Dental Tourism – Dentistry In The Time Of Crisis

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Dental care in Europe and America is notoriously expensive. With the economic crisis wreaking havoc in the pockets of workers in the West, taking care of one’s teeth has become prohibitive. Yet dental care is a core health issue. Recent research has linked bad oral hygiene and inappropriate dental care to serious health problems such as heart disease and stroke. It is therefore of prime importance for people to take good care of their teeth in order to promote their overall long-term health.

Dental Tourism: the viable alternative

With skyrocketing cost of dental care in the West, people have started looking for alternatives in developing countries. Dental tourism has two advantages:

1. Dental treatment is much cheaper in developing countries even though the quality of the treatment proposed equals that of the developed nations.
2. It combines dental treatment with a nice and relaxing vacation, and thus effectively kills two birds with one stone.

Dental tourism is not a new phenomenon. However, it has become more and more popular as prices in the West have risen and trade barriers are falling across the world. It is another face of globalization. Let us therefore compare average costs of treatment between western countries and dental tourism destinations.

Dental Work Costs and Prices Comparison

On average, costs in dental tourism countries are 70% less than in the UK and US. Every year, around 500000 Americans travel abroad to seek medical and dental treatment. This is due to the fact that nearly 50% of Americans do not have medical insurance. Even those who are insured have to pay a significant share of the costs. In UK, people face the problem of shortage of dentists in the National Health System (NHS). Prohibitive private treatment often forces the British to look for solutions abroad.
World Class Dental Treatment

Despite being developing countries, dental tourism countries offer high quality treatment. The cost of dental care is low in these countries because of the low cost of infrastructure. Overheads are lower so that dentists can pass these cost savings to their clients. The quality of the treatment is however comparable to what is on offer in the West. In fact, some dental tourism destinations form part of the EU and the European Economic Area, for example Hungary. Dentists in these countries are bound by the same regulations that are in force in the rest of Europe.

Mix Dental Treatment with Holidays – Dental Vacation

Since dental treatment is not as invasive as other treatments such as heart operations, recovery is very fast. One can therefore finish the treatment and get on with holidaying quite fast. The following table gives an idea of the time scale involved in various dental treatments:

So easily travel, save and keep up your dental health with dental tourism.