Dental Holidays

There are some redeeming qualities to being in Indonesia.  One is the dentistry here. 

Before I left Toronto I had some major dental work done.  I had 3 crowns put in which in total cost me just over $10,000.  Thankfully I was still insured by U of T and they covered roughly three quarters of it. But it still left me with $2500 bill.  I was going to have all my mercury fillings (3 of them) replaced however that would have added another $1500 to $2000 to my already outrageous tab. I was giving it serious consideration and have them done, but I didn’t quite have my funds together just yet, so I decided to wait.  I’m glad I did.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to my friend about dentistry.  He said that the dentists here are very cheap and very reliable.  So I decided to check it out.  He gave me the name and number of a dentist he uses in Denpasar which is about an hour away from Ubud depending on traffic.

As I sat reading in the waiting room, I heard a song that reminded me of a friend back home.  I leaned my head against the wall and allowed the memories and love wash over me.  As I did I heard this Australian accent ask me if I was nervous.  I told her no I was just thinking of a friend.  We got talking and she said that many, many Aussies come here on dental holidays.  She said that the dental prices in the land of Oz where rather exorbitant and that for the price of any surgery they can fly to Bali, have the procedures done at ¾’s of the price and enjoy the beaches in between appointments.  Even factoring in food and hotels it’s still much cheaper.

So when it was my turn to see Dr. Wibisono I was curious to see just how much difference the price is.  WOW.  It cost me a total of $150 to have all 3 fillings replaced!  And a cleaning!  Dr. Wibisono studied dentistry at UCLA and used all the latest equipment.  He was very slow and meticulous.  I was in the chair for just over 2 hours.  Even though he was slow, he was very thorough and stopped often to check in with me.  I left his office mercury free and very, very happy with the amount I had spent.

So if you have any major dental work to be done I highly suggest a dental holiday.  Do some research, you can even find helpful advise on Trip Advisor.  I found that Mexico and Southeast Asia are the destinations to go for such excursions. Really, you can spend $10 grand on your mouth at home, or you can spend the same amount of money (or less), get the same quality of work done if not better, and go on holiday at the same time.  What could be better than that!