Is it Smart to Travel for Cheap Dental Implants?

Is it Smart to Travel for Cheap Dental Implants?

If you’ve decided to invest in dental implant restoration, you’ve probably seen quite a few advertisements touting the benefits of traveling for cheap dental implants. Dental tourism is what it’s typically called, with Americans traveling abroad, most often to developing nations, for lower cost dental care. While you’ll pay less abroad than you would for dental implants in Indianapolis, a fact that makes these offers tempting for many, entrusting overseas practitioners with your dental care – especially dental implant surgery – is a gamble that can turn out badly.

While some people do get lucky, coming home from Mexico, Costa Rica, India or Thailand with great dental restoration work done cheaply, many others have a very different experience. Having work done abroad isn’t at all like getting dental implants in Indianapolis, since practitioners in foreign nations, especially developing ones, aren’t subject to the same regulations and sanitation standards as American dental professionals are. Unfortunately, those differences can lead to increased risks for patients, and those who do have problems have little recourse, since foreign practitioners are not subject to U.S. Consumer protection laws.

PROBLEMS WITH DENTAL TOURISM

One fairly common problem with dental implants done abroad is the use of low grade materials, such as generic implants or flimsy replacement teeth, an issue many patients don’t discover until they’ve returned home and have been examined by their regular dentist. Traveling for dental implants can also bring a higher risk of implant failures, nerve injuries or sinus damage, since professional qualifications may be more lax than in the U.S., allowing procedures to be performed by practitioners with less training and experience. Sanitation is another issue of concern, with many foreign locales having few or no regulations regarding water safety, equipment sterilization, use of masks and gloves or other precautions meant to protect patients against infection or diseases, such as viral hepatitis, HIV or tuberculosis.

Other important concerns include the fact that dental tourism arrangements often leave little, if any, time for planning, an essential part of successful implant placement surgeries. Technology and equipment used to improve safety and accuracy, such as 3-D imaging and computer guided implant placement, often aren’t used in practices that cater to dental tourists, and follow up care is often difficult. Of course, traveling back and forth to another country for follow-up care isn’t a practical option for many, nor is it an economical one, and finding a local dentist who is willing to take responsibility for work done abroad can be a challenge, as can getting accurate records from the foreign practitioner to guide that follow-up care.

Patients getting dental implants in Indianapolis may pay a bit more than those traveling to foreign lands, but they have quality and safety assurances that simply aren’t available when work is done in other countries. Patients who receive shoddy work or have serious complications due to poor equipment, practitioners or sanitation often end up spending much more than they bargained for in correcting these problems. So the bottom line is this: Oral surgery is nothing to scrimp on, so make sure yours is done by a qualified, experienced professional right here at home.