I tried three different dentists in Dumaguete. In order I tried Dr. Lyra Teves, Dr Myrine Garupa and Dr. Julie Cordeta of Premier dental care solutions. Here is my experiences: Dr. Lyra Teves was recommended by a Philippine friend as being cheap and good. What a disaster! She did not even seem like a real dentist. She said I needed two fillings. The first fell out in two hours, the second lasted one day! She was friendly but totally incompetent! I brought my wife to have her teeth cleaned by Dr Myrine Garupa. DR. Garupa has been highly recommended by some in this forum. The cleaning took less than 15 minutes and she charged 800 peso. She was totally unfriendly almost to the point of rudeness. After my wife's cleaning I asked her if she could have a quick look at my teeth to see what I needed. She refused to even look, saying I need to schedule Xrays before she could even look. I intensely disliked Dr. Garupa instantly! I would NEVER go back there! From my point of view she was a complete B---H! Then I decided to try Dr Julie Cordeta of Premier Dental Care solutions. I first asked on the phone how much for an initial consultation. Initial consultation free! At the consultation she said I needed to redo the two cavities that failed from Teves (no surprise there!) , one of which was quite deep. I scheduled an appointment. At the second appointment she did the cavities. I felt very confident with her. She projected an air of total confidence and competence. She spent about an hour filling the deep cavity. I really feel confident that she is a very good dentist. She will be my dentist going into the future. Only down side: She has many patients and you might have to wait a long time for an appointment.
So I asked for a recommendation and she recommended Smiles Dental Care near the back door of Tops & Bottoms. (Actually she recommended the name of the dentist there but I forgot the name.) I have been satisfied with the results of basic dentistry, cavities and cleaning. I would go back to Dr Julie Cordeta for serious dental work.
I went to the dentist opposite PNB near Palawa hotel, 800 for a clean. did a good job there were a few foreigners in waiting for treatment, so must be good.
Bad experience in the dentist top floor of portal west (same as the one in Lee Plaza). She didn't do any initial probing and logging of teeth conditions to the assistant then during the cleaning punctured a cavity with a high pressure jet into the nerve of my tooth - agony. Also took xray for tooth and said decay was too deep for filling so we needed a root canal for 10-12k. Neglected to mention the crown - which is essential for a root canal of rear molars. When I asked about the crown she said that's a separate treatment for 10-15k. Had I not asked I would have had another unpleasant surprise, I declined and had the tooth filled instead, with someone else, who said there's no need for a root canal, despite her digging around my pulp was very healthy and it's been fine ever since.
I had a filling done second floor Robinson's Place. It fell out the next day, they redid it and that one fell out 5 days later. The third time (a different dentist this time) and was told not to return unless I was willing to pay. It did fall out about 15 or 20 day later along with a chunk of that tooth also. So here I was sporting a smile with half of one front tooth missing. A couple of weeks later I got a referral to Dr. Patrick Chua (Dentist) @ Holy Child Hospital. He was very professional. He did a crown and It has been more than two years. Im very pleased with his work and the price
Dra. Pinilli & Associates clinic, near Silliman University Medical Center, (side road at the back of Silliman ball field), do a pretty good job at reasonable prices too. Tried Dra.Garupa, but agree she is fairly expensive, never found her rude myself tho.
I went to Dr. Pinilli's clinic 3 months ago in pain. I saw Dr. Park and she was able to save my tooth, I think any other dentist would have yanked it out. She did a temporary filling to make sure and it is still there now.
My vote is Dr Julie Cordeta. I think we originally got her name here three years ago and have been loyal patients ever since. Very knowledgeable, very smart, great value..
Agree that she is exceptional in standards and in attitude. But I believe she is not able (or willing) to do all procedures - root fillings being an example. No one has mentioned the dental department at Silliman Hospital and I wonder if they perform routine dental work and if anyone had any experience of them.