Category Archives: Dental Tourism

As my auto rickshaw wound through the smoggy streets of New Delhi I leaned my head out the side door and spat a mouthful of blood into the gutter.

Two wisdom teeth had just been pulled from my gums and I was feeling surprisingly good.

It was 2009 and I was half way through a six-month India adventure.

A sharp pain at the back of my jaw had been getting progressively worse so I decided to see a dentist while passing through New Delhi.

With no idea where to go I phoned up the New Zealand Embassy in India and was recommended Dr Ghandi’s clinic on a street called Mahatma Gandhi Marg.

With a name like that I felt in safe hands.

X-rays showed two wisdom teeth needed extracting and the next day I was back in the chair getting local anesthetic injected into my gums.

Thirty minutes later I walked out the door with a bag of painkillers and my two wisdom teeth in an envelope. The whole procedure cost about $200.

A few years later I had the remaining two wisdom teeth removed while travelling through Cambodia for an even cheaper sum of $50 each.

Medical tourism or health tourism is an increasingly popular option for people wanting to take a holiday and get medical treatment at the same time, all the while saving sometimes considerable sums of money.

Dental holidays would have to be the most common form of medical tourism with destinations such as Thailand and the Philippines proving popular with Kiwis.

The clinics I went to in India and Cambodia were professional, hygienic and affordable.

But needless to say there are numerous risks associated with undergoing medical treatment in a foreign land.

The internet is full of medical tourism information and first hand accounts of people’s experiences.

Some stories recall seamless, cost effective operations and others, nightmare scenarios. Each person will have differing opinions about the safety of medical tourism so carry out your due diligence and weigh up the associated risks.

The New Zealand Dental Association takes a rather pessimistic view towards dental tourism.

New Zealand dentists are increasingly being asked to “pick up the pieces” after overseas dental treatment goes wrong, it says. An advisory on its website outlines the dangers associated with getting dental work done overseas. And the list is long.

Some considerations include:

Can you verify your overseas dentist’s qualifications?

Are you happy meeting your dentist only briefly before treatment?

Is the procedure right for you?

Are the dental materials and equipment the best available?

Who will manage any necessary follow-up care?

Is price your only concern?

Can you be confident that you will not be exposed to the Hepatitis or HIV viruses?

Flying after surgery increases the risk of complications.

Dentistry is both invasive and irreversible.

Now, I may be a bit of a sceptic but I think the association has a vested interest in keeping as much dental business in New Zealand as possible.

Mull the warnings over, do thorough research and draw your own conclusions. Personally, I would do it all over again given the chance.

– Sunday Star Times

source: http://www.stuff.co.nz / Travel / by Joseph Anthony / August 10th, 2014

S. A. Hanan
Srinagar :

Medical tourism is a well-established concept now. However, Dental Tourism is a new concept in this part of the world, although elsewhere particularly in places where dental treatment expenses are higher, people prefer to treat their tooth ailments once on a holiday trip to some locations, and even plan their vocations to the places where they also can treat their dental ailments at lower expenses.
In view of professional manpower available and relatively lesser dental care expenses; Kashmir has the potential of growing into an ideal place for dental tourism.

Valley has no dearth of professional dental doctors. Besides, the local dental doctors who pass out from the regional dental college here, many return back to valley from outside the State as well as the country after completing their degrees in dentistry.

A tourist, desi or a foreigner besides visiting exotic locations here in Kashmir can also go back with the sparkling teeth, if the dental care and treatment is made available to him/her at an affordable price.

Kashmir besides being rich in conventional tourist resorts as well as having potential of adventure sports can add dental tourism aspect to its USP to vow tourist both from India and abroad.

The land has a potential of becoming what Chandigarh was once to Kashmiri patients in terms of getting specialized medical treatment.

The Srinagar city and its outskirts have already witnessed setting of some modern dental clinics, which not only provide the employment to the entrepreneur him/herself but to many other allied dental staff.

Talking to one of the entrepreneurs, Dr Nazir Sofi, a member of American Dental Association who runs his clinic at Chanpora (Lalnagar) Bypass by the name of Advanced Dental Concept said, Kashmir has a lot of potential as far as the dental tourism is concerned. Though the concept is new in this part of the world, but there is no reason, why it cannot be developed here in view of the highly trained manpower and ‘state of the art’ infrastructure available in the State.

Talking about the infrastructure available here, he said, for instance, in my clinic; all the machines are ‘state of the art’ imported machines, and all the materials used also comply with the European and American standards.

Like in Europe or for that matter in other parts of the world, we use distilled water in our machines; besides, we also strictly follow the standard sterilization protocol in the clinics, he said, adding,  we are already witnessing many foreign tourists visiting our clinic for curing their emergency dental problems and they leave the clinic quite satisfied.

“For most of the American, Europeans, and in some other parts of the world, dental care and treatment is very expensive and is normally unaffordable in the absence of proper insurance cover. And one can also imagine the high premium they have to pay for dental insurance,” Dr Nazir said.

Without going into the specifics, Dr. Nazir said, if we compare the expenses one has to incur could be lesser by 95% or more here in the valley than what a normal American or European would have to spent for any kind of dental ailment.
He added, it is now upto the government to do its part in realizing the potential of dental tourism in valley, and on our part, we have kept all the facilities available for the patients.

Talking about the local dental health scenario, he said, “The awareness about dental health is also very poor in our State. We get the patients in our clinic who usually have never seen a dentist in their lifetime. They approach us when the tooth pain becomes unbearable. This trend needs to change and people need to be made aware about the importance of dental health and care.”
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Some successful entrepreneurs of the valley also have the view that besides a number of doctors who return to valley after completing their degrees in dentistry in and outside the country would not have to wait for government jobs and can generate employment for themselves as well as others provided government helps them in developing as well as creating the environment and awareness about the dental care facilities in the valley.

They further opine that dental treatments in Kashmir, at par with the international standards can also boost the already declining tourism industry of Kashmir.
The highly skilled dentists, clinics equipped with latest technology, and infrastructure can lure lot of tourists from Indian states as well as from abroad if packaged properly with other tourism related incentives, Kashmir can offer.
Director Tourism Kashmir Talat Parvez while talking to Rising Kashmir said that usually people along with their families come here on holidays and they can also benefit from medical facilities and for that matter dental care facilities here.
“At the moment the Tourism Department does not have any specific project in hand that would encompass the dental tourism, but we certainly have schemes where we can provide incentives to people who would want to contribute towards tourism sector, that would include the dental tourism also,” he said.
Director tourism added that his department would certainly look into this aspect of tourism in future.
He agreed with Rising Kashmir that no such campaign at present has been started by the government to create awareness about the potential of dental tourism in the State.

We would need proper infrastructure and facilities in this sector before we could initiate any campaign to lure tourists into medical or dental tourism.
Talking to Rising Kashmir earlier, Talat had said, “It is good that media is highlighting the concept of medical tourism in Kashmir. We are one of the best tourist destinations in Asia and medical tourism has lot of scope here,” Parvez said.
Parvez had said that State government is making all the efforts to bring Kashmir on a world map of medical tourism.

source: http://www.risingkashmir.com / Rising Kashmir / Home> Kashmir / by S. A. Hanan / Srinagar – May 05th, 2014

Costa Rica Dental Tourism – Do you ever feel conscious smiling in public because of discolored, cracked or chipped teeth? Or have you ever been to a job interview and feel embarrassed answering questions clearly because your decayed teeth would be exposed if you enunciate your words to be understood? Have you ever wished for whiter and straighter teeth that will give you a bright and beautiful smile? If you have then getting porcelain veneers might be the answer to your dental problem.

Porcelain Veneers (also referred to as porcelain laminate or dental veneers) is a thin layer of custom-made porcelain shell designed to cover the front surface of the teeth to improve its appearance while providing strength and malleability to it at the same time.

So what types of problems do dental veneers fix? Veneers are routinely used to fix teeth that are badly discolored or stained, teeth that are chipped or broken, misaligned and irregularly shaped teeth including teeth with gaps or spaces between them.

The first step to getting your perfect smile is to find a dentist who specializes in veneers and schedule an appointment with that dentist. During the consultation phase the dentist would evaluate your oral health, check if you are a good candidate for getting dental veneers and discuss treatment options. During this phase, it is best you ask questions and inform the dentist of your expectations that way he can discuss the limitations and properly set your expectations. The dentist will most likely create a diagnostic mock up for you to try on veneers and other treatment options to get the final look you wish to accomplish.

After the initial consultation, you are going to be required to make two more trips to the dental clinic- one for making the veneer and the other trip for the application of the veneer. The first appointment usually takes 3-4 hours. During this visit the dentist will prepare your tooth for the veneer where about 0.5 millimeters of the front surface of the tooth’s enamel will be removed; do not worry a local anesthesia may be used to numb the area where the procedure will be done so you won’t feel any pain when the enamel of your tooth is being scrapped. Afterwards the dentist will make an impression of your tooth which will be sent to a dental laboratory who will fabricate the veneer that will be applied to your tooth. It normally takes one to two weeks before the veneer is fabricated and sent to the dentist. When the veneer is ready, you will be asked to go back to the dental clinic for the veneer to be applied and permanently cemented to your tooth.

The dentist would first try the fit and color of the veneer by temporarily bonding it to your tooth that has previously been prepared. He or she will repeatedly trim, cut down and remove the veneer until you and the dentist has achieved the color and look you wish to accomplish. Once you and the dentist are satisfied with the veneer, the tooth will be cleaned, polished and etched to prepare it to receive the veneer. A special bonding cement is then applied to the veneer and then the veneer will be placed on the surface of your tooth. Once the veneer is properly positioned on top of your tooth, a special light beam will be used to activate the chemicals on the cement to harden it quickly and get the veneer permanently bonded to your tooth. The excess cement will then be removed and the dentist will evaluate your bite to check if any adjustment needs to be done. You may be asked to return to the dental clinic a few more times for the dentist to check how your gums are responding to the treatment and presence of veneer and once again examine the placement of the veneer.

More and more people are choosing Costa Rica dentists and experiencing dental tourism along the shores of the land of “Pura Vida”.  Whether it be dental implants or porcelain veneers the prices and professional dentists in Costa Rica are becoming an everyday solution to dental patients looking to save money and enjoy a tropical vacation.  To find out more get your free Costa Rica dental tourism e-book below.

source: http://www.costaricantimes.com / The Costarican Times / Home> Costa Rica News / by Dan Stevens / Thursday – January 09th, 2014