Dental work too expensive? Go overseas (andventures in dental tourism)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Wednesday, April 5, 2006 | Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer

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You've heard of the "accidental tourist?" How about the dental tourist?

Jim Paggi was such a traveler.

The 56-year-old Benicia man went more than 6,000 miles to Hungary in March to get his teeth fixed for less than a third of the $50,000 or more it would have cost in this country.

"Everybody says, 'You're going where for what? What kind of vacation is that?' " Paggi said a few days after returning from two weeks in the central European nation. "I'm saying if you had my smile, you would do it, too."

Paggi is one of a growing number of Americans traveling to far-flung locales to undergo medical and dental procedures at affordable rates.

While statistics on medical tourism aren't available, the trend by all accounts is gaining steam. A growing number of countries, including India, Thailand and Singapore, are marketing medical and dental services to foreigners, boasting of "first world medicine" at cut-rate prices.

Patients from wealthier countries often travel to these destinations for some sun and relaxation, plus a hip replacement, vision correction or perhaps cardiac surgery.

Dental procedures are a common choice because only about 50 percent of Americans have insurance for such care. And those people who are insured often face stiff dental bills. Insurance plans, typically offered through employers, require patients to pay a significant share of the costs of procedures beyond standard preventive care.

Paggi's oral odyssey began in January after he consulted several dentists in the Bay Area and learned that the cost of work to repair his teeth could reach $60,000. Years of neglect and bacterial infections had caused Paggi's teeth to decay, a condition that had accelerated in the past few years.

"When my mom said to brush your

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[AlexW]

Nothing would beat my Memphis dentist that replaced my numerous silver fillings with gold, some 30 years ago.
I have not had a single failure.

A few years ago, when in Slovakia, I had a cleaning, and a small filling, after a few x-rays. The cost was about $15.
I would be reluctant to have any serious dental work here, but they are now doing hi-tech work, such as laser whitening.