Dental Tourism---5 Star at Bumrungrad Hospital --May 2013

I have been both dreading and looking forward to this appointment with Dr. Pacharee Soonthornsawad at the Bumrungrad Hospital---the entrance and lobby look more like a 5-star hotel than a hospital.

The patients here represent people from all countries including Thailand. You see the men from the Arabic countries wearing the flowing white garbs with the red checked headdresses and the women with all forms of burkas, including the ones with just eye slits, carrying their Gucci or Louis Vuitton bags all heading for treatment at this amazing hospital. You can go to their website to get all treatment costs including plastic surgery, sex reassignments, open heart surgeries, etc.

In  2007, Dr. Pacharee had replaced two severely chipped front teeth along with my two incisors that were small and twisted with four veneers for a cost of just $956. Back home it would have cost me about $1,000 to $3,000 per tooth.

Dr. Pacharee is a faculty member at the Mahidol University since 1998, and in 2004 she received her MS degree from the U. of N. Carolina.

The reason for my return visit this year was that my local dentist recommended that I get a crown for my upper right molar. I figured as long as I had to have that work done I would also have her take out my last remaining amalgam---mercury--filling on my upper left front molar. She took a quick look at my offending tooth and said she needed to have X-rays done to be sure what was needed.

After the X-rays, she said that if I had no pain from the two cavities---yes she found a small cavity on the left molar--I did not need to have any work done on these two teeth. She also said that she would be able to fill each of them with composite and no crown was needed. Based on that, I told her to proceed with doing both. I thought I would be scheduled for another day, but no her two assistants brought out the tools and drills and Novocain. After two hours of my appointment time, I was done--- a perfect repair job at a cost of just $286 and some will be reimbursed by Blue Cros since it is a certified hospital.

I gave her my recent DVD of my Bali Adventures and she said that she had visited there, but spent most of her time diving. She also recently returned from a vacation to Taiwan which she enjoyed immensely.