Korean Job Discussion Forums

[uofagirl]

Went to Kangbuk Samsung Hospital for a consultation today. I insisted on more than local anaesthesia for the removal of 3 impacted and 1 erupted wisdom teeth. He said that IV sedation was the best option since general is NOT common here for wisdom teeth removal(as stated by many previous posters). IV sedation is definitely better than local so great. Then he recommended staying in the hospital overnight so that they could give me stronger pain meds(through an IV possibly...not sure). The cost for everything will be between 400 000 to 500 000W. Does this seem reasonable?

I know many posters have gotten it done for next to nil but for me, paying a bit more for major oral surgery and having it done with less pain is worth it(within limits, of course). So the question is: do I really have to stay overnight and is the cost normal for this type of procedure?

[Zark]

You'd pay FAR more than that "back home" - wherever that is.

Quality dental care doesn't seem like a good area to bargain about price or to look for the lowest price. It probably should be more about your confidence in the skills and abilities of the dentist.

Just my opinion - and to some degree, my experience.

[Junior]

Local hospital clinic: done cheaply with your medical ins.
30 minutes and its over: 2 days recovery, stitches out a week later.

[kiwigirl :O)]

a friend of mine had her wisdoms take out for 20,000 per tooth and she got some drugs to knock her out too!! if you have health insurance it should be very cheap

[Crowzone]

If you get knocked out by IV drugs you're definately looking at an overnight stay...

[cubanlord]

Recently, my wife's wisdom teeth have begun to hurt her. This thread is proving useful. Thanks.

So with health insurance, we should be ok?

[crazylemongirl]

I paid 20k to have all four of my non-impacted wisdom teeth out.

[uofagirl]

The price above is with insurance. He said that it would be around 200 each without insurance. I think he quoted me high prices.

For anyone else who's interested, someone I know recently got his removed at Seoul National University Hospital. The prices ranged from 80 000 to 160 000 per tooth. This was with local anaesthesia only. I assume the lower price is for an erupted tooth.

I also called Yonsei Severance and Samsung Medical Center(Gangnam) but I couldn't get in when I wanted for the initial consultation.

As to the poster above, my quote back in Canada was approx. $1800. I think the cost for one impacted tooth was $374. Since I don't have any Canadian insurance, I decided to come back here to do it. I definitely thought it would be cheaper than 500 000 though.

[skinhead]

[uofagirl]

CLG, if all of mine were erupted, I'd just go to a regular dental clinic and get them all yanked. Since impacted ones are so complicated to deal with, I decided to go with a better known facility.

When I was calling around, most places(YE dental was one) couldn't do it after I mentioned I wanted more than local. I think if you could deal with just local, then you could probably get it done at a regular clinic(for obviously a much lower price).

[cubanlord]

man....my wife's wisdom teeth are all under the gums. *beep*...I am already feeling bad for her. I don't want to see her in pain....SHIT

[Qinella]

Just make sure you're unconscious when they do the procedure. They don't have nitris oxide available? That's what I had, and it did the trick. No overnight stay required.

[uofagirl]

Just an update: I had the surgery last night and things went quite smoothly. Arrived at the dental clinic but was sent across the street to the main building where the IV drip was inserted along with a shot in the bum(some sort of painkiller that has similar effects to pot, I was told). After this, a nice ajumma took me back to the dental clinic(good thing as I was feeling a bit out of it). The actual IV sedation was administered by the dentist and although he told me that I would sleep through it, I most certainly did not. I didn't feel any pain but I did feel a lot of pressure(major tugging on his part I would imagine). When he was finished, it felt like only 20minutes had passed. When I looked at my watch, it had actually been an hour(guess the drugs did work to a certain extent!). Got wheelchaired back to the main building where I stayed overnight(they said this was necessary so they could monitor my condition). I did end up getting another shot in the bum later when I started to feel some pain along with an injection of antibiotics. Got inspected by the dentist this morning(things look fine) and will be heading back on Thursday to get the stitches taken out.

Despite some minor language issues, I was very pretty pleased with the whole ordeal. I was taken care of every step of the way and everyone was really nice and helpful. Although I had to go back and forth between the two buildings, everything was really organized. The nicest surprise is that when I went to check out and pay, my cost after insurance was only 228 000(much less than the 400-500 that I expected). This included the removal of 3 impacted teeth and 1 errupted one, the IV sedation, an overnight hospital stay, two meals(all liquids), and all the medication for aftercare. Hopefully everything will heal up nicely and I won't get any infections.

[cbclark4]

Sounds like you got the stuff they give you when you get an endoscopy.

First a shot of demerol to relax you, then the stuff that's supposed to keep you conscious but make your memrory and time perception wacked.

cbc

[pegpig]