How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dentist

Don’t be scared, Shanghai has great dentists, even in places you wouldn’t expect.

Click here to brush up on your “Going to the Dentist” vocabulary (no pun intended).

I got a tip from a Chinese colleague that local hospitals only charge 40RMB for a dental check-ups and cleanings. I wanted to give it a try; what’s the worst that can happen? I checked up on the forums and found a lot of helpful options, especially for foreign and private dentists ranging from 300-1000RMB. I wanted that local, cheap, and weird Chinese hospital experience (perfect fodder for a scare-laowai article), so I decided to go with the People’s Liberation Army Hospital No. 85. Perfect. That sounds scary! I prepared my mind for the inevitable traumatic local Chinese hospital experience, maybe akin to the disturbing plastic surgery scene from Terry Gillian’s dystopian film Brazil. Well, things didn’t turn out the way I expected.

I get to the hospital and the extremely adorable receptionist tells me to fill out a short form and wait. Moments later she gives me what looks a like a membership card and asks for 12RMB. I guess this was the initial registration fee for first-time patients. I waited for about an hour getting a lot of stares from locals, but fiinally, a nurse escorts me up the stairs. I pass a bunch of floors with dimly lit rooms and dentist/straightjacket chairs before reaching the top floor office resembling a 4-star hotel. DAMMIT! Obviously, the girl at the front desk assumed that Mr. Foreigner would want the VIP/English language dentist to do my work.  That means I’d be paying 300RMB rather than 40RMB. It also meant I had no material for my “haha-Chinese-hospitals-are-scary-but-kind-of-hilarious article.” 

Or would I? Before the checkup started, the nurse escorted me to the patients’ bathroom which was NOT located in the VIP wing, but the local wing. On top of the urinal sat an ashtray. Above that on the wall was a No Smoking sign. When I went to wash my hands, there was no soap and one of the the auto-faucets gave no water. The other sink had cigarettes in it. I had to use the faucet above the mop basin to clean my hands. Ok, now I understand a little more why the local wing is 40RMB.

We’re back at the VIP dentist office to begin checkup. My wonderful dentist Jessica speaks decent English and puts a tiny camera in my mouth and takes pictures of all the stain that has built up because (a) I drink way too much coffee, tea, and Guinness, (b) I floss maybe once a week (sorry mom) and (c) I haven’t had a professional cleaning in over a year. Luckily no cavities or major buildup.

After the Mandarin-only dental assistant buffers away all my stains, the Dentist gives my teeth a nice smooth polish. She takes another picture to show my pearly whites clean as a porcelain whistle.  We chat for a little while and she tells me she rarely gets foreign patients and hopes they aren’t scared of the local hospitals. Well, though I am still a bit scared of the local hospitals, I am not scared of Jessica and her VIP dental practice. Once again thanks to the forums on ShanghaiExpat.com, I had a positive, inexpensive local experience.

If you’d still rather visit a private, western-educated dentist, see this forum for a bunch of suggestions!  (http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/post1346128.html?hilit=dentist). There are also other forum threads specifically about special dental work such as crowns and bridges.

People’s Liberation Army Hospital No. 85 VIP Dental Services (aka 85th Dental) is on the corner of Pingwu Road and Huashan Rd. The cost of a checkup and cleaning is 300RMB. Dr. Jessica Liu is very friendly and is one of at least two dentists that speak decent English. The instruments were clean and the dental assistant was cute.