Dental appointments explained: the lowdown on Taiwan’s dental system

Dental appointments explained: the lowdown on Taiwan’s dental system

2023-06-26

Have you ever thought about the difference between a dental surgery and other doctors’ clinics? At most clinics in Taiwan, you can just walk in and sit down in the waiting room, joining the queue to see the doctor immediately. But dentists work differently. Most require you to book an appointment in advance – often by phone. Why is that? And if you have an urgent toothache, what’s the right thing to do? Should you book an appointment for next week, or is it OK to walk into the nearest dental clinic and ask to be seen today? Well, we spoke to some of Taiwan’s prominent dentists, to get the lowdown on this sometimes mystifying system.

When you need a dental issue fixed, you’re meant to ring the clinic and book an appointment. Booking in advance is a standard procedure these days, as this member of the public explains.

Member of public
You know, if you have a real toothache, it can be quite inconvenient.

Some people wonder why normal medical clinics let you simply rock up, take a number, and wait your turn, while dental clinics want you to pre-book an appointment. It seems the two systems are dramatically different. Why?

Wen Ssu-yung
Taipei Dental Association
Dental treatment is usually one very small-scale operation. A complex treatment might take one or two hours. But the majority of treatments take 20 to 30 minutes.

More and more clinics are adopting the procedure of first talking to the patient to find out what’s wrong, and then arranging an appointment so they hopefully don’t have to wait too long in the waiting room, or impact other patients’ rights. But if you have a toothache right now, do you still need to book in advance? Well, not necessarily. In genuinely exceptional circumstances, you may be allowed to skip the queue.

Huang Yi-hao
Dental clinic director
Usually that’s when the decay has reached the dental nerve, and the face is starting to swell. When you have cellulitis or something like that, then it’s definitely reached the point of a dental emergency.

Treating an acute toothache cannot be delayed. Alongside normal dental clinics, hospital ERs can also provide help in such cases.

Huang Yi-hao
Dental clinic director
When there’s really, absolutely, no other solution, you can go to a hospital emergency room. Yeah. The dentists have shifts – I used to be a hospital dentist.

Wen Ssu-yung
Taipei Dental Association
When you have a toothache, sometimes you really can take painkillers first. I think that dentists in every clinic are willing to treat a patient who is willing to wait in the waiting room.

Dentists say that the main difficulty is the large number of regular hygiene treatments they have booked most days. If you want to avoid getting the kind of toothache that requires emergency treatment and impacts other patients, by far the best policy is to discover any dental issues early, and get them treated as soon as possible.

看牙醫為何要預約? 牙痛到腫起來能臨時看診?

2023-06-26

多數牙醫診所都採預約制，但牙痛也得先預約嗎？還是要在現場等？北市牙醫師公會表示，牙科治療像小型手術，大部分治療20到30分鐘甚至幾小時，為避免患者等候才預先安排時間，但若病患痛到臉腫起來，若遇上牙齒撞擊掉落的急性狀況，會優先處理！

解決牙齒問題，先打電話跟牙醫診所約時間，預約看牙醫儼然成為現代人SOP！

[[民眾]]
“你說那種很痛的話，可能比較不方便一點。”

民眾也好奇，為何一般診所是直接掛號，看牙醫卻老是要先預約？原來是兩種診所看診型態大不同。

[[北市牙醫師公會理事長温斯勇]]
“牙科的治療通常都，像1個很小型的手術，複雜的治療當然有時候，1小時甚至2小時是可能的，那大多數的治療大部分都，大概要20分鐘左右到30分鐘。”

現代診所漸漸朝向，依據患者狀況先行溝通，安排時間避免就診時空等，甚至影響他人權益，但若牙齒痛起來，還需要等預約嗎？其實極端情形才真正能插隊，優先處理！

[[牙醫診所院長黃怡豪]]
“大部分是已經蛀到牙神經，然後臉已經腫起來，有蜂窩性組織炎這種，再怎麼樣這個都是，已經到急診的程度了。”

當然急性牙痛不能拖延，不只診所，連醫院急診也能協助處理！

[[牙醫診所院長黃怡豪]]
“真的真的最沒有辦法的情況下，是可以去醫院的急診，對的牙醫師也有值班的，我以前在醫院也是有值班。”

[[北市牙醫師公會理事長温斯勇]]
“那牙痛其實有時候，真的是可以先服止痛藥，我相信每一家牙醫診所的醫師，都願意幫願意候診的病患，去做處理。”

醫師坦言問題關鍵，還是平日就要定期就診洗牙，早期發現問題早期處理，才不會牙痛起來翻天覆地。

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Voice of Su Tzu-yun
Institute of National Defense and Security Research
This is a testament to the political trust and security partnership between Taiwan and the U.S. The Jump 20’s principal purpose is battlefield reconnaissance. Through its visible light and infrared systems, it can effectively monitor battlefield environments day and night. Coast Guard missions are both military and police-like in nature. Besides adding a drone unit, Taiwan can also consider adding fixed-wing aircraft and an exclusive helicopter unit for the Coast Guard, which can be used to counter the CCP’s gray zone threat.

U.S. support for Taiwan also came recently from Congress. The House and Senate have passed the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for expediting arms sales to Taiwan, expanding military training, and establishing a U.S.-Taiwan joint planning team. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the Select Committee on China, said that the danger of a Taiwan Strait conflict was at its peak. To contain Xi Jinping and the devastating consequences of war, the U.S. must work across party lines to counter China. Hard power must be used to stop Xi before it’s too late, and the 2024 defense bill is a crucial step in that direction, he said.

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We’re happy to see this kind of development as China’s militarization becomes increasingly rampant. We need more cooperation with allies including the U.S. Only then can we let the CCP know not to overstep in the Taiwan Strait.

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With COVID restrictions eased, passenger volume is recovering fast at Taoyuan International Airport. The transport ministry plans to expand its four-year-old one-stop security program, by exempting carry-on luggage from security checks.

Wang Kwo-tsai
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At present, most of the passengers we see are traveling from North America to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, then transiting to flights bound for Southeast Asia or northeast Asia. In the past, they had to go through another security check upon arriving in Taiwan. After the program is expanded, if they complete a security check in the U.S., they will not need to undergo a second check when transiting in Taiwan.

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Wang Yeuh-bin
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On July 1, we will launch our first phase of inspections. The main focus of our inspections will be large-scale operators. Large-scale operators refer to e-commerce operators with capital of NT$150 million or at least 500 stores.

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Wang Yeuh-bin
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Every Monday, Fan Mei-jung teaches Southeast Asian languages on the campus of Minth University of Science and Technology. Today she’s brought along bamboo hats and is encouraging them to draw images of Vietnam on them.

Fan Mei-jung
Vietnamese immigrant and teacher
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Fan Mei-jung
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It’s crunchy, and has a distinctive Vietnamese flavor.

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Fan has impressive capacities in many different areas. When she first came to Taiwan more than 20 years ago, she experienced discrimination in the workplace, partly because of the language barrier. But she didn’t get bitter. Instead, she doubled down on her efforts to learn Chinese, finding that positive thinking was her best friend in her challenging circumstances.

Fan Mei-jung
Vietnamese immigrant and teacher
Wherever we are carving out a life, we always need to understand the language. When we can do that, then we can protect ourselves, so that we can live better, and help others, and give back to society.

Fan founded a club for new female immigrants from Vietnam. It provides a place where women can ask for advice, and a safe place they can rely on. And she’s also the vice chair of the newly established Happy People Party, which exists to promote the participation of immigrants in all areas of life.

But Fan says the most enjoyable part of her work is teaching. The interaction with students brings immense satisfaction, as she watches them develop more and more interest and delight in Southeast Asian cultures.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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Wang Feng-hua walks us down a path he has known for decades. He grew up here in Miaoli’s Sanyi Township, leaving briefly for school before coming back home to Guandao Shan. But after his time away, he was shocked to find that local farmers’ use of herbicides was having a devastating impact on the wild lilies that used to carpet the paths here.

Wang Feng-hua
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They’re mowing the grass year after year, and some of the plants on the mountain have just disappeared.

Inspired to bring back to life the lush mountain of his childhood, Wang threw himself into restoring the wild lily, becoming a staunch “flower defender.”

Wang Feng-hua
Wild lily gardener
It’s just spending a little time on my own patch of land, and tidying it up a bit.

He doesn’t sell the lilies or make any money from them – instead he pays from his own pocket to plant them. It took a while to get his wife onboard with the project!

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I said, “Are you crazy?! Everyone’s trying to earn money. Why are you doing something with no value, no income source?”

There were just 30 lily plants here, at the worst moment. But that’s all changed. One year Wang planted 10,000 lilies on the mountain. Another year, wild boar feasted on the flowers, causing havoc. But Wang is not to be dissuaded.

Wang Feng-hua
Wild lily gardener
They can only sprout their new stalks when you increase the water levels. Actually, it’s obvious at a glance that there are plenty the boar haven’t eaten right here.

And the project has blossomed. The area which Wang cares for has seen the arrival of a small insect, the tea jassid. It’s a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem, unspoiled by herbicides. After all these years, Wang can say with confidence it was time well spent.

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