How I'd choose a dentist

If I were choosing a dentist, I'd skip the whitening offers, look the name up on the council's register, then ask to see the fee list. Neither check needs me to know anything about teeth. Whether a tooth actually needs work is a different question, and that one stays with a dentist.

Is the name on the register?

The Malaysian Dental Council (MDC) keeps the register, and a SAYS guide tells readers to look a dentist up through the council's portal and its "Search for Dental Practitioners" link.⁵

That guide is from 2020 and sites move, so I'd go in from the council's own site and look for its practitioner search.⁵ I'd type in the name and see what comes back. If nothing does, I'd allow for spelling and ask the clinic for the registration number, once, nicely.

That shouldn't be awkward. The MDC's public information guidelines list that number among the things a professional plate can carry.¹ Its Code of Professional Conduct says a practitioner must display a valid practising certificate at every place of practice, so there should be something to read on the wall.²

One detail I liked. Unless the person in charge is on the specialist division of the Dental Register, a clinic's name shouldn't contain the word "specialist" or a word that implies one, and the Code's examples are "braces", "gums" and "children".² So if a signboard or a person says specialist, that's the second thing I'd look up.

Ask for the fee list

A practitioner "must have a list of clinical procedural fees available for the patient within the clinic premises", the guidelines say.¹ It may also go on the clinic's website or social page, but it doesn't have to.¹ So asking isn't rude, and I'd ask before I got anywhere near the chair.

I'd be reading the reaction as much as the numbers. A list that appears in a minute tells me something, and so does a long wait while someone goes to find out if there is one.

What's a fair price?

I couldn't find a proper survey of Malaysian dental prices. The nearest I've got is a 2023 report in The Star, which put a simple extraction at RM80 to RM160 in private clinics.³ It has nothing on crowns, and I couldn't find a dated price for one anywhere else.

That's old and thin, so I'd use it only to spot something far outside it, then ask what's different before assuming anything. The same report says a filling's price depends on its material, so a dearer one can be a perfectly good answer.³

A few lines in the Code are worth knowing before paying. You should be told the estimated charges before treatment starts, and you can ask for an itemised bill.² A deposit shouldn't go past 30% of the total cost, and if treatment stops, it should come back after deducting what's been incurred.²

The plan I didn't ask for

Say I go in for a scaling and come out holding a long list of work. It may be exactly right. I can't tell, and a blog certainly can't, so I wouldn't try to judge the teeth: I'd judge how it's put to me.

The Code says recommending unnecessary services is unethical, which is easy to write and hard for a patient to spot.² The more useful bit is in its consent section. The explanation should cover the options, "including those of delaying treatment or choosing not to undergo treatment", with the risks and benefits of each and the cost.²

That doesn't make waiting wise. It means I'd want to hear what waiting would cost me, from the person who's actually looked in my mouth.

What I'd want to hear before saying yes

Where the work is complicated, the Code says there should be a written plan with a cost estimate, agreed before it starts, and a revised one in writing if things change.² It says a copy "may" be given to the patient, so I'd ask for it.

If I wanted a second view, I wouldn't feel sneaky. The Code accepts that a patient can go to another practitioner at any time, and says a practitioner should provide a copy of the record on request.² Anything that hurts changes the order, of course: then I'd see a dentist first and shop around later.

A clinic has a chair to fill, and I've done the rough sums on that. I don't think that makes dentists salespeople. It just means I'd rather have a reason than a rush.

What I'd ignore

Promotions, mostly. The Code says a practitioner shouldn't entice prospective patients with packages, discounts or special promotions, so a limited-time offer tells me how a clinic reads the rulebook, and nothing about its fillings.²

They're common enough that I wouldn't overplay it. A study of clinics' Facebook and Instagram accounts, covering six months to April 2022, found about 15% of posts broke the guidelines, mainly through discounts, limited-time offers and grand descriptions.⁴ Over half the accounts had at least one such post, so a single old offer isn't a verdict on anybody.⁴

The usual advice is to read the reviews, and I would, for whether a clinic runs on time and is kind to nervous people. Testimonials are allowed if the patient consented and nothing was given in return.¹ What a review can't tell me is whether the work was needed, because the person writing it doesn't know either.

When I'd walk away

• The name isn't on the register, no number turns up and nobody seems bothered.
• I ask for the fee list twice and still have to "see the doctor first".
• Only one option is ever described, and it's the biggest one.
• The price depends on my deciding today.
• The deposit runs well past that 30% and nobody can say why.²

The Code also lists a patient grievance mechanism among a practice's minimum standards, so asking how complaints work is a fair last question.²