Dental and or Medical Overseas

[Buzzard]

Just listening to a discussion on the radio at the moment about dental work being done overseas.

Many callers tell of proceedures in Thailand and Malaysia being much cheaper and of an equal standard to Australia. Here at Adelaide Uni I know of quite a few students that return to their country of origin to practice.
Years ago I read an item in the travel pages of the SMH where the writer regularly went to Cambodia for dental treatment. He even gave the name and address of the dentist.

So what are your experiences with dental and or medical overseas?

 

[Cynicor]

From my POV, the experience is in treating people with infections, complications and surgical issues down the track. Suddenly they want the public system to fix it for free too.

 

[CaviAck]

Just listening to a discussion on the radio at the moment about dental work being done overseas.

Many callers tell of proceedures in Thailand and Malaysia being much cheaper and of an equal standard to Australia. Here at Adelaide Uni I know of quite a few students that return to their country of origin to practice.
Years ago I read an item in the travel pages of the SMH where the writer regularly went to Cambodia for dental treatment. He even gave the name and address of the dentist.

So what are your experiences with dental and or medical overseas?

I wouldn't say it's of equal standard to Australia across the board. They may not have CPD, or restrictions imposed by the TGA on what can and cannot be used. Registration and educational minimums may not even exist. Just because they were trained in Australia does not mean they are just as good or up to date as Australian dentists or doctors.

Medical tourism isn't bad as long as you've done your research.

• Reviews
• Word of mouth
• References
• Where they got their basic health education
• What have they done to further that education.

As to what some of those callers say that the procedure is the same standard as in Australia, they haven't had the training and education to accurately say that. They're most likely going to judge the work by does it look good, is my pain gone, is the place clean and what the physical appearance of the practice is. Underneath all that they won't know that the procedure they just had did more damage than good, or the materials used was substandard and will fail in 3 years compared to 5 if done in Australia. I'm not saying that this will be the case, but it is something to think about when hearing glowing reviews from people who have done dental or medical work overseas.

You say you know of quite a few students at the University of Adelaide who return to their home country to practice. I'm assuming you know or have connections to people who either study or know a little bit about either medicine or dentistry. Ask them what the differences are between Australia and Asia in terms of treatment. As them what their various associations have told them in regards to this matter. At the end of the day x number of people can tell you stories of how their treatments went and you can end up with x number of different stories. Ranging from deformity causing bad to top notch service. How your treatment will end up is up to you and what research you've done into the standard of care the person in Asia will give you. If you know where to look, there will be some really good places. After all people in those countries need medical and dental services as well, and the rich there will want top notch care.

 

[robd]

My brother had a couple of fillings done in Russia when he went there with his Russian wife. I think he said it cost him ~$40 or something, compared to $400 odd it would have cost him here. He had no problems at all, and wouldn't hesitate to re-visit. Obviously, it makes a huge difference to have an ex-pat communicating and overseeing on your behalf.

 

[Isochronous]

SIN and HKG medical services are fantastic but possibly not much cost saving compared to other destinations.