Press

The Budapest Times

Imagine a situation where you need to have dental work done, and you immediately starting looking at airfares to Hungary rather than thumbing through the Yellow Pages. What? For many living in the U.K., this is a very real situation because the prices of numerous dental procedures require a second mortgage on the house.

For example, one U.K. resident, who wanted to have veneers put on his teeth, was quoted £10,000 to £12,000 for the job. While porcelain veneers are not exactly cheap anywhere, this work can be done in Hungary by a wide number of dental specialists for less than half of this price. If you add on a plane ticket, hotel, and some pocket money, then you can get your dental work done and make a holiday out of it as well. Okay, maybe the ideal holiday does not include a cotton stuffed mouth, but it sure beats being broke and bored at home.

Seeking out affordable dentistry or “dental tourism” is a rapidly growing trend in Hungary and other countries such as Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria and as far away as India and Thailand. Figures from the Department of Health show that the number of people with access to NHS dentists has fallen by 47,000 since 2006. Consequently, 35,000 Britons a year travel abroad for dental work, and this number is growing significantly year over year.

Why is the situation in the U.K. so bad? It all began back in April of 2006 when the number of treatments that a dentist could claim from the NHS was significantly limited. Fueled with outrage, many dentists have created privates practices and no longer seek NHS patients. This means that NHS patients now have a difficult time first finding a dentist that accepts NHS, and then locating one of them that is not booked from here to 2050. Some people have actually taken to pulling their own teeth, which is a throwback to the old Wild West days where barbers doubled as dentists. The good news is that you do get a free glass of whiskey with every tooth pulled.

Hungary is home to lots of Clinics who cater specifically to those who want to avoid huge domestic dental costs. The U.K., however, is certainly not the only source of dental tourism as people from all over the E.U. and the U.S. are also finding deep discounts in Central Europe for their dental care. So, pack your bags, hop on a flight, and go to the dentist.

Sept 6th 2009

When most Irish people think about dental tourism, they think of Hungary. The country has been actively encouraging dental tourism for many years and clinics in Budapest are well-used to visitors not just from Ireland but from all over Europe. An estimated 50% of Austrians opt for dental care in Hungary rather than at home.

It’s an industry worth an estimated $1bn to the Hungarian economy annually. It is not surprising when you consider the savings on offer: a root canal in Dublin can cost anything from €230 to €800 but in Hungary the cost is as low as €200. A crown costing up to €1,500 here can cost just €200 in Budapest.

So can you trust the quality of the work? Yes, says Matthew Long, managing director of dental tourism operator Budapest Dentists (www.budapestdentists.com). He points out that most clients are travelling for extensive work – veneers, crowns and implants – and are doing so at the recommendation of a friend.

“I wouldn’t recommend it for fillings or extractions or, perhaps, even teeth-whitening. It is in restoration work that the savings are to be made. The savings are made in the laboratories because the cost of labour is much lower, as are profit margins. In terms of the quality of the work, Hungarian dentistry is acknowledged as among the finest in the world. The Germans, Austrians and Swiss have been travelling to Hungary for cheaper dental treatment for years. The guarantees are the same as you would get in Ireland. A lot of people who go know someone who has been there and has been very happy with their treatment. Experience would say that there is no need to be apprehensive,” he says.

The key to ensuring that you have a satisfactory experience is to be vigilant when selecting your overseas dentist. Do your homework, ask as many questions as you like and if you are not happy with the answers, find another dentist. Also factor in the cost of flights, accommodation and living costs while you are having the work done.

Tourism for Health

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Budapest
When Loman O’Dowd of County Donegal, Ireland, retired last year after decades of hard work, he felt the urge to travel, to see the world.

He also needed extensive and expensive dental work. His asthma was acting up as well. So this month, O’Dowd, a retired horticulturist, took care of both his wanderlust and his medical needs during a 10-day trip to Hungary.

He toured the ancient castle in Buda. He had dental bridges and fillings put in. He stayed in a luxury apartment overlooking the Danube. He had daily inhalation treatments at an asthma cave. He played golf and ate goulash.

“I’ve been all over and the total cost – including the airfare- will be far less than what dental treatment would cost me at home,” he said, in a tidy waiting room, just after his final dental appointment in downtown Budapest. “I would recommend this in a second.”

A growing number of people from Western Europe and even the United States are becoming medical tourists, traveling by plane to faraway countries to get cheap medical care that would be prohibitively expensive and sometimes involve long waits at home.

Dr. Attila Kuncsik , O’Dowd’s dentist here, now sees  foreign patients every week.

“This part of my practice has grown very rapidly, especially in the past year,” he said, noting that, while most of his patients were from Britain and Ireland, there are some from Israel and the United States as well.

Traditionally, only the very wealthy traveled for medical care. They flew to the United States and Western Europe when they developed a serious illness. But these days, as medical costs have greatly increased and insurance coverage has diminished in many developed nations patients come here for elective or semi-elective procedures that are covered poorly or not at all by insurance and national health plans: things like major dental work, corrective vision surgery or routine heart evaluations.

Low-cost airlines and Internet advertising, which connect patients and doctors around the world, have also encouraged this sort of travel, 

The evolution of the medical tourism market in Hungary was perhaps predictable, since Austrian, Swiss and German patients have been driving over the Hungarian border for cheaper dental care for 10 to 15 years. Labor, equipment and real estate costs are far lower than in Western Europe, allowing doctors and dentists to offer their services at a fraction of West European prices.

A crown, which would cost between €800 and €1,000 in Western Europe, runs only about €200 here, at an up-market dental office, fashioned by a master ceramicist. Most work is guaranteed for 3 to 5 years.

For others, avoiding the long waits that are common under national health plans are also a big incentive. Jamie Mulligan, 29, an Irish rock musician, flew to Budapest for just two days to get a tooth replaced. He traveled with a friend, who came to have four root canals, a procedure that now requires a three-month wait in Ireland, he said.