September 5, 2012
Recently, we have seen a surge in the number of patients who have received dental treatment from abroad. The countries we see the most treatment coming from are China, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica and Poland.
Most patients will travel abroad for dental services like Lumineers, sedation dentistry or oral surgery because their dental insurance plans are limited or they have no dental insurance coverage at all. Patients travel abroad expecting to save money, only to return home to dental emergencies and failed dental treatment.
Some of the problems related to dental tourism:
- Large dental treatment plans that include lumineers, sedation dentistry and oral surgery completed in short periods with little or no post- operative follow-up.
- Foreign dentists do not need to comply with the standards or licensing that are found in the United States.
- Foreign dentist may use products not approved in the United States.
- When treatment fails with procedures such as dental implants, the replacement parts are not available.
- Most important, the standard of care is far less and there is no legal recourse for unsatisfied patients.
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