The number of patients seeking dental treatment abroad has been steadily rising for the past 10 years. As dental treatment prices rise and waiting lists grow longer, traveling abroad for dental treatment is becoming more popular as patients struggle to find the treatment they need at home.
According to statistics, more than 100,000 UK patients travel abroad for dental treatment every year and this figure is higher in the United States, with many patients taking advantage of the USA’s close proximity to Mexico to find cheaper dental care.
For many patients, cost is the number one factor when it comes to dental treatments. Without dental insurance many Americans and Canadians find they cannot afford extensive dental work in their home countries. Patients with dental insurance often find that advanced dental options such as dental implants with dental crowns are excluded from their policy and dental coverage rarely extends to elective procedures such as tooth whitening
Without insurance dental treatment is cost prohibitive, leading patients to postpone dental treatment which can lead to a further decline of dental health and more costly treatment necessary.
Patients traveling to countries where dental treatment is more affordable find they can save between 40-75% on reconstructive dental procedures and cosmetic dentistry work to enhance their smile. Dental tourism destinations such as Hungary, Croatia and Poland are increasingly popular with European patients while Mexico and Costa Rica are the dental treatment countries of choice for most Americans.
It’s not only the high cost of dental treatment that is driving more and more people abroad – the long waiting lists for dental treatment under national health services in the UK and Canada are major factors helping to boost the dental tourism market.
For UK patients, the privatisation of national health service dental clinics has meant that many patients wait up to 18 months simply to register with a dentist. The decreasing numbers of NHS dentists has increased the popularity of dental treatments abroad for UK patients and cross border dental treatment in European countries has risen almost 60% since 2001.
The shortage of government funded dentists affects not only UK patients but Canadians also who often have long waiting lists for dental treatment. It is not uncommon to hear of Canadian and British patients waiting for up to 6 months for a routine appointment before a second appointment for treatment can be scheduled.
Privatised dental care in the UK and many European countries is expensive and there is little dental insurance coverage provided by employees. The freedom of travel between European countries allows patients the freedom to extend their dental care options, travelling to European dental tourism destinations such as Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia for dental treatment with major savings.
As the number of dental tourism patients soars, the number of dental clinics worldwide offering substantial discounts to international patients increases. Dental clinics abroad offer translation services, price packages on elective cosmetic dental procedures and assistance in booking a vacation to complement the dental vacation.
Many of the dentists advertising services in Eastern European and South American countries – countries where the medical tourism boom is strongest – qualified in dentistry from top universities in the UK, Canada and USA.
As patients search for more affordable options, dentists are striving to provide them. For dentists, countries such as Bulgaria offer the opportunity to provide advanced dental treatments without charging patients excessive fees to cover the overheads of running a dental clinic. Lower rental costs, cheaper equipment and lower wage expectations allow dentists to absorb the practise costs without additional fees to patients.
The medical tourism industry is estimates to be worth over $20 billion USD and dental tourism makes up approximately 35% of this income. In 2010 an estimated 120,000 UK patients, over 300,000 Americans and many more patients from Europe and Canada will travel abroad for dental treatment. As these figures increase the more need there is for portals to help patients find the dentist and the dental tourism destination that is right for them.
Online directories such as WhereismyDentist.com and country specific sites like DentistryinMexico.com help patients locate a dentist and compare dental treatment prices, safe in the knowledge that all dental clinics listed are qualified professionals.
Dental treatment costs continue to rise in countries such as the United States, Canada and the UK. Dental tourism has been steadily increasing amongst American and British patients for the past decade, and now dental patients in other countries such as Australia are starting to feel the pinch and are seeking alternatives to costly dental care at home.
The costs of dental care varies greatly depending on the location of the dental clinic. Treatment in South American and Eastern European countries tends to offer patients the best price options on both elective cosmetic dentistry procedures and reconstructive dental work to repair teeth.
Standards of dental treatment abroad are on a par with the US and UK, so why is dental treatment so much more affordable abroad? Simply, lower overheads for dentists means cheaper treatment for patients:
Rental prices in the US and UK force many dentists to raise their treatment prices to cover the costs of renting a dental clinic. In countries where the standards of living are lower, the reduced cost of renting a dental clinic reduces the overheads dentists have to pass on to patients. As with rental costs, dental equipment can often be bought for lower prices in European and South American countries and the running costs of 3D X-ray machines and other equipment requiring electricity are greatly reduced.
The benefits of traveling abroad for dental treatment include much more than lower costs, but for the majority of patients, cost is the deciding factor when choosing a destination for dental treatment. Including travel, accommodation and dental treatment itself, many patients find saving of up to 75% on dental treatment abroad.