Dentists in the UK can be private or NHS. Finding NHS ones is becoming more difficult, though. Many dentists will do work to private OR NHS standard, depending on what you are prepared to pay for. Different materials etc.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Although some people seem to be satisfied with the dental care in Kunming, from what I've read, those dentists don't inspire much confidence in me. Although it's a long flight, I'll be taking my daughter back to Guangzhou to a dentist at the Eur Am medical clinic there. That clinic is held in high regard by many in GZ expat community. We have had very good experiences with our dentist, Dr. Cheepeng Sum from Singapore, who speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese and credentials are as such: "...qualified with Bachelor of Dentistry (Singapore), Master of Science in Endodontics (London) and Doctor of Philosophy (Singapore). He had been a partner in Tay& Partners (now TP Dental Surgeons) in Singapore for 24 years from 1980 to 2004. During the time he was in private practice. He also helped organized dentistry in Singapore gain recognition in international aesthetic dentistry circles and helped in the founding of the Asian Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry.

Formerly, Chairman and Director, Endodontics Residency Program, National University of Singapore; Head, Department of Dentistry, Alexandra Hospital, Singapore; Deputy Clinical Director Dental Cluster, National University Health System; Chairman, Specialist Accreditation Committee (Endodontics), Singapore; Examiner, Membership in Endodontics, Royal College of Surgery, Edinburgh.

Currently, Editor-in-Chief, Singapore Dental Journal; Member, Scientific Advisory Board, American Association of Endodontics;Visiting Professor, Dental School, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou."

Furthermore, he's significantly cheaper than Dentists in America.

Unless your daughter has some particularly complicated condition, that seems a bit extreme. However, I've always had really good teeth, so the fact that my visits to dentists here, one of whom at least had done a year of study in Sweden, were satisfactory is probably nothing to judge by. I'm sure the one who'd studied in Sweden must have spoken English, but I can't remember about the others. Sounds like the guy in Guangzhou is a superwhiz.
Incidentally, the clinic with the Swedish-trained dentist was on Cui Yuan Road not far from the zoo, but on the other side and had some association with the dental college, but I think it's no longer there. All necessary equipment, etc.
I also know a guy who had some rather extensive dental work done in Chiangmai, which is closer that Guangzhou, and was fully satisfied. Said it wasn't too expensive, and in Chiangmai you can be pretty sure of medical/dental staff that speak English.

Yeah @Alien, we had an awesome pediatric dentist at Srinidi Samitavej hospital when we lived in Bangkok and my daughter was 3, so I'm not surprised to hear of a good one in Chiang Mai. That was my plan B for now. (Bangkok International Hospital saved my wife's life, but that's another story) Needless to say I have faith in Thai hospitals and doctors!

Be aware, your daughter is unlikely to be happy on that flight if she has dental pain and flying back after a root canal isn't any fun either. However, no doubt gz and sz have some high end dentists, but also at high end pricing. I had a level of service with equipment and training probably equal to or better than the USA in Shenzhen with Arrail Dental in the Diwang building for periodontal surgery and a root canal. I paid quite a bit though, pretty much same cost as USA without insurance, so you should prepare 20k rmb just in case.

20k, holy sh*t!

Prepare 20k. There could be complications and may require multiple visits, so additional hotel and travel costs. My random guess is that a simple root canal should tally to 8k at a high end dentist in tier1 without any complications or additional pre or post treatment, and not bringing in an expert from out of office in a dental specialty, like periodontal surgery in my case.

And yes, tier1 expat level of life, be it rent, partying, or dental care, is just going to seem insane in cost compared to Kunming.

Okay, my wife and daughter have returned from two days and nights in GZ. The dentist said that a root canal was not necessary at this point in time. He cleaned my daughter's teeth, gave us an anti-bacterial mouthwash to use twice a day to slow any potential further decay. He recommended an additional visit when we move back to GZ for work in late July. Dental fees and two bottles of mouthwash = 500RMB. Round trip flights for two plus Super 8 hotel fees = 3,500RMB. Root canal by Lijiang hacks avoided while fun days had visiting friends in GZ =PRICELESS!

by "work" I meant my new job, not necessarily work on my daughter's teeth. (I wish the GoKunming edit function would work properly!)

I went to two dentists in KM who didn't offer teeth cleanings to kids (they just see kids if there's a problem).

Perhaps just a cultural difference (as I'm used to two cleanings per year in my home country as a general standard if you have insurance).

Has anyone ever taken their kids JUST to get a teeth cleaning here in KM?