Going to dentist in the CR was quite intriguing compared to the UK and US.
I dropped a message on Prague Expats and received a recommendation for an English-speaking dentist. That one was a 10 minute walk from my flat. I called to get an appointment and was able to get one scheduled for the next day. That’s crazy. I was a first-time patient which means that I normally take way more time to register with them. The average wait time for a first-time appointment in the US is 24 days. In the UK, I waited about a week for a cleaning at a private dentist. I had to use a private dentist and pay out-of-pocket because dentists who take NHS patients have a waitlist of up to 50,000 patients.
At the dentist in the CR, they would tell me what procedure they were about to do and whether or not my insurance would cover it. If they didn’t cover it, they’d tell me the price before I consented. Since the people in question were dental hygienists, they mostly did X-rays and checkups which were covered. Oddly enough, government insurance doesn’t cover cleanings in the Czech Republic. It covers the basics for maintaining your teeth but little beyond that.
I haven’t been to the dentist in the US since I was an undergrad and neglected it quite a bit for my adult life due to an irrational fear (perhaps a phobia) of dentists. That said, I don’t ever recall that type of ritualistic process when receiving oral care in the US. It seemed as though they did what needed to be done and got it sorted out later. In the UK, I went to a private dentist but had to ask in advance what the cost was. They didn’t actually tell me until I asked. Makes me wonder if they would’ve told me at all if I didn’t ask.
The UK dentist basically looked at my teeth, did some x-rays, and said that I was good to go. Said that I didn’t even need a cleaning even though it had been way too long since my last trip to the dentist. I actually asked for one anyway since I suspected that I needed it. They seemed to rush through it and told me to come back in a year.
Well, I waited 10 months from that time to get a checkup in the CR and the hygienist here was incredibly thorough. She was discovering things that were completely ignored by the one at the UK. Most of my fillings are cracked and probably have been for a while since I got them as a kid. The ones in the US were likely pretty thorough as well but again, I was a kid.
The problem with dentists in the CR is while a bunch of what they do is free under Czech insurance, they compensate by making anything beyond the basics fairly expensive. 1500 koruna (about $63) doesn’t sound like much for a cleaning compared to America but when taking the typical Czech salary into account it’s actually quite a lot. Some other places may do cheaper cleanings but rarely below 1000 koruna.
I must continue my CR dentist experience at a different place since the first one doesn’t do tooth extractions. The positive is that I got an appointment for a week from now and tooth extractions are covered under Czech insurance.
So, here’s dentistry in the CR
+You rarely have to wait long for appointments or wait long in the waiting room
+Very thorough and deliberate when working with you
+A lot of basic things are covered by government insurance (basic checkups, x-rays, tooth extraction, anasthesia)
-Things that aren’t are expensive relative to salary
Dentistry in the UK
-Nearly impossible to get NHS treatment due to massive wait lists
-Maybe the standard of dental care is low. Either that or I got unlucky with who I went to.
+Private dentistry is not that expensive compared to the average salary
Dentistry in the US
+Probably quality treatment
-Insurance fuckery common
-Long wait times both for an appointment and in the waiting room