HOW DENTAL FEES HURT THE YOUNG TOO
The cost of dental care can be a strain for younger Singaporeans, too, especially when major dental procedures arise unexpectedly.
Ms Bernice Sim, a student at Nanyang Technological University, had severe wisdom tooth pain in the past month, which meant she could not delay surgery. She went to a private dental clinic, where the bill eventually exceeded S$1,800.
“This is the first medical cost that I have incurred that reached four digits… (but) it couldn’t really be avoided,” said the 22-year-old.
Ms Sim said she had to dip into her savings to pay the additional S$300 in out-of-pocket costs, while the surgery effectively wiped out her MediSave balance.
She might have gone to a polyclinic or national dental centre, which offer dental care services at more heavily subsidised rates, but she was in too much pain to wait for an appointment.
In a parliamentary reply in January 2025, MOH said the median waiting time for new appointments for non-emergency basic dental services at polyclinics was about three months, while specialist services at national dental centres had a waiting time of about one month. Emergency cases, however, were seen on the same day.
Other younger patients who opted to seek treatment at private dental clinics spoke of similarly hefty bills. One of them, 42-year-old Jarieul Wong, spent years and thousands of dollars trying to save one tooth.
What began as a slight discolouration in one of the public relations professional’s front teeth eventually turned into a five-year dental ordeal that started in 2019, which cost him close to S$10,000, all out of his own pocket.
“I thought it was just discolouration,” he said. “I was shocked at the price.”
He first had to undergo a root canal and replacement work costing about S$4,000, but the treated tooth began darkening again. Multiple dentists told him bacteria might have remained deep within the tooth and that cracks might have formed in the root.
One attempted to save the tooth with bone grafting and other procedures, which cost him about S$2,000, but the treatment was ultimately unsuccessful. On top of that, he was also fitted with a temporary denture, which cost him another S$500.
The dentists he consulted further told him it would cost another S$5,000 to fix the issue, but he did some research on getting treatment overseas and eventually travelled to Bangkok for bridge treatment, which cost about S$2,240, along with airfares.
“I feel relieved (that it is over), but this is just one tooth. I’m not doing major dental work. That is the frustrating part, I’m spending so much on one tooth.”
A dental bridge is a treatment that replaces one or more missing teeth by attaching artificial teeth to the natural teeth on either side of the gap.