What I would do differently, or what I would recommend to anyone planning a similiar oral reconstruction.
- I wouldn't use a third party booking agency again ie those that advertise cosmetic or dental holidays. Simply because they charge a fee when really the only service they provide is the appointment time with the relevant dental clinic. Now that I have "been there done that" I would prefer the flexibility of researching and selecting my own flight and hotel, and I would simply email the chosen dental clinic via their website for an appointment.
- Having said that, I would never leave the hotel choice up to a travel agent or a third party again ! Its the only time I have done it - I usually book my own accomodation for all holidays. I would research my hotel choices using Trip Advisor - a site where people put reviews after staying in hotels. I would also ensure the chosen hotel is nowhere near a canal - they absolutely stink! I would also recommend booking a serviced apartment instead of a hotel. There will be days when you just wont want to attempt eating in public and having the comfort of your own kitchen and dining area is a real blessing.
- For anyone choosing to have as major a reconstruction as I had - my biggest recommendation is that you plan to have the surgery right at the beginning of your visit, then take a 7 day break (maybe go stay at a nice spa). Your mouth is quite tender and sore and the fittings can be painful and arduous when starting so soon after surgery.
- Depending on whether you are having uppers and lowers - or just a single set etc - the time span for building your bridges can be anything from 2 visits to 7 or 8 visits. Reading my diary will give you a better idea of exactly how many visits mine took. The bridges fittings and construction is done out at the Spec Lab in Bangkok Noi. This is roughly 40 minutes in normal traffic from the Sukhumvit area and approx 120 to 200 baht. Make sure you take your hotel taxi cards with you so the lab staff can call you a taxi at the end of each visit.
- Depending on your pain threshhold you can elect to have your implants implanted in the chair under a local aneasthetic, or under conscious sedation (also called twilight or IV sedation). My mother had a single implant done under local aneasthetic and she is a pretty tough cookie who admitted she would now prefer conscious sedation next time. She found the jackhammer noise really painful in her brain. If you are a total wimp like me and prefer to be completely out - then choose the general aneasthetic in a hospital. Of course there are more costs involved than having it done in the chair - but its a personal choice. If you click on the link on the right to Liz's story you will see that her phobia was as bad as mine yet she was brave enough to have all her work done in the chair under a local aneasthetic.
- For the post op cracked lips I recommend nappy rash cream - Bepanthen. It stays on the surface and protects your lips while softening and healing them. Its also great to put on new tattoos !!
- For your mouth full of stitches I recommend DIFLAM gargle. Its a green liquid that you can either buy in Australia and take with you (not the throat spray version - ask for the 500ml bottle) or you can buy it in most pharmacys in Bangkok in smaller 200ml bottles. (The thought of a 500ml glass bottle of green liquid spilling in your luggage is not good!). Its both an antiseptic and an aneasthetic. Staff at the Spec Lab will give you some to swish around your mouth before all procedures just to make you a little more comfortable.
- Check with your employer as to whether they will accept a medical certificate from overseas. The clinics and the dentists are all willing to write you a medical certificate for the period you are having work done.
- Your medical expenses are deductible on your tax return even though they have occured overseas. You cannot claim your hotel or airfares but you can claim everything like xrays, appointments, the surgery costs, prescriptions etc. All expenses above and beyond $1500 get 20% reimbursed. You should ensure you collect all your reciepts during your trip - and keep your credit card statements as they will show the exact exchange conversion. You should also collect your other medical and pharmacutical reciepts throughout the year as it all goes on the one claim.
- Packingwise - I recommend you take Panadiene Forte in a good quantity (download the form on the Medicare site that explains to Customs why you are taking them out of the country). I also recommend taking some ice packs or wheat bags - the kind that can go in both the freezer and the microwave. They come in handy! I also took a plastic soup mug and cutlery so I could eat in my room on the days when I was just not up to going out to the hotel restuarant. (another reason to consider a serviced apartment). I would also pack some multi vitamins. I forgot and wished I had them when I had several days without much sustenance. having said that - I probably wouldnt have been able to swallow them - so liquid form may be a good idea.
- A brilliant power plug converter is the World Travellers Plug Set. Its a compact set of adapters for all over the world and only costs $19 in most luggage shops. There are two different types of powerpoints in Thailand and its cheaper than buying the two chargers individually. If you are travelling with a laptop you should ensure you take a surge protector as well. The powerpoints there dont have switches - you just plug straight in. I did experience small flames coming out sometimes as I plugged - but everyone assured me that was normal ! I was charging my laptop, camera batterys, and mobile each day and none of them suffered anything detrimental!!!
- Be flexible and be aware that you cant control your body - so decisions you have already made may have to change. Basically - until they start to drill into your jaw they have no way to tell how strong your jaw bone is. So you have a 50/50 chance of one or more implants not being able to be tightened up enough and requiring 4 to 6 months of bone growth around the implant before the bridge of teeth can be affixed. This is something many people dont take into account - the potential need for a second visit. In my case 1 out of the 6 implants on the top wasnt able to be tightened to their satisfaction. I am taking big doses of Caltrate to speeden up my bone growth !!
- You should also understand that having immediate or non immediate loading doesnt mean you can run out and eat steak and bite into apples the next day. You need to allow at least 6 months for the implants to fully integrate with your jawbone before you start truly biting and chewing. Prior to that you should stick to soft fruits and vegetables, soups, pastas, rice, noodles etc.
- When flying home, start taking pain medication at the airport and again on the flight before takeoff and landing. The new implants can be quite agonising in the pressurised cabin. I flew again a month later and it was quite painful still but when I flew 3 months later the pain no longer existed. It seemed to be just when the implants were new in your jaw bone.
- Consider requesting soft foods a few days prior to flying. We got stir fry on the way over so I assumed we would get similar on the flight home - only to be served a gorgeous looking steak with CRISP potatoes and asparagus that I couldnt remotely even attempt to eat! Scrambled eggs or soup or pankakes might have been preferable !!!
- Staff at Smile Cinic told me that one of the things westerners seemed surprised about or complained about was the distance they had to travel to the Spec Lab to have dentures or bridges made. Yes Spec Lab is on the other side of Bangkok in an area called Bangkok Noi, yes it can take up to an hour in a cab from the Sukhumvit or Pratunum areas, yes it will cost you between 120 and 200 baht each way. Depending on the complexities of the work involved you may need between 5 and 10 visits to the lab during your stay. Spec Lab has an incredible reputationfor being the absolute best in their field. Dr Rajapas and his staff are incredible and make you feel like one of the family. They understand how to deal with phobics. They are all extremely professional and the actual lab upstairs is where your dentures or composite bridges or plastic bridges are made from scratch. If you want a set of teeth that fit perfectly and match your existing teeth or your former teeth, then you want the best people making them for you. So yes you need to be patient and tolerate the lengthy taxi trips each day. Its a little bit of inconvenience for a lifetime of teeth.
- For your day trips out to the Spec Lab I do recommend taking some snacks (for those without teeth take some yogurts or jellys) as there are no 7-11s etc within strolling distance. The lab has a water cooler and a bathroom (take your own toilet paper so you are not using the staffs supply). I also recommend taking a book or MP3 player in case you need to occupy yourself for a while. On one particular day my framework needed to be melted and reset and refitted. It was far easier for me to stay at the lab and read for a couple of hours than to go back to my hotel and return again a few hours later.
- For those having major work like me done, its really useful for the clinic and lab staff if you take plenty of pictures featuring your original smile. Scan some onto a disc and they will load them onto their computers to enlarge etc and print if they need it. They do go to a lot of effort to match your original teeth shape and the photos help.
- For your new porcelain bridges be aware you should not use a hard toothbrush or normal toothpaste. It will wreck the surface of the porcelain. Its a good idea to pack a nice toothpaste GEL (dont get the Listerine brand - it tastes like Decorub!) and a really soft small headed toothbrush.
THINGS TO KNOW WHEN IN BANGKOK
- 7/11 Convenience stores are everywhere and extremely cheap fresh produce can be found in them as well as basically anything you need.
- Change or withdraw $100 when you land at Bangkok airport. There are plenty of exchange windows and ATMS. Its more than enough to pay for a taxi to your hotel and purchasing incidentals when you get to the hotel - after that use the multitudes of Exchange Terminals (they look like ATMs only they have a person in them) to change dollars to baht every few days.
- Taxi from the airport to your hotel can be anywhere from 200 to 400 baht and should include the highway toll. If they try to quote you double that - simply insist that they turn their meter on. If they refuse to use the meter just hop out and get in a different taxi.
- If you have booked through a travel agent - ensure they have organised a hotel shuttle bus or car or taxi for you. When you exit into the arrivals hall you will see hundreds and hundreds of people holding up signs with hotel names, or tour group names - and passengers names. Scan for your name - sometimes your surname wont be used - it may just say "Mrs Mary and Mr John". They will then take you to a waiting point outside and leave you there while they go and collect their vehicle. This can take ten minutes or so - so dont feel abandoned !! They are forced to park some distance away from the collection areas.
- Ensure you have printed out the map of your hotels location - preferably the Thai version - to show your taxi driver. When you get to the hotel you will see they all have business cards with maps in Thai - grab a few if you plan to be catching taxies everywhere. The dental clinics also have these business cards so ensure they post you some before your trip. (I will scan these and put them on this site as soon as I can).
- The taxi cabs that are licenced by the Government are unmistakable. They are all bright green, purple, orange or yellow. They are generally all clean and most have a decent smattering of English. If you have problems with the taxi's you can lodge complaints with either the Tourist Police Tel: 1155 or the Transport Ministry Tel: 1584. Tourist Police has English speaking officers to receive the complaints. The Transport Ministry does not have English speaking officers; therefore you may need assistance from the local people such as the hotel staff. Taxi drivers who refuse to turn on the meters or pick up passengers and abandon passengers at the middle of the roads are all breaking the law. The Transports Ministry is empowered to punish dodgy drivers but they need information from passengers. The information they need are:
-- 4 digits car registration number on the number plate.
-- The colour of the vehicle eg. yellow+green, pink etc
-- Location of the incident eg in front of MBK shopping mall or airport.
-- Time of the incident such as 3 p.m.
-- Nature of the violation eg refuse to turn on the meter, refuse to pick up passenger when the "vacant" sign is turned on etc.
- Your mobile phone will work there providing you have international roaming switched on by your provider. You should also ask them what the charges are for calls and SMS as you pay a premium while you are there. You also pay to recieve an SMS - not just when you send one. I found there was so much interference that I couldnt hear a word when the dental clinics rang me - much easier to provide them with your hotel phone number. If your phone is unlocked you can also purchase prepaid sim cards to use in your phone in Bangkok. There were clearly marked booths selling them at the airport just outside the arrivals area.
- I used my credit card everywhere, including the dental clinics and hospital. They all have efpos. I simply transferred my savings into my credit card before the trip. Make sure you ring your bank and tell them why you are doing this and also let them know to expect multiple large transactions from Thailand.
MORE.
- I will continue to add tips and hints to this page as I think of them.
- If you have a story to share about having implants - whether it was in your own country or you travelled overseas to have the work done - and you would like to share your photos and story, please feel free to contact me via "Ask Me More" and I will supply you with an email address to send the information to me and I will create a page here on this site for you.
- If you have any useful tips regarding implants, or having work done in Thailand, or useful links, please feel free to let me know via the "Ask Me More" link.
- I will scan in the Smile Clinic and Spec Lab taxi cards (done May 2008) along with a few hotel cards I have collected. I will also scan in a map of the Sukhumvit area that shows the location of the Smile Clinic in relation to many hotels.
