Dental Tourism

Thinking of travelling overseas to get your dental treatment?

Ten things to consider before you fly... 

 

Altough there are some really good clinics in South East Asia, especially in Thailand where highly trained dentist may offer similar services compared to Australia, there are still a few things to consider:

 

 

1. Can everything be done in one visit?

Most treatments that involve dental implants can not be completed in one visit as dental implants need at least 3 to 6 months of healing time. In some cases immediate loading is possible and the final bridge can be inserted at the first treatment phase. But this treatment option is not always the best one for everyone. And even an All-on-4 treatment could be done within a week - there is maintenance needed. A follow-up check after a few months is needed and means you have to fly again. Fact is, that most patients do not fly back and take the risk. 

 

2.  What are you doing in case something goes wrong once you are back in Australia?

You may got your dental implants and restorative work overseas with a very small budget - but you face problems back at home. Sometimes the restorative work has to be redone - at Australian prices.

Going back overseas for warranty work is often not an easy thing as you need to take time off work and you pay again for travel and accomodation costs. 

 

Note that no clinic has a 100% success rate. At the AIDER Dental Clinic we address problems during and after the treatment phase at no extra costs.

 

3. Do the used overseas implants meet the Australian standards (TGA)?

Especially when overseas clinics advertise with significant low prices for a dental implant (e.g. $250 per implant in India) then you have to be careful.

The costs of premium materials are worldwide similar priced.

 

4. What is the quality of the dental laboratory work and what materials are used?

Most clinics overseas use non-precious alloys for the fabrication of the frameworks for the crowns and bridges. As these markets are not regulated there are often materials used that are not safe.

At the AIDER we use only metal free materials (Zirconia and Pekkton) for the frameworks of the crowns and bridges. In same cases we use medical grade titanium, which is made in Melbourne by Osteon Medical. All these materials are biocompatible and safe to use and comply with the Australian Health Regulations (TGA).

 

4. Are you able to get there for the annual check-up and clean?

5. What are you doing in case something goes wrong once you are back in Australia?

• What implants are you getting

• Avail in aus if problem arises who will you see

• Lots of overseas implants don’t pass TGA or Australian standards

• What teeth are you getting, are they good quality, how long will they last ?

• Will they use titanium or cheaper metals?

• We review before, during, post operatively – 1, 2 weeks, then monthly and at month 3 we unscrew the teeth and check that all is healing well and clean them.

• Annually we review and clean them

• Will you be travelling overseas for all the post operative work?

• Not 100% implants work – what if something goes wrong

If you have asked all these questions and you are satisfied with all the answers then you can make that decision.