Dental Tourist or Mental Tourist?

If you are new in Pattaya you will probably have noticed that there is a larger number of dentists per head of population here than would be normal at home. However within a few days of visiting your first bar you will probably have noticed that the othodontal requirements of the average Thai bargirl are being met on an impressive scale. Its not just a bargirl phenomenon of course.

In a land where your smile is who you are, the demand for teeth whitening, straightening, implants and rearranging is quite staggering. And that great Thai smile is supported by a dental service industry that operates on a really big scale. Competition is cut throat and, where there is no room to discount, the provision of other services like massage, pharmacies or beauty salons can influence the prospective customers choice of service provider!

To Westerners used to dental surgeries smelling of antiseptic and fear and waiting rooms with reeading selections from a bygone era the Thai approach seems both a little frivolous and quite disorientating. Would I choose a dentist based on the foot massage service? Probably not unless I am desperate… But to judge from the success of some establishments, non-dental services keep the clients of this business coming back again and again.

Anyway, I’ve been living in Thailand for a several years now but up until a few weeks ago I had managed to avoid any direct dental experiences in the land of artificially enhanced smiles. However, the inevitable tooth problem made me abandon my previous strategy of traveling home to Europe once a year and seeing my dentist. In my case, Paul, my dentist, is a personal friend of many years.

We were contemporaries in college and have known each other so long that I rely on his opinion implicitly. So, clutching my jaw with my free hand I typed an email to Paul in Dublin. He advocated consulting a local chap and, acting on the recommendation of the owner of this website, I went to see my local dentist in Jomtien Dr. Preecha Paijitrochana at the Smile Time clinic. What a star he turned out to be. An English speaking dentist with a surgery with the lastest technology, I could see at a quick glance that no extra services were necessary to hold on to his patients.

Testimony to his skill was available on a notice board full of recommendations from Germany and Scandinavia. He quickly took a digital x ray of the affected area and emailed it to Paul in Dublin. A brief consultation later we were ready to go. I would not say that three dental procedures in the space of a week is my favourite way of investing money and time but, at a fraction of the price I would have paid in the west, my local guy performed perfect work.

Paul, a board member of the professional dental association in Ireland reckons it was as near to a perfect job as I could have gotten at home and, between the savings in air fares and the relief that I will no longer have to squirm uncomfortably when my friend sticks his fingers down my throat, I think I have an excellent new dentist in Pattaya.

Naturally I will still go for a few pints with Paul when I am home but, where in the past the guinness was washing away the memory of his rubber glove, now at least I’ll be more able to appreciate the topic of conversation.

I remain unconvinced about the general level of professional dental services here. The local professionals can be excellent but, as they are paid on the basis of the amount of work that they need to do, I would suggest that any mental dental tourists reading this should ask around for recommendations before seeing anyone.

And, call me a conservative and an old fuddy duddy but I think keeping massage services and dentistry separate is a good idea. A relaxing massage before or after a dental visit is fine but experiencing one during a dental procedure seems excessive unless the theory of reflexology has a dental aspect that I am unaware of.

14-Feb-2010

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