Dental Tourism Gets Teeth
Crisis in Affordable Dental Care
A dearth of NHS dentists has led to a distinct lack of affordable dental care in and around the Lancashire and Preston areas of the UK. This has paved the way for dental patients to take medical vacations, at a fraction of the cost, to countries with cheaper services, like India.
Medical Vacation Resort in Goa
Inspired to help the needy receive affordable dental care, a 43-year-old from Lancashire, Mark Frith, set up a business named “Goan Places” to promote medical vacation and dental tourism to Goa, India. His dental tourism package includes a holiday in addition to the affordable and quality treatment provided by dentists in Goa.
Within two months of the launch of their website, goan-places-india, 18 patients have benefited by this dental tourism initiative. Fearing the lack of NHS dental care, in addition to sky-rocketing costs of private dental care in the UK, patients go for elective and cosmetic dental surgeries as well as emergencies. According to a Lancashire MP, this growing trend in medical vacations to cheaper destinations is a sad development, a telling comment about the inadequacy of the NHS in the UK. Regardless, medical tourism is sure to benefit thousands who do not have access to NHS dentists or affordable dental care in the UK.
Source: “DENTAL PATIENTS GO TO INDIA FOR TREATMENT”, LANCASHIRE Evening Post, 10.31.2006.
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