Crossing the border for dental care

The northbound journey for dental care has stopped being unusual. Hong Kong dental costs have pushed enough people across the boundary that Shenzhen clinics now see Hong Kong patients as a normal part of their week, and the traffic is well documented in the Hong Kong press.

What has not kept pace is honest information about how to do it well. Most of what you will find online is written to sell you a treatment plan. This is written by a clinic that would like your business, but would rather you arrived having thought it through.

The journey, realistically

The East Rail Line takes 45 to 55 minutes from central Hong Kong to Lo Wu. Immigration is usually ten to fifteen minutes; on a Monday morning it can be very much longer. You come out of the Shenzhen side directly into Luohu station, and most of Luohu district is a short ride from there.

Allow two hours door to door. Then add the appointment itself — a proper first examination takes at least an hour, and any clinic that offers to assess you in fifteen minutes is not assessing you.

In practice this means a first visit is a half-day. Plan it as one and it is comfortable. Plan it as a lunch break and it will not be.

What travels well, and what does not

This is the part worth thinking hardest about, because it determines whether crossing the border is sensible for you specifically.

Travels well

• Check-ups and cleanings — one visit, self-contained.
• A single filling, or a specific problem you already know about.
• A second opinion on a plan you have been given in Hong Kong. Bring the images.
• Extractions and most oral surgery, provided you can rest afterwards rather than crossing straight back in a queue.

Needs proper planning

• Implants. Months, not weeks, and several appointments. Entirely workable — but you are committing to a series of journeys, not one.
• Crowns and bridges. Usually two or three visits, and occasionally a fourth if the fit needs adjusting.
• Orthodontics. Regular appointments over a year or more. Be honest with yourself about whether you will keep making the trip in month nine.
• Full-mouth rehabilitation. A long relationship with a clinic. Choose it as you would choose a long relationship.

The question is not "can this be done in Shenzhen". It is "what happens between the appointments, and what happens if something needs fixing after I go home".

Five questions to ask any Shenzhen clinic

Ask these before you agree to anything. The answers tell you more than the photographs on the website.

1. How many appointments will this take, and over what period? A clinic that will not commit to a rough schedule has not planned your treatment.
2. What happens if something goes wrong after I return to Hong Kong? Listen for a specific answer. "Come back and see us" is not one if you cannot easily come back.
3. Will I get my records and images to take away? They are yours. If a clinic hesitates, you are being locked in.
4. What is included in the price, and what is not? Particularly for implants, where the fixture, the abutment, the crown and the imaging are sometimes quoted separately.
5. Can you show me why this treatment is necessary? A dentist who can point at a radiograph and explain the problem is diagnosing. One who cannot is selling.

When you should not cross the border

We would rather say this plainly than have you make an expensive mistake.

Do not cross for an emergency. If you are in severe pain, have significant facial swelling, or have had an injury, deal with it where you are. Swelling that involves the eye, the floor of the mouth or your breathing is a hospital matter, immediately, on whichever side of the boundary you happen to be on.

Do not cross if you are choosing purely on price and have not looked at anything else. The clinics worth travelling for are not the cheapest ones, and the gap between Hong Kong and Shenzhen prices is wide enough that you do not need to shop at the bottom of the market to save money.

And do not start complex treatment abroad if you know you are about to move away. Half-finished implant work is a genuinely difficult thing to hand over.

Practical things people forget

• Payment. Many mainland clinics are cashless. We take WeChat Pay, Alipay, credit card and international transfer, so a card works even if you have no mainland payment app.
• Insurance. Very few Shenzhen clinics bill international insurers directly, ours included. You pay and claim back, so check your policy reimburses on receipts before you travel.
• Anaesthetic and the return journey. After an extraction or surgery you will not want to stand in an immigration queue. Book earlier in the day and allow time.
• Your records. Ask for them at every appointment and keep them. It is what makes a dentist in Hong Kong able to help you at short notice.

Where we fit

We are in Luohu, a short ride from the Lo Wu crossing, which is simply the most convenient district if you are coming from Hong Kong. Both doctors are internationally trained and consultations happen in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French or Mandarin.

We do not publish prices, because a figure quoted before anyone has examined you is not information. We do give you a written plan and a cost after your first appointment, before anything begins, and you are welcome to take it away and think about it — or take it to another dentist for a second opinion. We would rather you did that than agreed to something you were not sure about.