The Great 'Medical Tourism' Hunt

Dr_Hicks

So ......no advice from me scrabs (being only a uk dentist)? Ho hum...one can only offer

Jarvisma

sscrabble wrote: »

Are there any dentists abroad who would be able to give me a 'probable' yes or no to whether treatment is possible if I take digital photos of my mouth, just to save a long trip for an initial consultation to be given an immediate and conclusive no!

Yes. The company I went with offered several choices of how you wanted to proceed with your treatment.

First was to go out for a few days, see the clinic, and go ahead with the treatment on your visit.

Second was to go out for a day or two, see the clinic and have a consultation only. Then go away to think about it and book to return for treatment.

Third is to send a good quality digital photograph for assesment and recieve a rough treatment plan. Then arrange to visit the clinic & have treatment as and when necessary.

I went for the second option and was more than pleased. The clinic is in Budapest and I chose it just because I was drawn to it more than some other destinations for various reasons (not all financial) things like the quality of the website and responses I had had from the staff etc.

This was the company I went with (and am going back to in a couple of weeks) https://www.smilesavershungary.co.uk

sscrabble

Thanks for those replies.
Stuart - I would have nothing against using a UK dentist - I just cannot afford the prices - my treatment abroad maybe say £4000, but in the UK it would be £10,000+ - I understand why it is that price, but I just have not got that kind of spare cash!
The biggest problem is who to go to and which Country - Hungary, Poland, Goa - everyone on chat lines speaks well of everywhere - I have not found one real warning against using anyone, and I am sure anyone who felt aggrieved at their treatment would be making it widely known online! I suppose the best option might be to go to someone that is near a resort I can book a two week package holiday to if anyone has any suggestions ??

mydentistgoa

Let me intoduce myself as a Dental surgeon practicing in Goa- India for the past 10 years. Some of my patients are part of this forum and advised me to join the forum to advise people willing to travel to Goa to undergo dental treatment there. A lot of enquiries are sent every day to my surgery as well as to other surgeries in Goa by British nationals and plenty visit this part of the world only for dental treatment. There has been a surge in the number of UK national visiting Goa for dental and medical treatment during the past 3-4 years.

As far as the costing and quality of teatment the cost of treatment here is about 1/4 th the cost patients would incur back home whereas the standard of dentistry in most of the surgeries here is World Class. India does not manufacture any or most of the dental products / materials used in dentistry and the same are imported from Europe, USA and some from Japan and Australia. Most if not all of the equipments are Imported from the above places. Therefore Quality is assured. What remains variable in the costing between Goa and the UK or other parts of Europe are the overheads. We in Goa do have lower overheads and possibly operate on lower professional fee stucture. The difference in the fees could be attributed to this account.

Let us take the example of Denatl implants. It cost Approx. £ 2000 in the UK. The same in our surgeries will be appro. £ 500. The implants used in my surgery are from Nobelbiocare being one of the best dental implant companies in the World which provide with a lifetime moneyback guarantee on the implants placed. Since the cost of procuring implants for the dentist would be the same in Goa as well as in the UK the fee stucture would vary due to the difference in professional fees structure. The Dentists in the UK will have a valid reason to charge the fees that they do and would know their economics and costing the best.
As far as travel and accomodation is concerned patients travelling to Goa should merge their dental treatment plans with their holiday to this part of the world which is reputed of being one of best destination for Sun holidays having a range of Holiday Resorts to cater to individual needs.

It would be my endeavor to throw some light on the dental treatment options available in India and Goa in particular through this forum. Any of you could write your question through the open forum or PM me.

Toothsmith

Is it the equipment and materials that assure the quality, or the skill and training of the dentist?

What percentage of your patients, who, having travelled all the way to Goa, do you assess as being unsuitable for treatment due to poor bone quality (Something that is impossible to assess until the patient is actually with you) or medical or personal care reasons?

What is your failure rate, and how do people fly back nearly halfway around the world with painful failing implants?

There has indeed been a surge in people seeking treatment abroad. There has been a corresponding surge in this country of dentists having to repair the damage done to people who have had totally unsuitable treatments carried out.

I am sure that you personally provide excellent and suitable treatments. The fact remains though, that you operate in a country virtually devoid of any regulation of the dental profession.

There are no regulations on who can be a dentist (You don't even need an basic training) there are no regulations on qualifications to provide advanced treatments, there are no regulations on cross infection control. There is no compulsion to have any professional insurance. Ther are no regulations on the qualifications for your support staff or indeed how much they are paid.

kaya

Well i guess it looks like that old "you pays your money and takes your choice" thing again, i hate going near a dentist, have to be put to sleep, as a result my teeth are minging and need sorting out which i realise is entirely my own fault, my experience with dentists in the uk on the few times i have braved a visit have not been pleasurable, the last nhs one a few years back took 4 teeth out from the bottom because one was loose, and asked me if he could take the top front four out also, although they werent a problem,my girlfriend at the time was a dental nurse and was horrified, butchery was a term she used, i now need lotsa work doing, in the uk this would be a five figure sum, ill take my chances abroad i think, unless any uk dentist reading this wants to haggle for some business?, you can get money off tellys and cars if you haggle so why not, toothsmith cant have much work on as he seems to have a lot of spare time on his hands for posting, fancy a bid?:-)

mydentistgoa

Well, If Toothsmith wants to talk about quality then we could debate on the same and compare that front between the two countries. I have not entered this forum to get into arguments or to belittle others. I have seen plenty of patients from the UK on whom the treatment done was of shocking quality and I have their photographic and radiographic records for anyone to see.

If you are talking of bone quality and other evaluations, let me inform you that we always state that the final treatment plan will be finalised and be carried out only on clinical evaluation. This is made very clear to patients in reply to their email or phone calls for the treatment plan. We request the patients to send us a copy of their OPG x-ray and any other records that they may posses. We have to alter the treatment plan in 5-7 % of patients on to clinical evaluation.
Failure in implants cannot be ruled out. In my practice I have had a success rate of 95% . The failures have been immediate and the same repeated free of any cost to the patients on their next visit.
To clear your ignorance in the matter I would like to state that we do have regulating body namely Dental Council of India which regulates the practicing dentists in India. We cannot and I repeat cannot practice in this country without the necessary registration and certificate of practice issued by the Dental Council of India. You have mentioned about cross-infection controll protocol. In my practice we follow the strictest cross-infection control protocol. This has been seen and aproved by some of your colleagues who have visited my practice. There have been some from the medical fraternity who have been to my practice for dental treatment and were satisfied after seeing the sterilisation protocol. I am sure that a similar protocol is followed by other surgeries in Goa as we are trained in the same dental school.

About Qualifications and payment to dental staff they are all trained in as dental attendants. Insuarance, salaries to staff etc are not related to quality of treatment.

I can only state that even at our economy the oral health conditions of majority of the population in Goa superior to that in your country. This is primarily because quality dental treatment facilities are available to them at affordable prices. We have dental health centres run by the local government which provides the population with free dental treatment. the equipment there is also of reasonable standard namely dental units from Kavo and like.

Please let us not use this forum to hit at each other, rather use it to educate the patients on the various options available to them. The patients do have to travel half the globe to reach India but if in the end if they are to get quality dental treatment then its worth a holiday here.

If time permits You too visit Goa and some of your misconceptions on dental treatment abroad could be cleared. I hope I have not offended or hurt your sentiments in any way.

sscrabble

toothsmith

I can understand you saying foreign dentists might mean trouble, but where is the proof? I have spent days surfing on here , tripadvisor , google and anywhere else I could, and wherever anyone has commented on their treatment they are virtually always delighted - if there treatment was rubbish they would be posting that info everywhere, just like they do with holidays, banks, and any other service that people get. Feel free to prove me wrong and post the links to forums that are complaining about treatment, and especially implants, abroad.

The only problem I am having is picking which one to go to !!

iain_60

Hi,

My wife and I travelled to Hungary for treatment we used Kreativdental as well and were very happy.

See my post here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5742317 for full details.

Good luck

Iain

trevorstreet

I must assure all you guys who consider going to Goa India to get any kind of dental work done then please go ahead and book your holiday as they are highly skilled and professional.
I have been pleased with the results of work done on me mainly dental implants and bridges.
My dentist Dr.Varun Carvalho is located at Mobor Cavelossim Goa.
My partner had her teeth whitened and is pleased with the results.