The Internet is flooded with ads for overseas dentistry packages offering free return airfares and a resort holiday along with an easily affordable smile makeover.
As a price conscious consumer, with reported savings of up to 75% in some countries, it’s more than tempting to sign up for one of these offers. Sound tempting? Yes, but at what risk?
Major dental work such as implants or veneers require follow up checks with the dentist. These procedures are complex, and the more complex, the more risk of infection and post-surgical issues. This is something that needs to be monitored closely by the dentist and sometimes these procedures can require numerous visits.
If this is done in a rushed manner over a two-week stay overseas, you may find that when you come back to Australia there might be issues that require a consultation with a dentist. A local dentist may not be too keen to rectify any issues that arise from work that has been done overseas though so, where does that leave you? Angry, frustrated and possibly in pain. Not to mention the additional costs you’ll be forced to spend to repair work or resolve infection.
A lot of the time, the overseas dental practices appear glamorous, almost spa-like, and this can seem a lot nicer than the local, at times sterile dentist rooms in Australia. This is because these foreign practices are designed specifically for targeting medical/dental tourists from first-world, wealthy western countries who travel the world in search of cheap dentistry. Sometimes these dentists can produce very impressive qualifications, often from reputable dental schools in the USA or Australia. So, it can be quite understandable to think that patients are being over-charged back home.
The prices in Australia are set by the individual practices depended on the materials or components they use, as well as the level of infection-control standards they follow. Most practices will have similar expenses and so will charge comparative prices. Overseas practices may be considerably less expensive due to much cheaper overheads.
The discounted price-tag is not always a good thing. The cost might be cheaper because they don’t have the strict infection control standards that we practice here in Australia. They may also be using cheaper, inferior materials and products.
So, in short, while it’s ok to have treatment done overseas, it comes with certain risks that can be difficult to address if you are not living in the same country as the dentist.
Interested to read some more? – Online marketplace for creative workshops launches
Add Comment