David's Story

My name is David Stuart, founder and General Manager of Dental Express.

This is my dental story.

I never really wanted to go overseas for my dental restoration. I would have been quite happy to have my teeth repaired in Australia but years were flying by and not only were my teeth deteriorating rapidly, the pain was becoming a constant. I could put up with the physical pain to a certain extent but the one pain I found difficult to deal with was the psychological kind

It’s funny looking back on the strange little habits I picked up once deciding my teeth should never again see the light of day. Open laughing is to be avoided at all costs so I developed the closed smiling mouth/smiling eyes technique This works quite well until you meet someone really funny and you burst out laughing while silently cursing/liking them. Unfortunately this method also accelerates the crows feet around ones eyes

Anyway, around three years ago I developed severe gum disease although I add, not for the first time. So it was back to my dentist for another round of high priced treatment that neither he nor I were very enthusiastic about. My teeth were crowded, painfully sensitive, worn down, decayed and cracking. The only thing that would save them was an extensive restoration that I knew and my dentist knew, I just couldn’t afford. So it was just more patch-up dentistry until my magic money tree managed to cough up forty five thousand dollars. As a freelance cartoonist this was not going to be anytime soon.

Two years ago I’d had enough. I was just plain tired of it all. I used to be a happy person who laughed and smiled often, I just didn’t feel like me anymore. In short, I was depressed and my self-esteem was taking a battering. My breath became so bad I started avoiding crowds or anywhere I’d have to stand close to people. Even my constant companion the hot mints were no longer effective. I had a constant taste of blood and decay in my mouth and pain and bloating in the stomach from not being able to chew my food properly. I could also no longer drink or eat anything that wasn’t room temperature without great pain.My teeth were so worn down that the roots were reacting to even the slightest temperature variation. I’m sure some reading this can relate to the fun of it all.

I was within an inch of having the remainder of my teeth extracted and replaced with dentures….. That I could afford!

I don’t exactly know where the idea came from to go overseas for treatment; I’d just heard somewhere that it was cheaper. When I first seriously looked at the idea there wasn’t much information around. It was a matter of working from the ground up and gathering as many facts as possible regarding SE Asian dentistry.

My mission was to find the best dentist possible who could restore my teeth and give me back my smile, and one I could afford.

I ended up researching dental clinics for over twelve months with dozens of X-rays and dental plans going back and forth from The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and India. I was looking for ease of communication, exceptional skills and high qualifications in all aspects of orthodontics, including crowns, veneers, and implants. The only way to do this was to ask a lot of questions and examine the results. I basically formulated a check- list with scores awarded under different criteria; checked the sterilisation methods of each clinic, confirmed dental degrees with relevant universities, and for the clinic to provide genuine patient before and after shots, not just purchased images off the internet. This I found out having received identical before and after shots from two different clinics.

The clinic I finally chose satisfied all the criteria I was looking for. The communication was sharp and the staff spoke excellent English (as do most of the population in Manila). They were quick to forward details of qualifications, experience, sterilisation methods and importantly, a treatment and expense outline for my restoration. While I was excited with having reached this decision I was still apprehensive about taking the trip. In fact I procrastinated for another three months until finally deciding to just go for it!

I arrived in Manila with the mind set that if the clinic looked dirty or if things were not as they seemed I would walk away. As hard as that would have been to do, my health was the most important thing.

Well in short I’m rather glad I went.

The clinic itself sparkled with hygiene and everything appeared modern and state of the art.

And as for the staff, Well, let me say in all my years of patch up dentistry I had never come across such gentle, caring, and thoroughly dedicated dentists. or had I ever felt so important as a patient. Every possible care was taken with my comfort and every step of the procedure was explained to me on request. After the first appointment I can honestly say I felt in pretty good hands and after traveling so far and researching so long I was quite relieved. The dentist really listened to my concerns regarding my treatment and my pathetically low pain threshold and she presented options and advice where applicable. At no stage did I ever feel rushed or harassed - everything was done at my pace.

“The result for me was simply wonderful”

The Orthodontist created a full smile restoration consisting of crowns (all porcelain on the fronts and porcelain fused to metal on the backs), bridges and gum lift. My smile is now aesthetically pleasing and I am without pain for the first time in years. My digestive system is also powering along since I’d stopped sending it poorly chewed lumps of food. Gone were the nightly digestive cramps and bloating as well as the excess gas (sorry if that’s too much information!). With the decay and gum disease vanquished my mouth tastes really fresh and healthy.

So much has changed since my dental tourism adventure. The obvious being I smile and laugh a lot more frequently, although having said that, it took some practice to feel I was smiling naturally as I tended at the start to put too much thought into the smile and it apparently took on a wooden appearance. Thankfully it now feels very natural to smile and laugh. Of coarse my confidence and self-esteem have also improved. That in itself wasn’t a sudden or dramatic change rather a gradual improvement which I could only really explain by saying I feel more comfortable in my own skin.

Well that’s some of my story. I’m not a professional writer by any stretch of the imagination and I’m sure some professional editing would have brightened it up somewhat, but I guess I just wanted this page to sound like me.

Clients ask me if we have clinics in India or Thailand and the answer is no. I won’t start matching dentists to locations simply because I have no experience with their work and I need the peace of mind that my clients are going to receive what I believe is the best dental care in SE Asia. We have developed a close working relationship with the clinic and I would rather build our business and the clinics business by reputation of quality rather than location to a sandy beach. Although having said that, the Philippines have secluded white sandy beaches in abundance if you do wish to travel and explore. There is also fabulous shopping, friendly English speaking locals and a culture with a mixture of Spanish and American influence.

I stand by Dental Express in providing my clients a well-organised and cost effective trip. We take care of you every step of the way and I just know you’ll love the result.

Please feel free to contact me personally with any questions or concerns you may have, or chat with a member of our friendly staff.

Regards
David Stuart