Dental tourism is the practice of traveling outside of one’s country to get dental care.
For instance, a U.K. citizen may travel to Hungary to undergo surgery for dental implants there.
Another example is an Australian traveling to Thailand for oral procedures.
An estimated 20-35,000 patients travel abroad each year for cheaper and more accessible dental cosmetic treatment and that number is rising.
Some UK dentists are encountering significant challenges with patients who have undergone extensive dental work abroad, including implants.Complications include gingival inflammation, caries or infection, poor marginal fit and occlusal issues.
Most dentists feel a degree of empathy with patients in these circumstances, but practices are not required to bear any of the costs of remedial work. In fact, correcting unsuccessful dentistry is often more complex and riskier than carrying out the initial treatment.
Practitioners must not, through some misplaced sense of obligation, involve themselves in work that is beyond their expertise, and consideration should be given to further referral for specialist treatment if necessary.
If Affinity Dental Care & Implant Centre does agree to provide remedial treatment, the presenting condition should be carefully assessed and scrupulously recorded, making use of photographs and radiographs where applicable before a written estimate given for work judged to be beneficial.
At this stage, it is up to the patient to decide whether to proceed on this basis or return to the dentist who provided original treatment.
It should also be clear that by agreeing to treat a patient under such circumstances, the dentist is not taking responsibility for the whole case or the unfortunate consequences of their dental treatment abroad.
