Many people are attracted by the idea of having dental work completed but can’t afford the high costs involved. Let’s face it; many cosmetic dental treatments are expensive. This leads several people to take the trip to countries like Thailand for their dental implants and other treatments.
The area of dental tourism is growing as more and more people make this decision. You may think it’s understandable that people need to seek treatment at a more affordable price. You may also wonder what harm it can possibly do. The truth is that having dental work done abroad can be very harmful. You could be playing Russian roulette with your health and your finances.
The problem with dental care in other countries
Dental technicians in Australia use high quality materials so that you know what is going into your mouth is safe. This isn’t the case in the countries which offer low cost dental procedures. Dental practices in these countries can’t afford to use high quality products as the people they are treating won’t or can’t pay high prices for treatment.
The worse news is that even the substandard products are not the ones used for tourists. They are used in the treatment of wealthy nationals. This means that if you are a dental tourist you will be treated with extremely low quality dental products.
What the results can be
There are many stories of problems that have occurred for people who have returned from having low cost dental treatment overseas. This is where the game of Russian roulette comes in. If you have dental treatment abroad, and you develop an infection or other problems on your return, your oral and general health can be damaged. You can also end up paying more to get the problems put right than you would have done just staying at home and having the treatment in the first place.
These problems also cause backlogs in the Australian hospital system and they cost the entire population financially, due to the adverse effect they have on the Medicare pool. The NHS in the UK faces similar problems and there is currently debate going on as to whether patients in these situations should have to fund all of their own treatment. At some point maybe that point will also be raised in this country.
The fact is that Australian dentists are governed by very strict hygiene and sterilisation rules and face being shut down if they don’t follow them. This doesn’t apply to dentists in many other countries. They often don’t even used sterile water to come out of the dental hand pieces when they are in a patient’s mouth.
No doubt some people will continue to risk their health and finances by undergoing dental treatment abroad. The ADA has put together some information regarding the risks involved which you should take a look at. You’ll be able to see why traveling abroad for treatment may actually turn out to be more costly in every way.
