Dentist Kaliningrad - Expat in Kaliningrad, Russia

A Day at the Dentist

When my wife suggested to me that I should take my tooth that needed to be filled to the Russian dentist, here in Kaliningrad, I thought twice about it.

It was my wife who suggested that I put an end to my griping and take myself and my tooth with a hole in it to one of the dentists here in Kaliningrad. “The [dentist] service here is very good; very professional,” she told me. Well, she would say that, wouldn’t she. She’s Russian.

It was December 2018. We had just arrived in Kaliningrad having moved from England. Being at that age when everything falls to bits [Cohen: “Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey, I ache in the places where I used to play.”], especially teeth, I knew I had to do something and that was either go to a Russian dentist, travel back home to England or take my brother’s advice and use one of his Do It Yourself dental filling kits.

Flying to the pub is good, but flying through the air is not and DIY dental kits conjure up images of something that Del Boy would peddle, so, tempted with the conciliatory carrot that we could go to the local bar afterwards, the Russian dentist it was.

UK dental experiences

Now I am not one for ‘telling tales out of school’ but recently both my and my wife’s experiences of UK dentistry had left much to be desired. I was struck off the patient list by one practice because I did not attend for two appointments, even though I contacted them and explained that I was unwell, and was immediately and suspiciously recommended to their sister practice up the road, which was, quite frankly, awful. In 12 months of registering there I had two fillings: one was so oversized that it felt as if I had a piece of Stonehenge in my mouth, and I breathed a sigh of relief when it fell out six months later, and the other disintegrated three times in a similar period. My wife was registered with Charlie Chan Inscrutable Dentist Man. Alright, admittedly that was not the real name of his practice; it was Charlie Chan Inexcusable Dentist Man. He worked on my wife’s teeth, charged her a bundle and when she was forced to go for a second opinion because the tooth was still giving her pain, she discovered that apart from the anesthetic he had not done anything! To add insult to injury, he had cancelled two appointments in a row, month on month, the only excuse being that he had other patients to see. Yes, we should have reported him, which we threatened to do, but this did not get the tegs seen too, and we all know how difficult it is in overcrowded Britain to find an NHS dentist that is willing to take you on. We did, after a lot of ‘Googling’ and ‘word of mouthing’ locate a dentist 15 miles away. He had a nice old-fashioned English name, ‘Harry’, and seemed to have a severe case of x-ray phobia, as he kept dancing out of the room before he had quite determined how the apparatus went together. You instinctively know things are not quite right when the x-ray plate is lodged behind your ear!

These incidents went a long way in persuading me that the Russian option was worth a try.

Kaliningrad Dentist Russia

There is no shortage of dentists in Kaliningrad and, as it is pay as you go, there is no ‘will you, won’t you’ register me. Our dentist practice of choice came from personal recommendation. It was, and still is, Centrodent. The recommending friend explained that Centrodent was not the cheapest practice in Kaliningrad but, in her opinion, it was the best.

Mick Hart at Russian Dentist — Now, where is that dentist’s clinic?

In recent years, since leaving London, I have been used to small dental practices operating from all sorts of converted houses, so I was surprised to find that not only was the Centrodent clinic purpose-built but very large.

Kaliningrad Dentist Russia — Water feature and Neoclassicism ~ Centrodent dentists, Kaliningrad, Russia

Inside it is spacious, light and airy. The dominant colour is a mellow green, the walls made from a green marble substance containing white ripples (a sort of soothing toothpaste effect). A combination of design embellishments, favouring both Art Deco and Neoclassical elements, work surprisingly well together and form a harmonic partnership with the general modernity.

My first impression was one of tranquility, which was surprising as the place is busy, busy. Patients and white-uniformed staff criss-cross the wide reception area, ascend and descend the curved staircase to the upper quarter, mill around the reception desk, congregate in front of the cloakroom, appear and disappear from the central passage and from the glass-fronted rooms to the left of the planters and water feature. It is all go and yet no stress. It is Waterloo Station on quiescent medication. It works and whoever designed it did well, as he took the dread out of dentistry.

As with many public establishments in Kaliningrad, the cloakroom, with its lady cloakroom attendants, is a nice, civilised and practical touch. This one is open-fronted, built into the main foyer/waiting room, and allows you to divest yourself of your coats so you can worry about your treatment wholeheartedly and without encumbrance.

Swimming caps on shoes

In exchange for your coat you are given a small numbered tag, appropriately made in the form of a tooth. Before you can proceed further, in the interests of feet hygiene, it is mandatory to cover your shoes with a pair of polythene shoe protectors. These ubiquitous items are found in all medical institutions here. I suppose they are a good idea, especially as they make everyone look rather silly. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to indulge yourself in pre-dental stress whilst wearing a pair of these. First off it amused me, as in trying to put them on I nearly went arse over head, but once content that no one had seen me, I settled into a game of spot who looks the silliest walking in bright blue plastic elastic.

When it was time to advance to go, I looked down at my bright blue shoes and decided that it was me.

Mick Hart blue shoes Russia — ‘Don’t step on my blue suede shoes!’

My good lady wife led me along a corridor, the doors and arches of which were edged with classical pillars or curved adornments surmounted by pediments. This brief walk brought us into a smaller waiting room of suntan and honey tangerine colours, hollow curves to some of the doorways, beige highlighting and, at one end, a row of blind arches fronted by a small stone-wall garden of tall cacti and succulents. Activity was no less restrained here than it had been in the main entrance hall but, as before, the colour scheme and sense of open space made it less of a waiting room and more of a transit area.

Cacti at Centrodent Kaliningrad — A tooth bush?

I was not kept transiting long, but during my brief stay I did notice that the majority, if not all, of the dentists were female, as was mine. She was dressed in a smart two-piece medical uniform and wearing a surgical mask when she called me into the surgery. I remember thinking to myself, she had very nice eyes: kind and sincere.

Kaliningrad Dentist Russia 🤍

It probably was not advisable of me to tell my wife later that I had fallen in love with my dentist as she promptly told the dentist, thus making me very self-conscious when it came to return appointments, but how could I not be so enamoured: pain-free dentistry, a palpable professionalism, a dental surgery equipped with the most sophisticated appliances and stuff to fill your teeth with claimed to be top of the range, not to mention those kindly eyes and gentle but accomplished hands. What was there not to like? There was even a garden and shrubbery just outside the window.

In short, as dentists go this one was one that you would want to go back to time and time again, though propriety dictates that only your teeth should decide.

I came away smiling. Our recommendee is decidedly recommended. She told us that this was one of the best dentist outfits in Kaliningrad, and she warned us not the cheapest. On this occasion my filling cost me just under £45, but before making comparisons with British NHS prices I should clarify that the service here and the techniques and dental composites used match British private dentistry practices. Cheaper alternatives abound in Kaliningrad but when you consider the cost, 45 quid is nothing really for a tooth that you can be proud of and a dentist to whom you would willingly return time and time again.