Picasso Dental Clinic for Expats: Ongoing Care in Vietnam

For most people, the hardest part of dental care abroad is not finding a clinic for one treatment — it is finding one you can keep coming back to. When you live in Vietnam rather than just visit, the maths changes: you are not chasing a single bargain crown, you are looking for a dental home. Somewhere that holds your records, knows your history, speaks your language, and is still there in two years when you need it again. That is a different question from "where is the cheapest implant," and it is the question this guide answers.

Picasso Dental — founded in Hanoi in 2013 and serving more than 70,000 patients from over 62 countries — is built around exactly that kind of ongoing relationship. It is English-speaking, runs six branches across four cities, keeps routine care genuinely affordable, welcomes families, and can step up to premium and surgical work without sending you elsewhere. For an expat, those are the things that matter day to day. If you are still at the stage of choosing a provider at all, start with our expats' guide to finding a dentist in Vietnam, then come back here for why a continuity-first clinic suits resident life.

A tourist needs a good dentist for one trip. A resident needs a good dentist for the next decade — and the second is a much higher bar to clear.

Why does continuity matter more when you live here?

The single biggest difference between dental tourism and expat dental care is time. A visitor optimises for one course of treatment; a resident optimises for a relationship that runs across years of check-ups, the occasional filling, a crown when something cracks, and ideally nothing dramatic at all. The value of one provider holding your full record — your X-rays, your past treatments, the early-stage problems someone is watching — compounds quietly over time. A dentist who has seen your mouth at every six-month interval catches change far sooner than one meeting you cold.

Continuity also removes friction. You are not re-explaining your history, re-taking baseline images, or wondering whether the new clinic does things the same way. You book, you go, you are known. For people already managing the small daily frictions of life in a second country, having one less thing to renegotiate is worth a great deal. Our guide to living in Vietnam and navigating dental care as a local or expat goes deeper on how residents fold healthcare into everyday life here.

What makes Picasso suit expats specifically?

Several things line up well for someone settling in rather than passing through. The clinic operates in English and Vietnamese, so consultations, treatment plans and consent happen in a language you understand — no translating dental terminology through a phone app at a stressful moment. It is a sizeable, established group rather than a one-chair practice, which means cover when a particular dentist is away and a broader team for second opinions. And it publishes prices, so you are not negotiating in the dark each visit.

Just as importantly, Picasso is set up for the whole arc of dental life. Day to day you want simple, affordable maintenance. Occasionally you want serious capability — an implant, orthodontics, a premium crown — without being referred out to a clinic that has never seen you before. Having both at one provider is the quiet luxury of a good expat dentist, and it is the thread running through everything below.

• English-speaking care, so plans and risks are clearly explained.
• Multi-city coverage that follows you if you move within Vietnam.
• Affordable routine care that makes twice-yearly visits a habit.
• Family-friendly, with free children's exams and orthodontics for all ages.
• Premium and surgical options from the same team when needed.
• Transparent, per-item pricing that is easy to budget and to claim back.

How does multi-city coverage help if I move around Vietnam?

Expat life in Vietnam is rarely static. People relocate for work between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, decamp to Da Nang for the coast, or split the year between cities. Picasso's footprint maps neatly onto that reality with six branches in four cities: two in Hanoi (the Old Quarter flagship and Westlake Square), two in Da Nang (central Hoàng Diệu and the Vinmec hospital branch), one in Ho Chi Minh City's Thảo Điền expat district in District 2, and one in Da Lat at Link General Hospital.

The practical upshot is that moving cities — or simply travelling within Vietnam — does not mean switching dentists. You stay with one provider, one set of standards, and one records system. If you live in Hanoi but holiday in Da Nang and chip a tooth, you are not gambling on an unknown clinic; you are walking into the same group that already has your history. If you are settling in the south, our profile of the best dental clinic in Ho Chi Minh City looks at the Thảo Điền branch in more detail. For the addresses, airport transfers and which branch fits where you are based, see our guide to getting to Picasso Dental.

What does routine care actually cost?

This is where the case for keeping up with maintenance gets easy. The everyday work that keeps teeth healthy is inexpensive enough that there is little reason to skip it. All figures below are in Vietnamese đồng (VND), with rough US dollar and Australian dollar equivalents; conversions are approximate and exchange rates move, so treat them as a guide rather than a quote.

• Consultation: 200,000 VND (roughly US$8 / A$12).
• Children's exam: free.
• Scaling and polish: 300,000–600,000 VND (about US$12–24 / A$18–36).
• Composite filling: 400,000–700,000 VND (around US$16–27 / A$24–42).
• OPG panoramic X-ray: 300,000 VND; Conebeam CT (3D): 600,000 VND.

At these levels, a twice-yearly check-up and clean is a small, predictable line in a monthly budget rather than a treatment you put off. That matters because the cheapest dentistry in the long run is the preventive kind: a 300,000 VND scaling and a routine exam today is what stops a 5,000,000 VND molar root canal later. For the full picture of how Picasso prices its work and how it presents quotes, see our guide to Picasso Dental's pricing transparency and payment.

Is Picasso a good fit for families?

If you have children, a dental home has to work for the whole household, not just you. Free children's exams are a meaningful detail here: when a check-up costs nothing, you bring kids in regularly and small problems get spotted early, before they turn into anxious, expensive ones. From there, the clinic offers interceptive orthodontic appliances for younger children whose bite is still developing, and the full range of braces — metal, ceramic and self-ligating — plus the complete Invisalign range for teenagers and adults.

Treating parents and children at the same English-speaking provider keeps everyone's records together and turns dental care into a single, familiar routine rather than a scattered set of appointments at different clinics. That simplicity is one of the things expat families value most. Our dedicated guide to pediatric and family dental care for expats in Vietnam covers the children's side in detail, from first visits to teen orthodontics.

What happens when routine turns into major work?

Most years, ongoing care is undramatic: exams, cleanings, the occasional filling. But sooner or later most of us need something bigger — a crown, an implant, orthodontics — and this is where having a capable everyday dentist pays off. Instead of being referred to a clinic that has never met you, the provider who already knows your mouth plans and carries out the work, with your full history on file.

Picasso's range covers that step up. For crowns and veneers it works in premium materials including Zirconia, Emax and Lava, each with its own stated warranty period (for example, an Emax crown carries a 7-year warranty and a Lava crown a 10-year warranty). For tooth replacement it offers single implants across systems from Osstem through Nobel Biocare and Straumann, and full-arch All-on-4 solutions for more extensive cases. The implant team is led by Dr. Tran Thanh Phong, Head of Implantology, who has placed implants since 2001 and is a long-standing Nobel Biocare clinical representative in Vietnam. The clinic is also a Platinum Elite Invisalign Provider, which matters if orthodontics is on your or your family's horizon.

Two of the six branches sit inside hospitals — Vinmec International Hospital in Da Nang and Link General Hospital in Da Lat — which adds reassurance for surgical procedures such as implant placement or sinus augmentation, since broader medical facilities are on the same site. The key point for a resident is integration: your routine provider is also the one handling the complex case, so nothing is lost in a handover.

How do insurance and self-pay work for expats?

Payment at Picasso is straightforward: Visa or Mastercard, Vietnam bank transfer, or cash in VND. Insurance is the more individual question. Many international expat health plans include some dental cover, but the common model is reimbursement — you pay the clinic, then claim back from your insurer — rather than the clinic billing your provider directly. Because Picasso publishes prices per item and gives clear quotes, it is easy to obtain the documentation an insurer needs and to know your out-of-pocket figure before you commit.

For routine maintenance, the amounts are often low enough that many expats simply self-pay and keep the receipts, only invoking insurance for larger treatments where the numbers justify the paperwork. Whatever your situation, check your own policy's dental terms — annual limits, waiting periods and any pre-authorisation requirement for major work — before scheduling anything substantial, and ask the clinic for an itemised quote you can submit.

How do I make Picasso my regular dental home?

Building continuity is mostly a matter of starting. Book an initial consultation and a scaling and polish at your nearest branch, have a baseline OPG taken if you have not had recent imaging, and ask the clinic to keep your records on file. From there, schedule your next check-up six months out and let the routine carry itself. Bring the family in for their free children's exams at the same time, so the whole household is on one calendar.

If a bigger issue surfaces, you are already a known patient with a documented history, which makes planning faster and quotes cleaner. And if life moves you to another Vietnamese city, you carry that relationship with you rather than rebuilding it. That is the quiet advantage of choosing a continuity-first, multi-city, English-speaking provider as a resident — the value shows up not in any single visit but in the years that follow.

Contact and booking

To register as a regular patient, book a routine check-up, or ask how insurance and self-pay would work for your situation, reach the clinic through any of the channels below. New patients are welcome to send recent X-rays or a short description of their history so the team can advise before the first visit.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: +84 989 067 888 or 024 7308 8848
• WhatsApp: +84 989 067 888 (wa.me/84989067888)
• Website: picassodental.vn
• Languages: English and Vietnamese. Payment: Visa/Mastercard, Vietnam bank transfer, or cash in VND.
• Hours: Hanoi branches open Mon–Sun, 8:30 AM–6:00 PM; confirm hours for the Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat branches when you book.

Related reading: Expats' guide to finding a dentist in Vietnam, Living in Vietnam: dental care for locals and expats, Pediatric and family dental care for expats in Vietnam, Picasso Dental overview for international patients, and Picasso Dental aftercare and international warranty.

This article is general information for people researching dental care while living in Vietnam and is not medical or dental advice. Prices are listed in Vietnamese đồng as provided by the clinic; US and Australian dollar equivalents are approximate and exchange rates fluctuate. Insurance coverage depends entirely on your own policy. Always confirm current prices, opening hours and treatment suitability directly with the clinic, and check your insurer's dental terms before scheduling major work.

Frequently asked questions

Why would an expat choose Picasso Dental as a regular dentist rather than just for one treatment?

Living in a country is different from visiting it. As a resident you need somewhere you can return to every six months, that keeps your history and X-rays on file, and that you can reach in English without translation stress. Picasso suits that role because it is an English-speaking clinic with six branches across Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat, transparent published prices, and the ability to handle both routine check-ups and major work under one roof. That continuity — one provider who knows your mouth over years — is the real value for an expat, beyond any single price.

How much does routine dental care cost at Picasso for someone living in Vietnam?

Routine care is inexpensive by Western standards. A consultation is 200,000 VND (roughly US$8 / A$12), a scaling and polish runs 300,000–600,000 VND (about US$12–24 / A$18–36), and a composite filling is 400,000–700,000 VND (around US$16–27 / A$24–42). Children's exams are free. An OPG panoramic X-ray is 300,000 VND and a Conebeam CT scan 600,000 VND when imaging is needed. Conversions are approximate and exchange rates fluctuate, but the point holds: keeping up with twice-yearly cleanings and check-ups is affordable enough to make regular maintenance a habit rather than a luxury.

Can I keep the same dentist if I move between Vietnamese cities?

That is one of the strongest reasons for expats to use Picasso. The group runs six branches across four cities — two in Hanoi, two in Da Nang, one in Ho Chi Minh City's Thảo Điền expat district, and one in Da Lat — all under one provider. If your job or lifestyle moves you from, say, Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, or you split your year between cities, you stay within the same clinic, the same standards and the same records system rather than starting over with a stranger. You can also travel within Vietnam and still have a familiar place to go if something flares up.

Is Picasso Dental suitable for families and children?

Yes. Children's exams are free, which lowers the barrier to bringing kids in regularly and catching problems early, and the clinic offers interceptive orthodontic appliances for younger patients as well as the full braces and Invisalign range for teenagers and adults. Treating a whole family at one English-speaking provider — parents and children, routine and orthodontic — is simpler than juggling separate clinics, and it keeps everyone's records in one place. For more on family care, see our guide to pediatric and family dental care for expats in Vietnam.

Does Picasso take insurance, or do expats pay themselves?

Picasso accepts payment by Visa or Mastercard, Vietnam bank transfer, and cash in VND. Whether your international or local health insurance covers dental treatment depends entirely on your policy — many expat plans reimburse you after you pay, rather than billing the clinic directly. Because Picasso publishes prices per item, it is easy to get a clear figure in advance and submit it to your insurer for reimbursement. For routine care the amounts are often low enough that many expats simply self-pay and keep the receipts. Always check your own policy's dental terms and any pre-authorisation requirements before larger work.

What happens if I need major work, not just a cleaning?

The advantage of having an everyday dentist who can also do complex work is that nothing gets handed off to strangers. Picasso offers premium crown and veneer materials (such as Emax, Lava and Zirconia), the full implant range from systems including Osstem, Nobel Biocare and Straumann, full-arch All-on-4 solutions, and a senior implant team led by Dr. Tran Thanh Phong, who has placed implants since 2001. Two branches sit inside hospitals — Vinmec in Da Nang and Link General in Da Lat — for surgical procedures. So your routine provider is also the one who plans and warranties the big treatments, with your full history already on file.