Dental tourism in eastern Europe

January 3, 2006 6:48 AM

I have a friend here in the UK who needs some dental work doing and decided to combine it with a little holiday and maybe save some money by getting it done in either Poland or Hungary.

I've heard from other friends that eastern European dental tourism is a good idea (it's clean, cheap, and the dentists are skilled) but I've yet to meet anyone who's actually done it. Furthermore I can't find any independent sources that offer advice/recommendations/anecdotes/lists of dentists to avoid - only glossy websites set up by either dentists themselves, or specialist travel agents who want to sell the whole package.

Have any of you, or someone you know, done something similar in one of these countries, and if so do you have any more details, or resources that could help me? How long would you recommend staying there for, say, an initial check up and a couple of crowns fitted? Would a working week be long enough?

posted by uk_giffo to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Consider the time between prepping the work (removing the parts that have to go,) and the casting of the mold for creating the appliance.

Some expedititious dentists will do it the same day, but you really want it to heal and settle for a few days at least. However, once the mold is taken you want to get the appliance in as quickly as possible because further settling can affect the fit.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:01 AM on January 3, 2006

Best answer: The BBC's travel programme had an item about this a few weeks ago. That page + the links off it may be of some use.
posted by TheDonF at 7:06 AM on January 3, 2006

This sounds like a bad idea to me. It's always best to have a proper relationship with your dentist, and to be able to go to your dentist when needed, especially with serious dental work.

And, really, a 'holiday' including dental surgery is barely going to feel like a holiday at all, right?

I would certainly not want to be in the state I've been in after dental work in a foreign country, unable to speak the language, and staying in some poky hotel.
posted by wackybrit at 7:59 AM on January 3, 2006

Chiang Mai, Thailand has some great dentists. Trained in the US, newer equipment than any dentist I've ever had in the states, speak English, supa-friendly.
Environment's probably a bit warmer too.
posted by blueberry at 10:00 AM on January 3, 2006

I can't help with dental tourism, but I have crowns! They're comfy now, but it took a while to get them that way, and over the course of getting the bite right I was in and out of the dentist in little 10-minute free followup appointments probably 4-5 times over the course of a couple months. It's those followups that would make me wonder how convenient it'd be to do crowns, specifically, abroad.
posted by mendel at 10:31 AM on January 3, 2006