Posted on: 23 September, 2024
Going overseas to save money on dental treatments can be a costly mistake
5 minute read
The cost of cosmetic dental treatments in Australia can be expensive, as they involve high quality materials, well-known brands and the expertise of highly trained professionals who know how to help you get the best results from your smile. These costs persuade some Australians to look to cheaper alternatives abroad in countries where costs and standards are often lower, but the risks are higher.
Flying abroad to save money on dental procedures or combine them with a holiday can be tempting, but the risks can outweigh the benefits, and it can lead to long term dissatisfaction. In some cases, it can end up costing you more, especially if you need to arrange corrective treatment once you’re back home (if corrective treatment is an option).
If you’re considering enhancing your smile with cosmetic dentistry, read this guide to learn about the dangers of dental tourism so you can decide what’s best for you. If you want to talk to a local dentist about your treatment and finance options, call our friendly team at Mount Lawley Dental today.
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) discourages Australians from seeking elective (non-essential) dental treatments such as cosmetic dentistry overseas, highlighting the risks they can involve for oral health and general health. Here are 8 reasons to rethink whether overseas dental clinics are really worth the saving.
Australia’s dental industry is strictly regulated to ensure the safety and wellbeing of patients. Dental practitioners in Australia have to be registered by the Dental Board of Australia, which holds them to high standards of professional competence and care. CPD (continuing professional development) training courses and ongoing assessments for dentists operating in Australia ensure that these high standards are maintained throughout their careers.
Dentists in other countries may not be held to these same high standards. Even if their qualifications look good on paper, they may not have the necessary training or hands on experience to plan and provide treatments for the best results and to minimise complications.
Whether your smile makeover involves prosthetics like crowns or porcelain veneers, or other products like teeth whitening gels or injectables, you need to be confident that your dentist is using the highest quality tools, materials and protocols currently available.
Dental materials in Australia have to comply with strict policies and approved by authorities such as the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Dental clinics abroad may use lower quality materials that are more prone to failure and have a shorter life expectancy before they need to be replaced. If you need repairs or replacements once back in Australia, you may also find that these products are not approved for use and will need to be replaced entirely.
For information about our state-of-the-art systems and processes, contact our Perth clinic today.
Lower standards of care when planning and carrying out treatments, a rushed treatment timeline and lack of access to medical records can all combine to increase the risk of overseas dental procedures failing or running into other complications.
Dr Lewis Moore explains,
"In many cases, patients don't realise that treatment is permanent and can't be reversed, tooth enamel does not grow back, jaw bone does not grow back. If overseas work is done poorly, there's no legal recourse and the patient suffers".
An overseas dentist may make the wrong recommendations or fail to take individual risk factors into account, affecting the quality of your treatment outcome or impacting on your health and safety. This can be especially critical if oral surgery is involved, such as when placing dental implants. Some dentists may also overlook or ignore existing oral health problems that need to be addressed before cosmetic treatments can be started, such as gum disease, that can lead to treatment failing.
Many dental procedures require a sterile environment and materials for patient safety, but infection control protocols in other countries may not be as strict as those in Australia. There may be a risk of tools and materials not being sterile or water used during procedures not being safe, increasing the risk of infections.
With overseas dental visits usually being short, signs of an infection may not appear until a person is back home, by which time the condition has worsened and costs more money to treat.
The risks of dental treatments abroad are heightened by these procedures often being crammed into a shorter span of time than is typically recommended, since they have to be completed before the patient returns to their home country. The time scale may be shorter still if there needs to be healing time before a flight to prevent blood clotting.
While some dental procedures can be completed in a single visit, more complex treatments or a complete smile makeover normally involve multiple appointments over a number of weeks, as there should be time for the mouth to heal and for your dentist to check your progress during recovery. This isn’t possible during the average time span of a dental holiday, which can mean advancing treatments to a further stage before the mouth has had appropriate time to heal.
An overseas dentist may cut corners by not removing decay or leaving roots behind after a tooth extraction. These shortcuts can cause alot of sensitivity, dead nerves that require more treatment once you are back home.
Overseas dentists may also give up the crucial step of post-treatment care altogether, leaving patients to manage their recovery and any complications on their own, or to seek help from their local dentist.
Good communication between dentists and their patients is vital. You need to be sure that your dentist understands your needs and desires from treatment, and any concerns or issues you may have, such as dental anxiety. Your dentist should also be able to clearly explain procedures and any possible risks so you can be fully informed and consent to treatment.
This can be difficult if there are language or cultural barriers that lead to miscommunication, disappointment, or even harm. Beyond verbal language, overseas practitioners and clinic staff may also use different gestures or body language or make different assumptions than you’re familiar with, all of which may cause problems.
Approaches and philosophies to dentistry can vary between countries and between individual dentists. For example, dental care in Australia has a strong emphasis on preserving natural, healthy teeth when possible and avoiding extractions unless necessary, while an overseas dentist may recommend extracting teeth more readily. Some dentists may also be more focused on short-term results from cosmetic treatments, with less thought paid to your experiences in the long term.
If you need to make a follow-up appointment with a dentist overseas, either during the same trip or a return visit, it may also not be guaranteed that you can see the same dentist each time. In Australia, the same dentist will provide all stages of your treatment plan and post-operative care.
Finally, the benefit of saving money by having cosmetic dentistry abroad may not prove economical after all if you do experience complications or unsatisfactory results. If a treatment does fail or leads to complications, it’s often difficult for a dentist to fix, and they will usually need to start over. Combined with the cost of additional flights, accommodation, loss of income and other expenses, corrective treatments overseas can often result in a higher cost than if the treatment had been provided in Australia originally.
In such cases, you’re unlikely to have legal recourse to seek compensation from dentists in a foreign country like you would in Australia. Travel insurance policies and health funds also typically don’t cover dental treatment abroad, so you would have to face the decision of whether to make a return trip overseas or visit a local dentist in Australia for the necessary corrections.
Whether you prefer to have cosmetic dentistry in Australia or abroad is a personal decision. If you’re considering flying overseas for dental treatment, you could help to lower your risks by doing your research and finding a reputable dentist. Some questions to ask them include:
It’s recommended to also talk to your local dentist in Australia for advice or to discuss affordable options before committing to treatment overseas.
There are ways to make cosmetic dental treatment affordable without travelling abroad. Ask your local dentist about any promotions and also what finance options they offer. At Mount Lawley Dental, we offer a range of flexible payment plans from trusted providers including Pretty Penny Finance, that can help make dental bills more affordable by spreading them across a series of instalments, with no interest to pay.
If you’re thinking about making changes to your smile, talk to our dentists in Mount Lawley for advice and information about our treatments and payment plans. Call (08) 9227 8777 to book a consultation with our Perth dentists at a time that’s good for you or book online. We welcome patients from all nearby areas, including Highgate, Inglewood and North Perth.
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