Best Posts in Thread: Dentists - experience with three different dentists in duma

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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..

 

It it true that there is no correlation between paying for treatment and getting high standards - I knew someone who paid 6000 euros for a tooth implant at a prestigious French hospital and they made a mess. She had to return to have the molar root removed as it had broken off during extraction and they had not noticed!

Also, I am aware of another dentist who did work which was not required - he was eventually caught and 'sanctioned' but allowed to continue practicing, but without full credentials. He obtained those credentials back by moving to another country! I used him once and he would not have an assistant with him but had a list of stock prices running on his computer, which he frequently consulted during treatment.

Anyone using Premier Dental in Dumaguete will have NO such issues with the very professional dentist there.

 

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.