I need dental work and
 

Hi:
I saw just last week(pacific time)on either CBS or possibly NBC a story about several people from the US who went to India and Thailand to have some procedures done. One person needed a triple bi-pass and went to one of these outstanding hospitals saving tons of money and was back on his feet in two weeks. The other, a woman had cosmetic surgery(I think a face lift)and had the procedure performed as well as having holiday after it. I didn't think of writing down the hospital names. I read some horror stories of people from the US traveling down to Mexico and ending up having complications when they visited a dentist. I can't afford dental insurance almost $300 per month just for one person. I really need this dental work and can't afford $$$$ that these dentists want in the US. Can anyone help me out and suggest either hospitals that I can look into outside the US?
thanks

I am going to a dental clinic in Budapest the end of this month. I already had a trip planned to France. I chisled out 5 days in the middle for dental work. I got a cheap flight from paris to Budapest skyEurope for 158 euros. The clinic provides pickup and return to airport and an apartment to stay in free while I am there. They have their own dental Lab on premises. I got a few email references and they gave very good reviews. I looked at 4 clincs before choosing this one. I already had tickets using ff miles to Paris so no cost there. I am hoping for the best. I am having all the dental work I need done for the cost of what one root canal and porcelain crown would cost here. Even having my teeth professionally whitened. It is Fedasz Dental clinic. www.fedaszdental.com

I have not been there so can only give you info I have been able to find. I will of course give a report when I return. I leave Sept 20 and return Oct 5.

return Oct. 6 as if it really mattered...except that I have a Paris GTG on Oct. 5th.!!

Not in Europe......At Baylor University which is world famous for dentistry there were many students from Costa Rica. Many of them go back to Costa Rica to practice. With there being a large expatriate community down there you might find some recommendations.
I would certainly do your homework...

do you have a dental school in your area? no insurance, 50% cost, and the most difficult work performed by teachers.

I have read about people going overseas to have dental work done but not heart operations. How does one know if these foreign doctors are licensed?

a root canal yes, heart surgery no. The dental clinics in Hungary, Poland and Chech Republic have been around and do a big business from UK clients.

I personally would not travel elsewhere for dental care. Go to a dental school. You do NOT want to fly immediately after any serious dental treatment. And you should also wait a few days after procedures to see if you have any problems (i.e. infection). Frankly, the most miserable vacation that I could think of is one that combines sightseeing with trips to the dentist. And in the long run, I don't think it would be all that cost effective.

Again, go to the nearest dental school clinic. Or call some of the dental offices near you, explain your financial problems, ask what kind of payment arrangements would be possible.

My son lived in Lithuania for a year and had all of his work done there at a very reasonable fee. Apparently he felt that the quality was excellent. I have read their medical personnel are extremely well trained.

I prefer a dentist in Hungary with years of experience than a school with students. I am nurse with experience in teaching hospitals.

Why not go to Cuba? (yes i know yanks aren't supposed to, but when I was there the place was crawling with them - and most were health tourists). Top quality cheap health care.

You know as well as I do that in a few years those same dentists are going to be charging top dollar in Florida.

My workmate is Bulgarian and flew back to Bulgaria to have some dental work..very good dentists and very cheap. He told me some of the Dentists in Hungary were trained in Germany and that they are excellent as well.

There was something on British TV aabout people having operations abroad due to waits on the NHS. MOst were happy but they were surgery on an arem or knee etc NOT bypass surgery and did mentione some bad cases. Plastic surgery no way...too dodgy! Some people are flyng to South africa to do this though as the prices are much cheaper.

Just remember your health is your wealth!

All this reminds me of the man who took longer steps in order to save shoe leather...and, in the process, ripped his pants.

Some people have no idea of priorities. In my opinion, without good health and good health care, nothing else works.

People are probably right to avoid having bypasses done anywhere but the best centers.The good news is that bypasses are being done less and less as stents,little tubes put into the arteries of the heart by a cardiologist,are taking more and more of the market and there is some suggestion that cardiac surgeons should consider retraining in a different field!

$300 a month for dental insurance!

What a lot of crap. I am a dentist, and am familiar with dental insurance. And I can tell you that nobody pays $300 a month on dental insurance. You were either misquoted or someone tried to scam you.

Or you are just trying to promote this clinic in Budapest.

Buzz off.

If you could read you would realize that different people wrote about the $300 dental insurance and the Budapest clinic. I said I only read and researched the clinc and could not say good or bad until I returned. Dental insurance for me is cheap $16 a month but pays alsmost nothing for treatments other than routine care. However, I could not get dental insurance if I did not take the medical insurance also which makes is much more expensive. Perhaps that is what swoosie is talking about. So you buzz off.

Now I begin to understand some of the resentment on this board. Why in the world would you think automatically that the dental care is not good because it is NOT in the USA.

If you go outside the US for any medical or dental work you are asking for trouble.

I just visited my dentist yesterday and got the bad news that I need to have a couple of crowns replaced. Arggh! My own fault. I had fallen off the periodic teeth-cleaning wagon four years ago, and got my just desserts in the form of a stiff estimate for the costs to remedy my neglect.

However, nothing would drive me overseas. An ongoing relationship with a good dentist who knows and cares about you is as essential as the relationship with one's family physician. IMO, if you don't make regular visits to a competent dentist, you're cruisin' for the same bruisin' I got yesterday, when confronted with the bill for the remedy.

Aside from that, my dentist is just a fabulous guy and a great citizen. He recently returned from a month in Bangladesh, doing pro-bono dental work on some of the world's poorest. Each year he makes a similar trip to a third world country to donate his services. He also helped establish a program to improve dental care for rural poor children in my state.

I love this guy and wouldn't think of putting myself in the hands of a stranger.

Asking for trouble by going out of the USA for medical care? How so? And how come the USA comes in 47th or 49th or something like that on the WHO's ranking of healthcare in the world? Can you explain that, rickker?

I've had excellent healthcare on many occasions in Europe, far better than anything my HMO here in the USA can provide.

I don't think I'd go to Eastern Europe for dental work, though, because I don't speak any Eastern European languages well enough, and even if the doctor/staff spoke English, I'd want to be able to read the literature, medicine bottles, etc.

And I definitely wouldn't interrupt a vacation for major dental work anywhere in the world!

For the thousands of dollars I will save, ($2200 quote in USA for one tooth--root canal and crown)I plan to take several great vacations. The staff speaks excellent english. I have talked with them on several occasions. I will not need medicine for dental work except maybe something for pain which I will have with me. If I need an antibiotic I am a nurse and know about all the different types. I also want to get all the work I need at one time and be done with it. I am getting all my very old fillings replaced, a one tooth bridge, root canal and crown and teeth whitened for the USA price for care of one tooth.

If this is a diaster or a great deal I will tell you all about it when I come back.

Only post by this person ... odd.

Only, or at least first post, I noticed that also.

LoveItaly - This was re-posted under this date. I remember it from a month or so ago.

Perhaps Chubroach is reproducing?

And I answered this post seriously, in my most earnest style! I feel so used and dirty! My saintly dentist would be so ashamed!

I know, I know...dont you feel cheap now?

I freely admitted that I drank a starbucks coffee out of a styrofoam cup in Paris on another post today...

Responding to StCirq’s question:
<<And how come the USA comes in 47th or 49th or something like that on the WHO's ranking of healthcare in the world? Can you explain that…?>>

Actually it was 37th. The WHO survey results are not based primarily on the quality of care. The final survey rankings were based on many factors other than actual quality. For example, on the scale of “responsiveness,” including prompt attention in emergencies, choice of provider, respect for the dignity of the patient, confidentiality, the USA ranked #1. France, which ranked #1 overall, was not in the top five on this "responsiveness" scale. The USA ranked very low on the scale of financial fairness of the health care system, i.e. equal distribution of the cost of health care. Colombia ranked #1, Djibouti #4, and the USA was way down at #54 on this "financial fairness" scale. In terms of cost of health care, both per capita and as a percentage of gross domestic product, the USA was most expensive. The USA has a higher percentage of uninsured than the top-ranked countries. It appears from my superficial reading that those countries with universal coverage under single-payor health care financing systems ranked higher in terms of fairness, but their health care costs were a lot lower than those of the USA.

The name of the hospital you are refering to is Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok. I'm a regular in the Asia forum and vacation in Bangkok regularly. I just got back about two weeks ago and will be back in dec/Jan for a 3-week vacation.A few weeks ago, I went over to Bumrungrad to get a hospital card issued to me just in case I needed it...like if I were to be in a tuk-tuk accident or something, then they'd know where to send me. They issued me a medical card within about 20 minutes.I filled out some forms and they took a copy of my passport and issued me a card and number. I'd forgotton to do it over the past years. The hospital is VERY well known and people have been going there for a couple of decades. It looks like a 4-5 star hotel and you really don't feel like you're in a hospital thus reducing a lot of stress and anxiety. And the restuarants there are very good. I took a Thai friend there for lunch and she loved the food. I haven't had time to read all the replies to your post yet. I'll read them later and if I need to throw in any other comments I will.Go on the Asia forum. we answered these questions over there...about excellent health care and excellent dental care. Happy Travels!

This is the website of the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok:
http://www.bumrungrad.com/default.asp
The TV show about it was on 60 Minutes.

While there is excellent health care available in the US, I think it would be foolish to assume that excellent health care is not available in other countries.

I read a lot about the search for a cure for diabetes, and what I read makes clear that the excellent research being done is being done around the world, with a lot of collaberation between people from different countries.

My concern with intentionally obtaining treatment overseas is that it may be hard to distinguish between professional measures of competency, and marketing. No one is going to say that they do inferior work, but when you see a testament concerning any treatment facility, you have to consider whether that testament is by someone who really knows what they are talking about, or not. I don't think satisfied patients are the best source of recommendations; they know whether they were treated politely, and they know the cost, but I suspect they don't really know if they were given the best course of treatment, nor whether it will have lasting affects, nor whether the three patients immediately after them were butchered.

Is doing a lot of work for UK clients really a recommendation. Isn't there some nasty characture around about being able to identify UK people by their dentition?

I just had my first UK dental visit and the clinic was excellent, I was very pleased. :D It was a private clinic (not NHS), but the prices weren't bad (one of the few things we've found so far that are cheaper than the U.S.), the equipment was very state of the art and the staff very good.

BUT...agree, don't think it's a good idea to fly thousands of miles to a foreign country for a complicated procedure where it's not that unlikely the patient may have complications or need followup care.
It's one thing for a Brit to make the relatively short flight to Eastern Europe for dental care (or for someone in Singapore to fly to Bangkok); it's quite another for an American to fly 10 hours or more for the same procedure.

I flew to Paris a week after having a root canal and temporary crown. Two days before the trip I started to develop an inflammation at the crown site. I spent the first week of the trip on pain pills and antibiotics.

A similar thread came up on the U.S. forum and we discussed the dental clinic in South Carolina that is famous for its lower cost procedures.

I had extensive work done through hungariandentaltravel.com And couldn't be more pleased. E-mail me for questions. no problem Sam [email protected]

Go to www.sfgate.com and search for "Dental work too expensive? Go overseas" for an article on dental care in Hungary.