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rcn
Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 38 Location: Japan
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:37 am Post subject: Dentist in Japan |
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Does anyone know the ave cost of getting your teeth cleaned w/o insurance? Or to get a cavity fixed? I prefer to use my dentist back home, but in emergency situations it's not always feasible. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:05 am Post subject: Re: Dentist in Japan |
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rcn wrote: |
Does anyone know the ave cost of getting your teeth cleaned w/o insurance? Or to get a cavity fixed? I prefer to use my dentist back home, but in emergency situations it's not always feasible. |
A lot will depend on the dentist you go to and what they charge- I have been going to the dentist for the last two months to get plaque cleaned off, and two fillings replaced. Sometimes I have to go back at least twice as they take a plastic mold of the tooth so they can make a metal filling to fit in the cavity. In my case with Insurance I am paying about 2-3,000 yen a visit and without insurance it would be over 10,000 yen (maybe 15,000 for two visits). You are probably looking at a couple of hundred dollars for a filling replacement and cleaning.
I would add that there are English-speaking dentists, many of them have trained in the Us and the equipment etc is first-rate, but you have to shop around. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 1373 Location: Way, way off course.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:34 am Post subject: Re: Dentist in Japan |
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Paul, you're being seriously ripped off. Or your insurance sucks. :)
I had a root canal done in Japan in 2000 and it cost me less than 3000 yen for the entire thing. it took a number of visits, but most of them cost less than 100 yen a time. only the first and last cost over 1000 yen each. |
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april
Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 83 Location: Australia
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well maybe I got ripped off too. I had a chipped tooth filled down to stop it from cutting my tongue and it cost me 5000yen. I was in the chair less than 2 minutes. The dentist didn't speak any English but I was in too much pain (from the cut tongue) to worry about that. They understood what I needed as soon as I opened my mouth!!
G Cthulhu - Are you sure it cost you only 3000yen and not 30,000???? Where is this dentist?! The root canal I had done in Australia cost me several hundred dollars. (It was my front tooth so that would cost a bit more than usual). Was this with or without insurance? Which town were you living? Why was it so cheap? A haircut costs me more than that! |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: Dentist in Japan |
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G Cthulhu wrote: |
Paul, you're being seriously ripped off. Or your insurance sucks.
I had a root canal done in Japan in 2000 and it cost me less than 3000 yen for the entire thing. it took a number of visits, but most of them cost less than 100 yen a time. only the first and last cost over 1000 yen each. |
I find it hard to believe that each visit would cost less than a dollar, and 30 dollars (3000 yen) for a root canal.
I had two abscessed teeth and he had to drill the middle of each tooth hollow, fill with cement and then later put on a metall cap. I was also worked on by the dentist and a female nurse working with 3 patients at once.
I have national health by the way and pay 30% of the bill. |
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Sam Adams

Joined: 26 May 2003 Posts: 23
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:16 am Post subject: |
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I have to agree that medical care in general here is very cheap. I went to the dentist, had a cavity drilled and filled. He used novacaine and gave me a cleaning after. Not to mention he also took x-rays. It only cost me 4000 yen. I couldn't believe it. In the US that kind of service is at least 150 bucks.
Then again, perhaps a little extra money would have gotten him to wash his hands between patients, not just switch gloves. No problems with the tooth since. |
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rcn
Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 38 Location: Japan
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Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for all the info(I think?), but has anybody ever had to pay WITHOUT insurance in Japan? I'm going back to Canada for a vacation this summer and trying to decide whether it's cheaper to get my teeth cleaned here or there. I got a quote from a dentist in my hometown for $160 CDN that includes x-rays, scaling, and polishing.
-RCN |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 1373 Location: Way, way off course.
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Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:41 am Post subject: |
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just went through and added up all the invoices. it was on national health insurance. 11 visits. first visit 860 yen, all the next visits 92 yen each. last visit 1560 yen. total cost 3340 yen for a root canal on a upper rear molar. done in semi-rural Japan town of 15,000.
had the work checked during a visit back home and they said it was excellent and would have cost NZ$300+ there, although I would have got a ceramic crown, not the gold one used. given it's a back tooth and not readily visable I don't really care about that aspect. gold's more durable anyway. :)
guess some of you really do pay a lot more for the 'benefit' of living in bigger cities! |
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