With what feels like a never ending recession, most people are looking to cut their costs either by shopping at discount stores or taking advantage of special offers that are available.

This cutting back affects all areas of expenditure and none more so than cosmetic health care. Unlike more ‘serious’ healthcare which is widely available, most cosmetic care has to be paid for and can be quite costly.

Because of this, many people opt to travel abroad for their cosmetic treatment and there is a growing industry based in eastern Europe and other parts of the world to cater for this, none more so than in the field of cosmetic dentistry.

Img: cosmetic dentistry by http://en.wikipedia.org/

Advantages

The main advantage of having dental care abroad is in the cost; there is little doubt about that. Many dentists are also offering flights and accommodation into a one stop package which is enticing as it enables the patient to have their treatment and a short break at the same time. There are many excellent dentists abroad too and it can be a great bargain.

What Happens When Things Go Wrong?

Sadly, although there are many excellent dentists, there are also many that are not and this can be quite difficult to determine as qualifications vary from country to country; add to this the fact that the only way to find out is to check them out yourself means that you are trusting the advertisements somewhat as travelling to check it out beforehand makes it more expensive than staying at home. The best way of choosing may well be word of mouth. If you know a few people that have been to one particular dentist with great success then you may well be onto a winner.

When things go wrong though, and they do, it can be a very unpleasant experience. Most UK dentists will not touch treatments that have gone wrong at another dental practice and you will be left with the expense of travelling back to the original dentist abroad as well as returning to the person who made the mistake in the first place.

In summary, although it is possible to make significant savings when going abroad to treatment, you have to weigh up whether the risks are really worth it. Staying at home and having treatment in the UK may be more expensive but there is a good check of care and qualifications in the UK which means that, barring complications, most procedures will be carried out safely and successfully even if it does hit your bank balance that bit harder.

Don Myers, the author, took a trip to Poland to have a couple of dental implants fitted. Unfortunately these were unsuccesful (and painful) and ever since he has taken out a dental plan and visited a Dental Implant practice in Derby