First Dental Visit in Japan

A while back, I posted a review on a particular dental clinic in Tokyo's Asagaya area. It was my first visit to a dentist in Japan, and I have to say that the experience there gave me a very good impression of Japan's dental care. It was so good that it became one of the factors that made me consider staying in Japan for the rest of my life! Here's more or less how my experience turned out:

I was there on a regular check-up. When I arrived, the front staff got me set up with a new account with them. They gave me a card specifically for this clinic. The staff didn't seem to know much English, but I knew enough to navigate and had a native Japanese speaker accompany me for good measure.

Once I finished up with the paperwork, I was led to the largest room in the back where Dr. Kansaku checked on the status of my teeth. He took a look around and gave me a quick x-ray on one section of my mouth, then gave his advice and information on what the clinic can do, all in English. After I decided on what I wanted, he called in the dental hygenist. There was an awkward silence between the three of us, as the hygenist didn't know much English, but Dr. Kansaku broke the ice with a chuckle. "Go, talk!" he said to the hygenist.

To her credit, Nakaya-san (I think that was the name on her name tag; I can't read kanji too well) tried her best to communicate with me what she was doing every step of the way. Her work was a lot better compared to my experience with dental cleaning in Canada. I didn't feel any pain whatsoever, whereas the clinic I used to visit would always leave me walking out with smarting gums.

I had to come back for a second visit a couple of weeks after for a more thorough cleaning. There was no paperwork on my second visit, and the front staff simply took a look at my card before I waited for my turn to go in. I didn't wait long and Nakaya-san brought me into a smaller room to do a more thorough cleaning.

There was another difference between my experience in this clinic and that of my previous one. In the last clinic I used to visit, I would often be asked to hold onto some of the equipment while the specialists did their work. I was so accustomed to it that it had become a reflex whenever I went for a routine cleaning. Nakaya-san, however, looked like she nearly had a heart attack when I instinctively reached for the suction tube when she gave me the fluoride.

After checking my teeth for cavities with a fancy laser (which was a completely new thing for me,) I was booked for an appointment three months later and sent off on my way. The best part of it all was the cost of it - the cost of each visit was about half of what I would have paid in Canada under my last company! I paid about 1,640 yen here, while I paid something like 3,500 yen in the last clinic.

Needless to say, with this experience, I am fairly confident in saying that the Japanese people really do take care of their teeth. And I say that as a person who witnesses the lunchtime rush around the sink for time to brush teeth.