Dental Tourism is a combination of two activities Vacation + Dental Treatment in the vacation region. Due to the increase in Dental Treatment Costs in some developed countries like USA, Australia, United Kingdom etc we can see a great increase in Dental tourism across the world. The main reason behind Dental Tourism is to cut down on the cost of Dental treatment.
What are the advantages of Dental Tourism ??
- Dental Tourism is mainly advantageous to citizens of Countries where Dental Treatment is very costly like in USA and UK the costs of dental treatment are sky high and these are not included much in Insurance plans either.
- So if you get a certain dental problem you have to shell out money from your own pocket in these developed countries.
- So people who have certain Dental Conditions and are in need of Dental Treatments like Implants, Dental Crowns, Orthodontic Treatment(if duration of stay is long), Complete dentures etc prefer to go to certain countries where the cost of Dental Treatments is almost 5 to 10 times lesser than the price they pay for the same treatment in their countries.
- With Dental tourism there is an advantage of having a vacation and treatment done at the same time helping in saving a lot of money. The Cost variation is so great that the same treatment in USA, UK etc will be enough to cover Travel and Treatment costs in some Countries. For Example Root Canal Treatment in India is only $100 to $150 which is almost 10 times cheaper than what it is in USA and UK.
Dental Tourism is a huge industry in Countries like India, Thailand, Egypt etc where they have certain packages for Dental Tourism and Certain Hospitals. And the people coming in are also increasing very rapidly with many patients taking appointments long before they travel and booking dates and discussing the problem and treatment plan via Video Chat with the dentist. So that the dentist can give the number of days required for Treatment procedure.
Quality of Treatment in Dental treatment is a major concern, patients cannot just fall for the low price and get bad treatment done which will affect him/her in the long run. And if there are adverse effects the cost of re-treatment will be even higher, so choosing the best Country and Best Dental Hospital is of utmost importance.
Precautions to be taken Before and During Dental Tourism/Vacation:
- Do some online research on the dental hospital which you are looking to go for.
- Ask your friend or relatives if any in that state or country to find out about the Dental Hospital which you are planning to attend to.
- Take some references on what dental treatments are required, to make sure you are not fooled into getting some unnecessary treatments done.
In the next following posts we will give a list of Countries where Dental tourism is Popular and where you can get the cheapest yet quality dental treatment done.
Not only is dental tourism popular with people from the US and UK but also from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and some western europeans countries. We find a lot of Australians and Kiwis going to Thailand, Bali and the Philippines for their dental work. Americans and Canadians tend to go to Mexico or Costa Rica. The British and western Europeans head over to mostly Hungary or Turkey. There are many other countries though that offer good quality cheap dental care but these would be the main ones. Great article and love the promotion of dental tourism.
Dental tourism is growing majorly and due to good practices and experience
Hello Sir. I am a first year student pursuing BDS from Dr.R Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, Kolkata. Would it be a good option to pursue Dental Tourism as a career after completing my BDS course ? If yes, kindly guide me as to how I can pursue it.
Thank you.
Dental Tourism is not exactly a course in particular, but it is something you can start to work on once you have completed your Degree and started your own practice. As mentioned in the post Dental Tourism is nothing but attracting Patients from other Countries where Dental Treatments are very costly to India and your practice in particular and offering them comprehensive yet affordable (compared to prices in their countries) treatment plans in the short amount of time in which they can travel and spend time here.
To learn more about Dental Tourism it is best to work in some Clinic or Hospital which is already practicing Dental Tourism, this will give you a first hand experience of how exactly it works -right from the Marketing, managing, types of cases which we can treat, identifying cases which can be completed, etc.