Dentists are crazy cheap in Japan

With the 70% reduction in price (thanks to the national health insurance) it is so much cheaper to go to the dentist here than back home. My recent experience totaled four visits (two because I wasnt happy I didn’t get my usual dentist) and only cost 2440 yen.

For the first visit they drilled out a cavity (big one) from one of my molar teeth – took a cast and placed a temp filling. The second visit I asked to change back to my regular dentist and have the temp filling replaced – it had come out when I was chewing gum. Third visit I was with my regular dentist and she just checked that the temp filling was ok and put a nice smooth finish while I was to wait for the nerve to heal. The last visit they finished off by putting a nice hard white composite filling in. White!

I initially argued with the other dentist that I wanted a white filling. He said he wouldn’t be able to do it on the insurance because of the size of the filling. The national health insurance (J.E.T) covers metal fillings and small white fillings. It would have cost a minimum of 20,000 yen if the insurance wouldn’t cover the filling. Luckily I spoke with my regular dentist and she said she could get around the system for me, saving me a lot of money. She managed to do this because she made the filling in my mouth rather than having a mold taken and a special filling made.