I’m not the biggest fan of the dentist, never have been. No part of me fancies sitting in the plastic covered chair looking up at fluorescent lights and having someone pick at my teeth with metal foreign objects. I’ve been putting off a visit for a year (horrible, I know!) so last month I decided to put on my big girl pants and booked an appointment.

I’ve never had teeth cleaning done outside of Canada and I wanted to provide a few helpful tips for those who plan on going to the dentist as an EPIK teacher in South Korea.

1. Ask your social circle all the questions

The best way to find a dentist, especially an English speaking one, is to ask friends or fellow EPIK teachers. Luckily a friend of mine sent me the email address of her dentist and that’s how I made an appointment. When you go, all you need to bring is your ARC card and bank card.

2. Some procedures are covered under your medical insurance, some are not

From my understanding, teeth cleaning and teeth extractions (such as wisdom teeth) are covered under your medical insurance. I had an infected cavity and the procedure to fill it was unfortunately not covered. I was given a bill of ₩250,000 (YIKES!). My dentist was kind enough to offer a discount so I ended up paying  ₩200,000. It’s still a hefty price but, you can’t put a price on your health. If you’d like a regular teeth cleaning my dentist priced it at around ₩14,000 and extractions around ₩50,000 per tooth.

3. Relax, they’ll take care of you

As I sat back in the chair, my dentist told me step-by-step what he was going to do before he did it, which was necessary since he covered my entire face with a paper mask so I only heard sounds of what was happening. I felt anxious when he started checking my teeth but relaxed as time went on, especially when I realized the entire process and the tools he was using were similar to what I’m used to back in Canada. During the appointment I had to get a numbing needle for my infected tooth and the dentist made sure I was comfortable and even took the time to show me graphics and pictures from a binder to explain what was wrong, which I appreciated.

This post was created for EPIK e-Press.