Dentists, like many businesses that you see as you travel around Thailand often have many of the same genres located close together. The reason for this is hard to explain although it would appear that because one is successful there is perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be high demand for another. Not only does this make life doubly difficult for the dentist in Bangkok who will be fighting to earn a living, but also for patients who are seeking a dental clinic in Bangkok as there are now too many to choose from!
Although in some ways having so many dental clinics could be good for patients as the economics alone may mean only the strongest survive, there will be a high degree of competition so market forces are bound to play a part in terms of prices. There will be issues too regarding who you do decide to use. It appears that you can’t walk more than a few hundred metres without seeing a dental clinic in Bangkok, so who should you choose?
If you live in the city or are a frequent visitor there, it is perhaps easier as you will be able to judge for yourself over a period of time how many patients the clinic gets. Like a good restaurant, the busier they are the greater likelihood that the service will be better as they obviously have a number off returning patients happy with the service. If you don’t live there, you may need to look at alternative methods for carrying out your homework. In recent years we have seen a huge growth in the internet with many dentists now having websites. Try and find a website that has a number of testimonials on it from patients. Although this is no guarantee it is certainly better than nothing. You can simply search on the internet for something like ‘dentist Bangkok’ or ‘dental clinic Bangkok’ and you will see a host of dentist come up. Make sure you check several sites and do further research as a good website does not necessarily mean they are a good dentist!
All dentists in Thailand are regulated so you will have no concerns that they are trained but it is the level of training and how recent the training was carried out that is in question. Dentistry is one of the industries that are changing very rapidly and new techniques are becoming more frequently available. Obviously, you want to use a dentist who is using the latest techniques and equipment. It is hard to know how recently your dentist took part in training on new techniques so it is perhaps a question that you need to ask if you are looking at having a major procedure carried out. If you are shy to ask in person or over the phone, this can be done via email. After all, this is your health that we are talking about, so it is important that you are satisfied with the level of service you will get before the treatment starts.
Click to read about PMDC Cosmetic Dental Center.
