GLOBALIZED DENTISTRY NOW TAKING OFF



For fish-shop worker Harry Sharpe, the lure of a dental holiday in Asia proved impossible to resist. The Australian Dental Association may not be smiling about the growing trend, but Mr Sharpe is among hundreds of Aussies taking the bait of discount deals at overseas clinics. Mr Sharpe, from Currumbin on the Gold Coast, was quoted $15,000 by a local dentist for two bridges, a crown and four fillings. After some research, and consulting friends who had booked dental trips to Asia, Mr Sharpe, 52, visited a private clinic at Sebang in Puerto Galera in the Philippines, where he paid $1200 for the same work.

"All up it cost me $3000 for 2½ weeks there. You get a good holiday, a good feed and your teeth done at one-fifth of the price," Mr Sharpe said. "They were very good. I didn't feel one ounce of pain. And the diving and snorkeling there – it's like the Barrier Reef. "I bumped into about 50 Aussies, and 30 of them were there for their teeth. "It's a big thing, and it's getting bigger."

The dental association is worried by the trend, warning Australians to do some research before embarking on an overseas dental visit. Chief executive Robert Boyd-Boland said there were risks involved. "We've heard some good reports about some of the treatment overseas, then we've heard some not-so-good reports," Mr Boyd-Boland said. He added that a patient might initially save money, but then find corrective work was needed back in Australia. "It's a false economy. And infection control requirements are a bit unknown from country to country. "We have very strict infection controls here. Some of the practitioners there are obviously well qualified, but some of them wouldn't necessarily be registered here."

But overseas bookings look set to spiral, with Brisbane travel agents advertising dental holidays to Manila and patients such as Mr Sharpe encouraging his friends to book a trip. Advised of the dental association warnings, Mr Sharpe said: "It's the same in Australia. I've heard of shoddy stories. You do your checks. "I know of seven people who have gone overseas and haven't had one bad report."

Source

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here, the mirror site may be more up to date. My Home Page is here or here.

***************************