Eric's Beijing Diary

I went back to the Stomatology clinic at Peking University today. I had actually scheduled an appointment, but I told them that I really needed to get a good idea what the whole procedure was going to cost me. I had a very hard time getting them to tell me a specific amount. I heard the word "about" quite a bit. Three different dentists quoted me three different prices for a root canal. Finally I found a dentist who wrote down a list of prices for everything. I told them that I had to consider this, and took the list to the Arrail Dental clinic, where I had gone in March. One thing I like about that place is that all their prices are printed. Definite. They never use the word "about." Their quote was considerably less than the medical school, which was curious, because I had always been told that the medical school was cheaper. To be fair, the difference between the two places was about $100 US dollars, which isn't really that much, but I have to pretend that it is, because I am living on a Chinese salary now.

The real lesson, though is that good dental care can be had in China for a price that is a quarter to a third of the American cost. Unless you go to the clinics that are cater to Americans. These clinics play on American fears about going to a Chinese dentist, and charge prices that are many times the market value of the service they offer. They are the real hucksters, and Americans living in China are fooled into giving them unholy amounts of money for a service that is certainly no better than what can be obtained at the medical school or the dental clinic. That statement is a little too broad. They don't fool all the Americans. The US Embassy sends all their personnel to the same clinic I went to. As people begin to wise up, I think the hucksters are going to be hurting for business.