Dental work abroad v UK

donteatthat

Hi Mark,

Keeping your roots was a good idea by your dentist as it does keep the bone - as long as the stumps aren't infected........but a denture without any tooth/implant support will shrink the bone usually pretty quickly.
If you are short of time and money I can't see that a travelling to Hungary is going to be better bet for you on either.
From what I can see - both the UK and Hungary have given you the same quote in terms of money but one seems "superior" as it involves fixed bridges not a removable denture. The simplest treatments are often the best - maximum benefit, minimum intervention.

The last time I did a cases like these they involved several stages of taking the patient from having teeth to a temporary denture and healing, to implant placement and healing with reviews to monitor progress, to integration of the implants and then through the many stages of the restorative procedures. They took many many more visits than the 6 or so you have been told you will have in Hungary. This is really the thing I mostly don't understand about going abroad for treatment - how can it be done properly if everything is squished and condensed into fewer visits than it really needs? When jobs are done by cutting corners the term "cowboy" comes to my mind.......and my vested interest is both for the patient and as I'm someone who often tidies up messes. As for providing quotes for implants from panoramic x-rays alone without an actual examination - I think I need a stiff drink (if I wasn't pregnant lol)! That is not acceptable in terms of decent treatment planning.

Having said that, I'm sure many of the dental tourists get on just fine without too many added visits for sticking temporary things back on and the required reviews to check things are going OK. But if things do go wrong, you don't have the option to chase them to the regulator, or get a refund. And I've known cases where they have gone back to complain only to find that the clinic has up sticks and moved to another location to avoid being found. I've recently seen a patient who needed her implant crowns re-doing as they'd failed in 18 months and she couldn't face the trek back to South Africa to have them redone.
For those saying that us dentists on here have a vested interest for ourselves - I don't see any of us handing out our practice details.

Implant dentistry is expensive and not worth cutting corners on. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Mark2spark

Hi, a brief update.
I went to my uk dentist today and commenced the initial work, I still wasn't sure what he was going to do due to not really understanding the various options, given that the treatment I face is fairly in depth.
He offered me various options for today based on how long I was going to be comfortable in the chair, so the bit I chose to commence with was about 2 hrs 10 mins... I'm rather glad at that as any longer without sedation starts to make your bum numb.
I've had 3 extractions, UR 2, 3, & 4. UR 1 & 5 was prepared to accept a temporary denture/bridge, which was made on the spot and fitted. The whole thing was completely painless and I was very impressed with his professionalism, given that he was the first 'new' dentist i'd seen in over 30 years.
In 3 weeks time I've got the next appointment which will be to do similar prep & extraction work on the UL side, with a 10 tooth temp bridge fitted, this will be stronger and allow some chewing.
I then have two months minimum to heal from the extractions and decide what to do, it'll obviously be based on what I can afford unfortunately.

One thing that has given me that 'the penny has dropped' moment is that a few single trips to Hungary to undertake intensive treatment at each visit would be too much for me to bear. I can understand just going for one or two fillings/implants but the work I need is too intensive to try and do in one or two hits. I reckon my work will take a year to complete, with maybe 6 visits.
As the UK dentist has 'only' charged me £300 for today, a certain amount of this work is going to be afforadable if there's an element of 'pay as you go' to it.

Thanks again for all of the contributions.

brook2jack

Halleluia!! Good luck.

Mark2spark

Hi, an update.
I've had the second lot of treatment, (a couple of weeks ago) which was basically more teeth out on the UL. The bridge that I had on UL1 - 4 was porcelain and took a lot of getting off.
He fitted a temp bridge on the UL, I also had one on the UR from before which he stuck back on, after he had taken what seemed like 4 fresh moulds.
3 days later the UR temp bridge came loose, it was stuck back on the next day. 2 days later the UR temp snapped in half. (I was - honestly - only eating soft ish food, curries, sheperds pie type things).
I think that although you eat softer foods, you get used to the temp in your mouth and forget yourself, crunching your 'teeth' together.
So he made up a new temp bridge which is 9 teeth I think, UL4 round to UR5. He's also taken yet more moulds and has ordered a clinic made temp bridge which will be stronger. This couldn't be ordered before as my gums needed time to heal/shrink following the earlier extractions.
5 days later this came loose, I managed to get it out, clean it up, and stick it back into place using 'toothypegs' temp dental cement.
Last night it shattered into 3 pieces and is unrepairable. I was eating a large, soft chip.
Dentist isn't in today but have managed to get an appointment for tomorrow.
So I just have a few pegs hanging down at the moment.

Quite how all this would work out had I commenced the work abroad mystifies me.
Quite how I can pay for all this when I have to have a half day off on a weekly basis also mystifies.

Ho hum.

Toothsmith

Temporaries can be a problem.

In fairness, I think the idea of having it done abroad means you get things prepared at the start of your 'holiday' and then fitted at the end, so you're there for the week or two the proper things take to get made, and so would be around if there were problems.

That does tend to mean that 'foreign holiday' treatment plans are limited in what they can wait for, and patients can't really be put into medium-term temporaries while things 'settle down'.

The treatment has to be 'Done' at the start, and 'finished' at the end of the time. There is no flexibility if things don't quite go as expected. Which they often don't.

Temporaries breaking a lot isn't good - but one reason it can happen is that the material is too thin to be strong. This ISN'T as bad as it sounds. It means the dentist hasn't taken too much off the tooth!

It would be really easy to take loads off the tooth you're preparing, and so make a really strong temporary - but the more you take off the tooth, the more chance there is of something bad happening like killing the tooth (Which might not become apparent for several years afterwards).

Something that has been noted about Eastern European dentistry seen by UK dentists is that they do tend to take off more tooth than the average UK trained dentist would. This isn't intended as a criticism, just an observation. You'd probably be much less likely to have a problem with a temporary done by a Hungarian dentist!

There are good dentists and bad dentists all over the UK and the world. But I think the moral of the tale is that dentistry, particularly complex dentistry, should be done by someone you can easily get back to see if something goes a bit pear shaped.

Mark2spark

I particularly agree with your last sentence.
Just a small clarification though... seemingly there isn't 'too much' tooth to take off (in prepping the temp) as I don't have any teeth left on the upper now?
I have a few roots level with the gum, these are being used to support the temp whilst the rest of the jaw settles down following the extractions, the implants will go in, and eventually these remaining roots will be removed.
I'm just worried that these roots simply aren't strong enough to take the temp, whether it's clinic made or on site made or not, meaning the temp is going to come loose on a 'every few days' basis until the implants are in and ready to take the new bridge/denture.

andrei

I totally agree with major work abroad needing to be done in a relatively short period of time.. However, while several visits will be required (some longer than a week) even if a quote from abroad will be 50% of what would be charged in the UK, I believe that the work (once completed) will probably be more complex than that done in the UK. The reason for this is the staggering difference in prices. Where the difference in price for work overall is at about 30-35% in Hungary or other E.Europe destinations vs the UK, if the quote from abroad comes in at 50% you can expect the work to be more extensive.

And yes, you need to fit in travel expenses as well as time off work, but if you come in at around 80% of the cost, and the cost is 12000 you'll save 2400 pounds. If you earn 30,000 a year, you're saving a month's pay. That's 12% of your entire work in an entire year. That's a lot if you consider yourself a hard worker for your pay. As far as who you'll chase if things go wrong, look into insurance for medical tourism. Mostly covers things like this - plus there are numerous medical tourism facilitators offering a guarantee.

I might come off as advertising work abroad - but I do understand why people are worried when it comes to traveling for such work.. on the other hand I also understand hard work and I also understand why one would be reluctant in paying out of their hard earned money.

coldstreamalways

andrei wrote: »

I totally agree with major work abroad needing to be done in a relatively short period of time.. However, while several visits will be required (some longer than a week) even if a quote from abroad will be 50% of what would be charged in the UK, I believe that the work (once completed) will probably be more complex than that done in the UK. The reason for this is the staggering difference in prices. Where the difference in price for work overall is at about 30-35% in Hungary or other E.Europe destinations vs the UK, if the quote from abroad comes in at 50% you can expect the work to be more extensive.

What do you base that belief on?

Today I saw a crown that had been done by an "amazing dentist, he was so quick" in the Czech republic. It was supported by a post that was 3mm long and had been put into a tooth with no root filling. Granted the work was cheap but in the UK this sort of thing would land you in front of the GDC, the patient had no chance of recourse at all and is fortunate that he isn't having to pay for a replacement but the tax payer is picking up the tab.

welshdent

Good ol tax payer eh?!?! Winds me up the whole thing. !!!!!! off against advice for cheap work abroad. Discover it was done badly then wahay "the NHS" will fix it.

Sorry rant over!

andrei

coldstreamalways wrote: »

What do you base that belief on?

Today I saw a crown that had been done by an "amazing dentist, he was so quick" in the Czech republic. It was supported by a post that was 3mm long and had been put into a tooth with no root filling. Granted the work was cheap but in the UK this sort of thing would land you in front of the GDC, the patient had no chance of recourse at all and is fortunate that he isn't having to pay for a replacement but the tax payer is picking up the tab.

Go up a bit, read more into this thread (if you haven't done so already)... There's bad dentists and good dentists anywhere you go - as well as the fact that dental work can't be seen as science.. It's medicine.. By the way, that was probably just bad diligence on part of the patient, if not, then it was bad luck.. Seen any good work done abroad recently? You probably haven't since there's no need for them to come over to get anything fixed..

To answer your question: common sense.. If I hire a Spanish interpreter for a translation in the UK costing me say around 15 GBP/hour vs. I hire one off the internet from a country in Eastern Europe, pay them 7 GBP an hour, while the translation will come out the same, I've saved some money... If overall prices in Dentistry Hungary vs UK are at 35%, and I charge you 50%, I'll probably do more of a complex work than the guy doing the same treatment as in the UK but for 35% of the price... Because me and that guy have similar prices...

PS. I'm not a Hungarian dentist and have used myself just as a general example.