My Klinik Pergigian Experience

Dentists invoke fear in many ways. They hold your mouth open, incapacitating you from speaking. They come with tools that make the most awful drilling sounds. They hit your nerves, then they hit it where it really hurts - your wallet. Worst of all, you will never recognize them even if you see them on the road the next day coz they always have their face mask on when they work on you. They seem to be the necessary evil.

But what if I told you you can get your tooth extracted or filled for a mere RM1? And I'm not talking about the junior bomohs here. Nope, I'm talking about our Malaysian government run dental clinics. 

Most people would shun away from these clinics for somehow government clinics have a kind of reputation for fierce unforgiving nurses and n00b doctors using you as their lab rat. 

About a three months ago, a large filling in my molar came off, leaving a very large gap in my tooth. I decided to give the my nearest Klinik Kesihatan a try, since I have never experience one before. 

I decided to go to the Klinik Kesihatan Jinjang, which is located rather deep inside the heart of Jinjang. Waze absolutely got me lost, so I suggest you try Google Maps. 

Klinik Kesihatan Jinjang
No. 2, Jalan Setia 3, Jinjang Utara Tambahan Kuala Lumpur
52000, Malaysia
+60 3-6258 3355

Parking is free, but normally full in the morning. However, there is still plenty of parking outside and since it is near housing areas, there won't be anyone coming around to saman you. 

The clinic opens early, at 8am and there will be a queue. Good news is that they do have a pretty good ticket queue system and you will get to your turn within 30 minutes. To register, you need your IC and RM1. 

The key difference between a private clinic and the Klinik Kesihatan is the fact that when you see doctor, he or she only has 10 minutes with you and if you need further treatment, they will make an appointment with the doctor for you a few weeks to months from the time of your visit. And you have very little say on when the next appointment would be. The treatment time will always be in the afternoon after 12pm so it is quite hard for working folks to actually go. 

I even had my appointment postponed three weeks because of water shortage in the clinic. Nonetheless I persisted and I finally went to my appointment at 12pm (skipped lunch). When I arrived I realized that I still had to wait for another patient even though I was on time. I guess they arrange a few patients for the same time slot just in case some would FFK. But I got to my turn in about 20 minutes. My doctor, was Dr. Tan, whom I judge must be about 28 years old. He was a nice chap actually, and spoke to me in Cantonese (since most of the patients are from Kepong/Jinjang area, and I noticed lots of old uncles and aunty patients).

He worked on my two cavities and did a composite filling on both. He actually did a very decent and professional job, and was quite gentle too. Took him almost an hour to finish working on me.

All in all, I'm really glad I went. For RM4 (RM2 for each filling), this is the most affordable dentist you can ever find, probably in the world. I think I probably saved 100 times the cost if I were to have gone to a private clinic. 

Summary: Government clinics are not everyone's cup of tea, especially if you need your tooth fixed ASAP, but if you can bear with the wait, and potentially inexperienced doctors, or if you just are flat broke, the Klinik Pergigian is really not that bad after all!