Job Discussion Forums

[shyarra]

So I recently went to my dentist, and found out I either have a bad cavity or I need another root canal (not sure which). I found this out during a routine cleaning here in the States. The cleaning ate up the last of the insurance I had under my parents' coverage, and I'm leaving for Taiwan in three weeks anyway. So here are my questions:

How good is the dental coverage in Taiwan? Will I be paying big time if it turns out I do need a root canal?

Are there any good dentists any of you would recommend in the Taichung area? I'll be living in Fengyuan, and the closer to there, the better.

Thanks in advance!

[TaoyuanSteve]

Hi.

To answer your question, the National Health Insurance covers dentistry in Taiwan. You only pay a user fee per visit and extra for any hardware (crowns, etc). My cost for a visit to a dentist recently was 150nt dollars. I believe that's roughly between 4-5 dollars US.

I've found the quality of the work to be competent for most work I've had done (including root canals). You'll find one aspect of your dentist experience to be quite different, though. Where I come from (Canada) and, I suspect, where you come from as well, we are somewhat used to dentists scheduling large chunks of time and completing procedures in one visit. This happens because the bill is being paid by private insurers and/ or the patient entirely. The dentist is free to schedule the time and bill for it accordingly. Not so in Taiwan. I suspect each visit nets the dentist office a set amount from the public insurance. Dentist visits here are very brief, sometimes as little as 30 minutes. You will have to return multiple times to complete something like a root canal, probably about 3 times.

End result is the same, though, and likely a lot cheaper for you.

[shyarra]

Thanks for your help! That means I can probably afford something like a root canal before my first payday, which is what I was hoping.

Now...does anyone know of any good dentists in Taichung?

[TaoyuanSteve]