Prices for a dental implant in Taiwan can range from NT$40,000 to NT$150,000, which is expensive in relation to the nation’s per capita income, so people should carefully compare prices and quality before deciding where to get an implant, the Consumers’ Foundation said on Tuesday.
The highest price for a dental implant is 3.8 times the lowest price, the foundation said, citing its Ministry of Health and Welfare-approved survey, which was conducted in eight cities and counties.
Compared with the 2013 per capita income of Japan and the US, people in those countries earn about 2.5 times and about 1.7 times what people in Taiwan make, the foundation said, adding that the cost for a Taiwanese to get a mouthful of dental implants is equivalent to the price of an imported luxury car.
A Taiwanese earning minimum hourly wages would have to work between 334 and 1,250 hours for a single tooth implant, while a person in Japan would only have to work between 213 and 284 hours and someone in the US between 77 and 359 hours, it said.
There are also a number of different costs associated with tooth implantation that are confusing, including a tooth implantation evaluation fee, a tooth implantation surgery fee, artificial tooth root, prosthetic crowns and periodontal prostheses, the foundation said.
The financial strain of getting a dental implant, which is becoming a fairly common treatment, for Taiwanese is relatively high, it said, adding that the government should take the matter seriously and create an accreditation mechanism for the evaluation of dental treatment, as well as re-evaluate items that are charged for dental implants.
Foundation vice chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) urged people to discuss with their dentist the necessity of any tooth implant, carefully read surgical consent forms and ask the hospital or clinic to provide a receipt with payment details.
“As tooth implantation is an invasive surgery, it is best that people communicate with their dentist thoroughly in advance about the necessity of the surgery, a detailed list of expenses and signing consent forms for anesthesia and surgery” to avoid medical disputes, he said.
The foundation suggested that people compare prices and quality before deciding where to get an implant.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS