosing. I'm lucky to have good teeth. But they found one cavity (the first in my life  ) on a routine checkup a couple years ago. They filled it on the spot for W100,000 and I was out of there.

I have routine cleanings twice a year. One is covered under insurance (annual cleanings are covered by insurance), so W30,000. The other isn't, but they give it to me for 30,000, too. I do have a couple lower teeth that are a bit out of line and they always ask me if I want to get them fixed, but no high pressure sales.

www.bostonclinic.co .kr
E.mail : bostonclinic77@gmail.com
tel : 82-2-720-5673
Near line 1 Jonggak station. Exit 10 is the closest. Also line 2 Euljiro 2-ga. Website has details on how to get there.

Glad it's not just me.
Went to the dentist here for the first time (for cleaning and whitening) and got told I need 7 fillings (3 quite serious at 250,000 each, and 4 less serious at 100,000 each).
I went to the dentist 6 months ago in the UK and was told there were no problems so I feel conflicted.
On one hand the dentist here checked very thoroughly and took photos to show me all the cavities whereas in the UK the appointment was over in less than 5 minutes.
The clinic I went to was in Yeongdeungpo and ran by Yonsei university. When I made the appointment the receptionist said the dentist would know English but this wasn't the case so it was very disorienting.
I'll try one of the clinics recommended here for a second opinion.

Glad it's not just me.
Went to the dentist here for the first time (for cleaning and whitening) and got told I need 7 fillings (3 quite serious at 250,000 each, and 4 less serious at 100,000 each).
I went to the dentist 6 months ago in the UK and was told there were no problems so I feel conflicted.
On one hand the dentist here checked very thoroughly and took photos to show me all the cavities whereas in the UK the appointment was over in less than 5 minutes.
The clinic I went to was in Yeongdeungpo and ran by Yonsei university. When I made the appointment the receptionist said the dentist would know English but this wasn't the case so it was very disorienting.
I'll try one of the clinics recommended here for a second opinion.

I've been told the university dentists aren't that good, otherwise they would be in private practice.