Korean Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

I was gonig to put this on another post, but decided it deserved a thread of its own. I'd like to preface this by saying I'm not one to talk badly about a place and I love living in Korea, but I only think it's fair that people should be warned about this dentist.

About a month ago, I called and made an appointment for last Friday for teeth whitening. When I enquired about the type of whitening they did, I was told laser. I asked the name and they said they weren't sure. That should have been my first warning sign, though I'm trusting almost to the point of being guillible and a little stupid, I chalked it up to the fact that the secretary didn't know English very well.

I went last Friday and they did x rays and examined my teeth before the whinteing. They told me I needed the following things done.

two wisdom teeth pulled (I didn't even know I HAD wisdom teeth. The last x ray that i got, when I was 18, didn't show any wisdom teeth. I asked my mom to double check, and she did. Guess I'm a late bloomer.) FYI: I've never had any issues with them and they're impacted

Braces (Again!)

Two full crowns because I had "huge cavities" and if I didn't get them, my teeth would fall out.

An inlay

total cost? 3 to 5 mil. The crowns alone would have cost 500,000 each. So the dentist told me that I could see my "huge cavities" and when I said I couldn't see anything, he condescendingly told me to put on my glasses. I have perfect vision.

To add to that, after the first round of whitening, they came over, worried, and told me that I had a filling on my front tooth, and they hadn't noticed it before. Whitening doesn't bleach fillings, so I would have a darker spot int he middle of my tooth.

ok, WAIT, they did full xrays and they didn't notice a filling?! Whoops, they said. I told them I have never had filling on my front teeth. They said I did. I countered with, well, why isn't it on the xray? Hm, well, it's something. Something?! They couldn't tell what it was. THough granted it was partly my fault. Three years ago, a dentist found cement from braces that I had 15 years ago. The cement had changed my teeth, so they took it off and painted the spot it left. BUt still, you'd figure that the dentist would have noticed, though I will take the blame for this.

In addition, any time I moved, they woudl say, Whoa! Calm down! Like I was trying to break out of the chair and smash them on the heads. Dentists don't bother me. I had my whole mouth redone three eyars ago, spent 10 horus int he chair. No novicane.

So I left, angry and upset at the treatment and thinking that my teeth were going to fall out. They were ready to book an appintment for my crowns, when I told them, hang on, I'm 28 I don't need crowns. They told me that I had horrible teeth and age doesn't matter. I just went to the dentist in March. I don't see how I could have so many problmes

I decided to get a second opinion. Went to a dentist in Suwon. LIttle English, paid 15,000 explained through my cell phone and the secretary that I thought I had 3 cavities. They x rayed me and told me I was fine.

I went and got a third opinion. Paid 6,500, did x rays, checked my teeth twice and told me I had discolourations, not to worry, but floss more. I told him about the NY COlombia Dentist and his response was, oh, they trick you.

Well, yes they did.

I do not recommend this dentist at all
Bad treatment
Recommending work you don't need
Rude
and to boot, the whitening isn't noticable. In fact, NO ONE has noticed.

And one more thing: get a second opinion. ALWAYS get a second opinion.

[C00LAS1CE]

Thank you for this, I was considering getting an appointment with these clowns. Going to check out a dentist near me.

[princess]

I have heard about these people not being good. One thing I have noticed in Korea though, is they like to "treat" you for things you don't have. It's called MONEY.....They'd tell someone anything to get some more money off of you. I have heard it from other people and have experienced for myself being told I have cavities when I don't. I like Dr. Sohn in Yeoksam-dong...Tufts Dental Clinic...very gentle and very nice lady...^^

A former coworker of mine was told by some dentist in Yeouido that she had 9 cavities, and she was so worried and I told her it was probably a lie...I mean, come on, who has 9 cavities at once? She took my advice and went somewhere else and of course, she didn't have 9 cavities.

[oni]

My friend went here too for a check up and cleaning and was told she needed to get all her fillings replaced. She ended up getting the work done at another dentist for half the price that NY Columbia dentist quoted her!!! This place obviously doesn't mind ripping people off!!!

[poppydaisy]

i need dental work done....does anyone know of a good dentist they'd recommend? with reasonable cost and skills? thanks!

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I need a cleaning and x-rays. I used to like them, but after some bad work (they removed an old filling and put in a bad inlay that later had to be replaced with a crown) I'd like to find another place. If in Itaewon, even better.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[The Hammer]

[tideout]

I went to Columbia for some sensitivity in a tooth recently. The first "consultation" I was told I needed 5 new crowns. I went from a sensitive tooth to five crows and a possible cavity.
I scheduled an apt. to start the work and they had a second dentist look at my teeth and the prior xrays. I'm like wtf? I was here to have the one sensitive tooth done. At any rate, he explained all of the work I "needed" which went from about 350,000 won to 1.8 +/- and they wanted to put me on a dental care "plan". Then they charged me for a second "consultation" which I argued with because it was the same basic info as before but they said, "don't worry, the insurance covers most of it". Charged me about 4,000Won.
Whenever I hear a dentist say "plan" for dental work it means "son or daughter has University tuition coming up".
At any rate, I went in to get the cleaning w/o problems and have been procrastinating on rescheduling. My paranoia level is quite high with dentists in general but my visits there haven't left me confident enough to pick up the cell phone. What sucks is I'd like to get the one crown replaced without yet more uncertain feelings about the service.

[hogwonguy1979]

given how these folks are in a middle of a "tourist area" i wasnt surprised that people would be getting ripped off.

my advice would be find a dentist in your neighborhood, many speak decent enough english and wont take you for a ride

[isitts]

[toonchoon]

thank you for this. i am sorry to hear about your terrible experience, and am sorry every time i hear about somebody's bad experience with a dentist in Korea, because i can relate. i had half of my tooth drilled for nothing. thank GOD i was heading back to the states a week after that and got it filled in by family friend's doctor who got me in the day i got back.

[cragesmure]

[toonchoon]

i was told that a dental office that has "older" staff (both reception and assistants) is a better office since the more experienced staff is paid more, which can only happen if the office does great work and has repeat business and customer referrals.

so, in other words it may be wise to stay away from offices that have hot young dental assistants fresh out of school making $10/hr.

[naturegirl321]

[HunterORL23]

dang girl! you need all that? brush yo dam teeth!