I noticed there was another thread on this, but the posts were very old!
I need to see a dentist quick sharp, as a filling fell out about 4 weeks ago and I neglected it. The gum/ cheek is now swollen causing a large amount of pain and I'm popping Ibuprofen and codeine like sweeties.. I know it's supposed to be cheaper to go to Germany/ Prague etc, but this is an emergency.
I have had recommendations for a number of dentists (Dr. Schwerzmann in Bundesstrasse, Zug in particular by a fellow Brit at the office) - but when I called through, the receptionist didn't speak English.
Since I don't speak German, it could pose a bit of a problem using them!
If anyone has had particularly good/ bad experiences, I would appreciate feedback! It may also help our fellow new comers..!
In the meantime, I sent out multiple emails to dentists in the area and the Dr. Hermann practice (Team 15 located in Poststrasse 15, Zug) got back to me the quickest. I will see them at 12pm and provide feedback here.
I can sincerely recommend Dr. Patrick Sequeira in Cham, (on the border of Zug) near the big Volkswagen / Audi garage. He speaks perfect english (I think he is English and Swiss) and also has an American dental hygienist who gives good advice. They have treated our kids for braces and solved my pain problems.
+1 he is excellent. Patrick is Swiss but you would easily think he is British as his English is so good (he trained in London and Switzerland). His wife is the dental hygienist and I think she is Canadian?
You can also try the dentist on Poststrasse 14, as a lot of ex-pats see him too (can't remember the name).
I found them quite competent, better than other dentists I've used here, and decent value for money. Bonus is that either English or German is ok, though some of the receptionists struggle with English.
If you go, tell them Lance McGrath sent you. Maybe I'll get some kind of referral bonus.
My wife is a dentist working in Cham. She is Swiss although now thoroughly Australian at heart and her English is near perfect (thankfully as my German is dreadful).
She works at this practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: http://www.wiesbauer.ch , Zugerstrasse 41, 6330 Cham, 041 780 38 36 . Ask for Claudia, they are all on "du" there and it is a very friendly practice. She is very particular about fillings if that is what you need.
I can't tell you about the pricing, the price for dental treatments is set by the SSO (Swiss Dental Organisation) although practices are able to select a multiple of that rate when they put their bills together.
Does it take real long to get an appointment from a good dentist at Zug? Any good suggestions on good dentists in Zug who can give very quick appointments say within a week or so? (preferably English speaking)
Corbets, I take it that your response was just a jest :-) The sentence mentions nothing about hiring or not hiring of foreigners. Heck, both of us are in Swiss from foreign lands (German and an American). As is one of our nurses (German).
What we are stating is that we use local Swiss laboratories (rather than farm out the lab work to China, as one of the former owners was doing) and brand-name materials (rather than knockouts from the grey-market). We think it is relevant info for the patients. After all, if you pay Swiss prices, wouldn't you like to get Swiss quality as well? Wouldn't you like to know that you can go to a lab in Zug (the one we use, by the way, won best in Switzerland this year) where they can pre-fit the work prior to it being put in?
Anyway, our goal is to provide quality as well as being always honest with our customers.
To further allay your nervousness of anti-foreignerism, I will take you out for beers if you become a patient and when I am in town.
One of the difficulties inherent in advertising to differing target markets is that what one means to convey is often interpreted differently by various groups, sometimes even in a way that one does not intend. But it is important to take note of how one's potential customers might interpret a phrase, as a business rarely gets a second chance to correct a first impression.
The phrase 'Swiss Quality' is one such phrase. I certainly understand why you include the statement about using Swiss suppliers when advertising to your Swiss market, an this is a touchstone with many, and distrust of foreign goods is an issue.
However, when advertising to other markets be aware that with the phrase 'Swiss Quality' there can be the positive reaction you hope for, but there can also be somewhat of a negative connotation As well. To some 'Swiss Quality' can also be read as 'overpriced'.
Expats who have experience of other markets where quality is equal or surpasses what one has experienced in Switzerland at a fraction of the cost might find statements like 'We only use Swiss suppliers' a tad off-putting... or, doG forbid, a reason to look elsewhere for a dental practice.
If your patient base is mostly Swiss, no worries. But if you are actively targeting the expat population, maybe using this thread as an opportunity for a bit of informal market research might not be a bad idea.
Melloncollie, thank you for the very thoughtful feedback! I can indeed see how it can be misinterpreted. We will think how best to address next time.
We have the benefit of being able to compare prices on materials with what is offered in Germany and the US. Switzerland is actually quite competitive - no surprise, given that it is a world-wide marketplace. Lab work is indeed pricey here. We have spent a lot of effort weeding out the inferior-quality labs though, so that we can at least offer great quality for that price.
Agree completley, last year the week I was relocating here I needed emergency surgery. I then went to Kruger to get stitches removed and a few other things done.
He is excellent but a little costly, I would go back due to quality of his work.All the staff speak english which is a help.
I re-discovered this thread from 2 years ago and it gave me a good chuckle as to how in-the-money your comments were. 'Swiss Quality' is highly respected outside of Switzerland, but within the country, particularly among expats, it is definitely viewed negatively and associated with low-quality, high-price. It is an interesting question whether such perception is just that - a perception - and not the reality. What is interesting is that more than half of the dentists practicing in Switzerland are actually foreign-born/educated, most notably from Germany (we also fall in this category), so the 'low-quality' perception is hard to understand. As in many instances, it is probably the few bad individual cases with certain dentists that get the attention that drive this perception; or it has nothing to do with dentistry, but the perception is created in other spheres and applied in cookie-cutter fashion to everything else.
In any case, after re-reading the thread I thought a special thank you was in order for the two of you since you had pointed early to us this minefield. So we switched gears and focused our message not on the slogan (i.e. Swiss Quality), but on the root of what people care about - we don't cheat in price, we are good dentists and if customer is not satisfied and we are at fault, we fix it for free. It has worked and we have doubled our patients in two years.... I do owe you that beer I promised you. Drop me a note, would be happy to deliver on the promise!
I went there once for an emergency and paid twice the price that I would normally pay in ZH for the same procedure. The quality was poor and I had to get it fixed a few months later elsewhere.... and I'm still not over how much I paid for it, so no, I don't recommend...
I have the most basic of basic health insurance with a big excess and so no dental cover. This year I am stopping flying abroad for any dental work as it’s about time I supported my local dentists
I need a check up and what i suspect is a filling doing. So I am looking for any update on good English speaking dentists who can fit me in with a few days notice. And some idea of costs for cheapo filling/check up probably with X-rays if it is a first time visit too I guess?
Oh, and I’m a big baby when it comes to pain...so I need taking care of by someone better than the butchers I am used to in the UK
p.s. A quick search turns up Alan Kruger in Steinhausen...anyone used them?