All backpackers still in the UK, learn my lesson, get a dental check up before you go!

[digitalis]

I am writing this sitting in a hotel in Phuket with a post root canal anaesthetic swollen mouth and generally feeling sorry myself:chatterbox:while Saturday night here is starting to wind up.

 

Turns out, that unlike emergency medical care, which is covered by a mutual Oz/UK agreement, dental treatment is very much billed for, and billed highly.

 

I hold my hands up and admit that I haven't had a non-neccesary dental check, ever I don't think in the UK. Partly because I had nasty experiences as a kid (who hasn't) and secondly because I believed and still do that the standard in the UK is below par frankly.

 

Anyway, around 6 weeks ago, so about 2 months into my trip I started experiencing quite intense pain on the odd occasion whilst chewingaround my molar region on the left side. Fast forward 3 weeks and whilst eating a steak I experienced more pronounced pain every bit I took.

 

Cut a long story short, I have/had a deep cavity which I certainly could not see and was bad enough for root canal work and the corresponding aftercare. By the time the treatment is finished I will have spent close to $600. In Oz, this would have been at 3-4x this. The initial consultation and xray alone was quoted to me as over $200 in a Darwin dentist and the nurse informed that I wouldn't have much change from $500 for a filling!

 

I had been due to travel to Bali to meet up with my family so whilst there thought I'd see if it was something simple like a gum infection. It was a complete joke looking back. The dentist (who could barely speak a word of English) did not indentify anything wrong, apart from, you guessed it, a gum infection. He then tried to start cleaning my teeth (lol talk about trying to cover a gaping wound with a plaster) and I informed him, politley that I was only interested in having the offending area looked at. Obviously I would never, ever had entertained the idea of root canal surgery in a back street dentist in Bali!*

 

After 5 days of spending time with my family, taking antibiotics I was still preoccupied with my inability to chew on one side and knew I had to get it seen to. I had been flying to Thailand anyway, after working hard and saving for a few months and alas, here I am now!

 

So defintitley get yourself any work needing doing on the good old NHS before parting time and money over this side of the globe!

 

(* - Bali is an aggressive, conman and beggar ridden shithole btw, do not fall for the collective backpacker grapevine bullshit about it being "awesome". IMO these are just kids looking for bragging rights when they get back home apparently even surf lovers cannot get over how polluted the waters are. As a non surfer I would never ever set foot there again..Literally every interaction you have with a Balinese other than the hotel workers will involve some form of scam. It's not that cheap either)

Edited August 18, 2012 by digitalis

[moirclan]

i had some peridontal work done last week in patong [ and im in private insurance in aussie , but its still cheaper having it done over there , ] the dentist was very good , so i decided to have my teeth whitened ,, big mistake !!! the dentist saying " you may have slight sensetivity dosnt really translate it properly ,what he should have said was " it will be less painless to have your teeth smashed by a mallet !!!! its been over a week now and my bottom teeth still throb , i should have googled it first , and i am no wimp with pain , NEVER AGAIN !!! ill live with the colour of my teeth in future ,

[digitalis]

I've had that pain mate, In fact a tooth whitening kit is what caused me to have first root canal done 5 years ago. I used a home whitening kit and the pain was so bad it woke me up. I agree, it felt like a white hot needle was been threaded up through my tooth and wiggled about in my gum. Never, ever again like you said the whitening toothpast is more than enough.

 

Yes I was very impressed by the standard, much higher than my last RC which was done by a private dentist in the UK. What dentist was it? PM me of you want.

 

Ha that must be their modus operandi as they are trying to push me into having a clean and some cavities filled which I have no doubt exist but certainly are not giving me problems, as well as a removal of a wisdom tooth which I didn't even know was there.

 

TBH the price here defintley higher than I expected, in fact it's well ver double what I budgeted for BUT if I had not had it done I would been in complete agony 10,000 miles from home in a week or so I think,