it's pretty cheap compared to the west so I'm wondering if it's a good idea to have my teeth cleaning done while I'm here..has anyone tried it before? there's a bilingual dental clinic called Huiying Dental Clinic and a cleaning would cost around 150 to 250 yuan. What do you guys think in terms of their cleaning? I had a dentist a long time ago in the west and everytime he cleaned my teeth it hurt.. so...I'm having second thoughts..and is it sanitary in china?

i went with my chinese friend to a new dental clinic on bailong lu.
take the #55 bus, get off at the kongdu furniture store stop, cross
the street. teeth cleaning was 50 rmb, plus 5 rmb for the sealed
package of disposable tools (mirror, pick, tweezers). seemed

professional, very clean. i heard no screams of pain. they use
ultra-sound cleaners - much less pain (if any) compared to the
old pick-n-scrape method.

I go to this place because I saw it advertised here: www.gokunming.com/en/microsites/huiying/

They also use ultrasonic cleaners.

From Xuefu Lu, Sujiaotang or Wenlin Jie, take bus line 1 to Huashan Xi Lu (华山西路) and walk a block down Huashan Xi Lu to the intersection with Zhengyi Lu. It's on the corner.

I've also been to the Huiying clinic. Excellent work and no pain during the cleaning. I had some work done there on my previous visit to Kunming, then had the work checked by a dentist in Toronto who is a teacher at the U of Toronto dental college. She said it was excellent work.

I'll be back there this week for a root canal. It's the only place I would trust in Kunming.

All their dentists speak English which is a real bonus for me.

I'm not sure where the Chinese health services get a bad name - I'm sure that it's not perfect, but it's not perfect in the west either.

I've had serious invasive surgery in Kunming and the quality of service was second-to-none. I think that the reason is that foreign patients receive the use of senior surgeons and, probably, the bad name is the result of Chinese nationals seeing interns. I've also had my teeth cleaned a few times without any complications. At 50 rmb a time, you should go every month!

Bottom line (Oh, this is the bottom line). You can't afford NOT to get your teeth cleaned.

I had a root canal done at Huiying. Great job, friendly polite and helpful staff and very good price.
As I opted to use plastic filling rather than a crown, it landed on 560 rmb. I actually flew from Sweden to KM to have it done at Huiying. The cost of dental work is so high in Sweden, it actually costed me less or the same to fly to KM to have it done, as it would cost to have it done in Sweden. So I got a months free holiday, so to say.
Id do it again in a heart beat, the next time I get an acute need.

Filling Vs crown. My only regret.

A few years ago I had a root canal, and decided to have a filling instead of a crown because I was in a hurry and I could save some money. The crown would last longer, but hey I can get the tooth refilled, right? Wrong.

After 5 years the filling did give out, but so did one side of the tooth. Because I did not have the post for a crown put it at the time of the original root canal, it cannot be retro fitted. The tooth is now too damaged to fill.

Options, extraction followed by false tooth or bridge or implant. Or just leave it.

I am not sure about putting in an implant. They insert a titanium peg into my jawbone. Then they fit a tooth/crown to this.

And so, if you ever have the choice of filling or crown, get the crown.

I have to agree completely with Tigertiger on this one. I had the filling done (it was supposed to be temporary). I'm not entirely sure if the filling fell out when the tooth broke or if the tooth broke because the filling fell out, but it's the same end result.

Fortunately there is enough of the tooth left to insert the pin required for the crown.

This is great to know. One of my concerns with living in Yunnan was not having access to a good dentist. I currently have my dental work done overseas, and this should save me some time and money in the future.