What is Dental Tourism?

In our ever changing society, it’s becoming more popular to travel abroad for dental surgery, which is referred to as Dental Tourism; this is where individuals seek dental care outside of their local healthcare system.

Many people are taken in by travelling abroad for dental care as they believe it’s cheaper and more beneficial for them when if fact, it isn’t and can cause serious problems.

Considering going abroad for Dental Surgery?

The most common destination individuals travel to for dental surgery are either Hungary, Thailand, India, Poland and Mexico.

On top of what you are paying for your dental surgery, there are also hidden costs that you need to be aware of, such as;

Flights and return flights if surgery goes wrong of for further surgery
Travel cost to airports (Taxi/Coach etc)
Parking charges
Cost of travel from hotel to practise
Destination car hire / fuel costs, if applicable
Hotel accommodation (up to 3 weeks for complex treatments)
Food/Drink bills
Holiday time off work
Loss of earnings for any extra time off work

There are a few more facts to consider before making your decision. If something goes wrong with the surgery you would have to travel back to the practice which would cost you even more money. Many patients who have travelled abroad for dental surgery have discovered that their surgeon wasn’t actually qualified and the quality of the materials used wasn’t up to UK standards.

If something does go wrong and you don’t have the money to fly back to the country where you choose to have your dental surgery done, then by law any dental practice in the UK would not be able to fix the problem as they do not have indemnity insurance, this means you would be left with very little legal recourse to recover the money you spent or to get the dentist who provided your surgery reprimanded, you would have to have the treatment rectified at your own expense.

Research shows that 17% of people who have had dental surgery abroad have experienced complications following the surgery and 10% of people treated abroad, required further treatment when they returned home. As well as this, it isn’t guaranteed the dentist abroad would take responsibility for the problems its created.

Another consideration would be about your post treatment annual check-ups. Would you be able to afford to keep travelling abroad just for a check-up? If you could afford to, consider the time off work you would need in order to travel abroad, as well as the additional costs of accommodation, food, travel to and from the airport and to the surgery. Is it really worth it?

If you are considering dental treatment abroad or have questions on Dental Tourism call us on 0333 123 999.

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