So, we all know Japanese healthcare is quite peculiar. And so far I’ve seen here only threads with specific urgent questions, but this time lets talk a bit of things you’d like to know BEFORE in order to be prepared to your visit to dentist here.
What unpleasant experience did you have that could be avoided?
Why did you left one particular clinic and chose another one? If you switched lots of them, it would be perfect to know a broad comparison of traits that should be paid attention to. Please specify numbers you tried/visited as well.
What services are essential and what should be avoided?
What should you ask by phone?
What should you ask on your visit before dentist start do anything? (because after that there is no way back)
etc. general common wisdom things are welcome. Lets avoid, if possible, specific names because it was your first clinic and it’s fine. Instead, lets focus on how to choose a good one without unnecessary sacrifices of one’s health.
(I’ll put my couple of words in comments to not confuse other posters)
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I’ll start from obvious thing – metal fillings. Some of clinics still use them, so you have to confirm, what material would they use to repair your cavities. Composite resin is covered by insurance as well. Per words of my dentist, it’s not so good too and nobody know how long would it last, but at least it looks better. Make sure to discuss your material on the day of your visit with your dentist.
(next thing is not specifically Japanese feature, but still figured to share it) Implants are aggressively advertised due to their obvious profitability, but require tons of care. And in case of any tooth problems worst thing – you loose your tooth. In case of something goes wrong with implant – it’s becoming a matter of your jaw bone. Not my personal experience, but just a hint to ask about implant’s hygiene if you’d ever be advised to get ones and then consider if you ok with it.
I didn’t know Japanese health care was peculiar. What exactly is peculiar about it? The fact that it’s cheap coming from an American perspective?
How fragile my current root canal filling is. Its been two days and its all but fallen apart and the rest in the root is crumbling. Worse still I still have some root left due to appointments being limited to 30 minutes. Worse still I have 12 days until my next visit.
I called by they said any pain, no? Okay no problem. Nothing but anxiety for 12 days now.
The big thing I would say is to remember that basically all clinics are independent (or a part of an independent chain) operated by private individuals. This is a bit different from, e.g. the UK and how the NHS operates quite widely.
What this meant for me is that dentists here did what they knew, but didn’t proactively recommend or refer me someone more appropriate for my problem. After all, they’d just be giving business to their competition.
My problems were my own fault, but it took an unfortunately long time to realise that I was going to the wrong places and should’ve been seeing a particular type of specialist from the start. The difference in the nature of the treatment was just staggering.
Shop around. Some clinics are stuck in the 1950s. My dentist has super modern equipment and regularly attends seminars overseas. He always explains very clearly what he thinks is the best course of action, but also gives other options too.
Insurance will cover a cleaning every 3 months.
First time I had a filling, the numbing did not work and I felt it hard lmao and asked him to inject again. Next time I went I said hey that didn’t work so well last time, can you load me up and the dentist was very kind and my mouth was a pillow for like half the day.
Also wish I knew that they’ll do only one thing each time. It is cheap and I’m happy about that but I went for an exam and a cleaning, ended up going 6 times in about as many weeks for fillings and stuff. In Canada it would have cost me waaaaaay more (hence why I needed so many fillings, I never go at home) but they also would have knocked out all four and the cleaning in one visit.
I know a person who was given antibiotic treatment for 5+ years on a monthly appointment for a “chronic cavity issue” because apparently they had compromised teeth from grinding in their sleep.
Told them it can be fixed in 1 visit if they find a clinic that can do jaw alignment treatment. They didn’t believe me at first but after they gave it a go, their teeth grinding magically disappeared and their teeth integrity was back up to normal.
The biggest red flag to look for in a dentist are the ones that want you on a repeat schedule outside of their bi-annual Teiki-Kenshin. If they fix you right away then they can’t juice you for money so they keep you around for as long as possible. Stay away from those.
Ask for anesthesia/numbing injection (ますい) if getting anything like a filling. Sometimes they’ll just go right in without doing it
I wish I knew my root canal treatment would take 5-6 visits just for that one thing, in part because of the way billing works. I would have initially selected a dentist closer to my worksite—I would have wasted a lot less nenkyuu driving back and forth.
Japan dentists are famous for dragging out treatments in multiple short sessions. This is different than the last two countries I last lived in, where we sat down for hours if that’s what it took to finish in one session. I can’t remember the exact reason, but I do remember there was some technical reason for it regarding laws and stuff. But don’t quote me on that. Just pick a clinic close to you.
Going to any clinic for the first time will cost you the Firsttime fee. My old clinic costed me so much on the first visit because they made proper file for me with xrays and stuff.