Kakao
WhatsappA Plus Dental Clinic services are guaranteed to make you smile brighter.
I am a 26 year old Australian citizen and I have been living in Seoul, South Korea for just over two years. I had always been meaning to visit a dentist in Seoul to have some work I knew I needed done on my teeth, but I kept putting it off because I was nervous about potential differences between Western medicine and negative anecdotes I had heard about the Korean healthcare system. With just over a year left in Seoul, I knew I needed to push myself to visit a dentist. As a foreigner with limited Korean language skills, I set out to search the internet for dental clinics in Seoul that serviced many foreigners, but I also wanted to look for a clinic had that had dentists that had trained overseas. I came across the A Plus Dental Clinic website. The website was very well developed, had a significant number of testimonials, and their dentists had trained in the United States. So I chose to visit their clinic in Apgujeong for a scale and clean, and to discuss further treatments I needed. After my highly positive experience with A Plus Dental Clinic, I am ashamed to have thought that Korean healthcare professionals were a bar lower than their Western medical colleagues. In fact, A Plus Dental Clinic helped set the bar higher with their attentive and professional clinical services.
Since I was 12 years old, I have had no other choice but to make myself very comfortable in the dentist’s chair. An unfortunate skateboard accident in Australia saw me break my number 21 maxillary central incisor (front upper jaw tooth closest to the middle of the lips). Eventually the root died, and I had to undergo root canal therapy. The tooth became grey in colour which did not help my self-confidence. Just before I turned 18 years old, I had a porcelain crown fitted to my tooth and I was very happy with it. I was told I would probably need to replace it in about 8 to 10 years time. In recent years, my original tooth below the crown had become much darker in colour as there is no blood flow to the tooth, and my gum above the crown began to recede which exposed the black tooth underneath, which gave me an unsightly smile.
I heard that dental services in South Korea were much cheaper than in Australia, so I was keen to investigate my options for a replacement crown in Seoul.
I first visited A Plus Dental Clinic in October 2013. The clinic is conveniently located not far from the Apgujeong subway station. They also have free parking right outside the building which I utilised. The clinic itself is clean and modern. When you first walk through the door, all the staff welcome you with a big hello and bright smile which relaxes you before seeing the dentist. A dental hygienist performed a thorough scale and clean, and complimented me on my good brushing and flossing skills. I then spoke with the very friendly English coordinator about my intentions for a new crown and teeth whitening. The English Coordinator then brought in Doctor Oh so he could assess my teeth. Within 10 seconds he discovered I had 3 cavities! I was very annoyed this would slow my other treatments down. Then I was angry at myself for having clean teeth but still forming cavities. But I was so impressed with how quickly Dr Oh found I had cavities. It goes to show how important it is to visit your dentist regularly for check-ups before a bad situation can get worse. For the cavities I was required to have two in-lay fittings and one filling.
Following the treatment for my cavities, I had two in-the-chair whitening treatments. The whitening treatments, I believe, were competitively priced compared with other dental clinics in Seoul. After each treatment, my teeth were a little sensitive. But the English coordinator was very pro-active and told me I should take painkillers before each treatment, and she sent me text messages later in the evening to check up on me. A service I could never expect to see back in Australia. I had good results with the whitening treatment. I was told my new colour was brighter than the brightest tooth on their charts.
Finally, I was able to begin the process of obtaining my new crown. I was recommended to have a zirconium crown over the porcelain crown. The zirconium crown is very durable and would help to hide the black colour of my original tooth. I had to wear a temporary crown for two weeks which Dr Oh made while my new crown was made which was difficult, but necessary. I knew the end result would pay off. And it did. The dental technicians who made my new zirconium crown were very competent and I think the new crown looks even better than the crown I had made in Australia in 2004. The crown is a little bit brighter than my other teeth, so I may have further whitening treatment done to help match the colour better. The best part about the crown was the value for money. I saved over US$1000 by having my new crown made in South Korea compared with Australia. I am very happy with the clinical skills of Dr Oh, he was very methodical, safe and efficient which are very important skills for a dentist. Dr Oh and the dental hygienists who treated me were extremely competent and efficient health professionals.
I did have some unusual experiences at the surgery which I am not used to back in Australia. During every treatment my entire face except for my mouth would be covered with a cloth so that water would not splash on me. I now know that this is just common practice for dental surgeries in South Korea, and I don’t have a problem with it. I just noticed that if drilling became too uncomfortable, the doctor would not be able to see my eyes squeeze together when I felt pain. I’m pretty tough, so I don’t usually say anything when I am in pain, but I make this comment just as an observation that the face cloth may limit the doctor’s ability to assess if a patient is in pain. Secondly, in Australia it is common practice for the dentist to debrief the patient after each appointment with how the treatment went and if he has any concerns or advice. After some of my treatments at A Plus Dental Clinic, the dental assistants would remove my face cloth and the dentist had already disappeared and was with another patient and I didn’t even know that he has stopped working on me. I tried to put this down to possibly a language barrier and didn’t let it bother me. The English coordinator and dental assistants that could speak English always debriefed me, explained everything properly and were very attentive throughout all my appointments and I felt happy each time I left the clinic. But I would have felt more comfortable if the dentist would notify when he finishes his work in the appointment with me and would say goodbye. But I have heard that it is more part of Western culture for both people to be more collaborative in a doctor-patient relationship, and in East Asian culture it is more common for a patient to be more submissive to the doctor’s time and work practices. I’m not generalising or trying to make negative assumptions, I am just saying I understand I am in Korea and I cannot speak Korean, so I do not expect the culture and common practices of my home country to apply here. It was just different.
Overall, I am extremely happy with my experience at A Plus Dental Clinic. I had 6 appointments over 6 weeks, so the clinic became used to seeing me often, and every time I came in I felt very welcomed and ready to undergo the treatment. I would highly recommend A Plus Dental Clinic to all Korean citizens and foreigners.
