The rapid growth in travelling abroad for dental treatment

Press release -  15 October 2006

The difficulty in finding easily available dental treatment on the NHS has hit the headlines yet again and as private dentistry costs continue to increase, more British patients are travelling abroad for dental treatment such as implants, crowns and bridges and cosmetic dentistry. 

With significant savings to be made it is hardly surprising that in 2006 over 20,000 Brits travelled abroad for their teeth, spending around £2,500 each, with an estimated market value of over £50 million per annum.  

Each year an increasing number of Britons are leaving the UK in search of medical treatment abroad (over 600,000 in total) and dentistry is the most popular service with patients choosing to combine a short break with cost effective dental treatments such as crowns, dental implants, bridges and veneers although other medical procedures like cosmetic surgery, knee and hip replacements are extremely popular.

The internet is the obvious first place medical tourists look to for advice on travelling abroad for treatment.

www.treatmentabroad.com was set up to meet the needs of the medical tourist. Packed with good advice, travel tips and contact details of dental clinics all over the world it is no wonder over 70,000 people visit www.treatmentabroad.com each month. 

Price comparisons show that huge savings can be made for example, with a porcelain crown in the UK costing £500 and only £180 in Hungary, it is no wonder that dental tourism from the UK is a rapidly growing business.

Keith Pollard, a director of www.treatmentabroad.com comments that “Travelling abroad for dental treatment is part of the rapidly growing worldwide medical tourism industry and there are a huge number of countries offering competitively priced dental treatment - there is so much choice that it can be confusing.”

“It Is essential that people thoroughly research their options and it is also vital that medical tourists check that a surgeon or dentist is registered to his or her country’s equivalent of the General Medical Council (GMC) or General Dental Council (GDC). Contact details of these bodies are listed on www.treatmentabroad.com” adds Pollard.

www.treatmentabroad.com

For further information please contact: Caroline Ratner at CRC on 020 8209 0120 or carolinecomms@gmail.com

Editor’s notes:

Key Facts

1.Britons spend £161 million each year on medical tourism

2. Hungary, India and Turkey are among the most popular medical tourism destinations for UK patients.

3. Dentistry is the most popular service. Over 20,000 Brits travel abroad for their teeth, spending around £2,500 each, with an estimated market value of over £50m.

Treatment Abroad press release: October 2006