Thailand’s dental clinics provide reliable, high-quality care that will banish the fear factor...

So - you’ve made the decision to teach abroad, have landed in Bangkok, and feel more than a little like Anna from the King of Siam. Even if you have travelled, especially to this part of the world, nothing can prepare you for actually living in a foreign destination, especially one that is culturally very much different from your own. 

This is even more true when it comes to dealing with matters we take for granted, like health. Some things, especially dental care, are not necessarily on the top of anyone’s list to sort out, even at the best of times, let alone when you’re in Thailand. Dental clinics can be scary places – but when you have no recommendations from friends and family, then it’s all too easy to let sleeping dogs lie and hope you don’t have a problem with your teeth anytime soon. 

However, there’s really no need to ‘make like an ostrich’, as Thailand’s dental tourism scene is a thriving business offering expertise and affordability. Naturally, as the Kingdom’s capital, Bangkok has more than its fair share of top-quality, internationally-renowned clinics, and so if you are looking to find the best dentist in Thailand, you’ll certainly be starting off on the right foot by checking out Bangkok’s facilities.

The Ancient and the Modern

Bangkok is an intoxicating combination of the traditional and the contemporary. Ornate temples on practically every street corner punctuate glass and steel high-rise office blocks, shopping malls, and neon lights. While the country, as a whole, may still seem to be undeveloped by Western standards, Bangkok is one of the region’s most significant economic and cultural powerhouses, alongside Singapore, Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur and Indonesia’s Jakarta.

Multinational corporations have headquarters in these cities and Western visitors, whether short or long-stay, will certainly find them as entertaining and exciting (if not more so) than the cities they are used to at home.

State-Of-The-Art Technology

Thus, while the traditional aspects of Thai culture is evident throughout Bangkok in the temples, floating markets and customs, so too is modernity. Many of the dental clinics catering to international patients utilize the most up-to-date equipment housed in state-of-the-art premises. 

The award-winning Bangkok International Dental Center is a prime example of the quality of some of the dental facilities available in the city. A purpose-built 7-storey building with over 70 specialist dentists, restaurant, bank, and boutique hotel it has international accreditation with the Joint Commission International and complies fully with international health and safety standards.

Clinical Expertise

One area that may cause some concern to Westerners is the standards of medical education in less developed countries like Thailand. Medical education is becoming more standardized throughout the world. Thanks to globalization and the proliferation of low-cost flights, cross border training is something that is now the norm, rather than the exception. The dissemination of knowledge is quicker than ever before and can be spread around the entire globe in the blink of an eye. 

Long gone are the days when you had little knowledge of what sort of treatment you were going to get in a foreign country. Nowadays, the internet has made all sorts of information available at our fingertips, which means at least anyone can do a little bit of research to see for themselves if there is any useful information out there about a particular clinic or dentist.

For example, the Bangkok Smile Malo Clinic is likely to feature heavily on any internet searches. As part of the European Malo International Clinic Network, it has a team of internationally-trained dentists who offer complete dental care, but who are particular specialists in cosmetic and reconstructive implant dentistry.

Prices

The eye-watering cost of dental care for most Westerners is enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies - and even for those with dental insurance, the pay-outs rarely cover much more than the basics, leaving many people with a bad taste in their mouth for the huge out-of-pocket expenses they then have to cover. 

This is an area where Bangkok’s dentists excel over their Western counterparts. Even in Bangkok’s best clinics, the prices are between 50 and 80% cheaper than they are in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

A dental filling, for example, costs only about a fifth of the price you’d pay at home, which might not represent a huge amount - but saving $100 or more certainly represents a considerable sum in Bangkok. For ‘big ticket’ procedures, like dental implants, the savings do run into the thousands and are well worth getting in Thailand rather than traveling back home.

A fear of the unknown often causes us to have irrational distress about the mundane. Going to the dentist in Bangkok shouldn’t be distressing, and if you’ve already made Bangkok your home, then it should be a cinch to take that next step in sorting out your healthcare needs.