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Perhaps this is
not everyone’s idea of a worry-free family getaway.
Nevertheless, for at least two decades, medical tourism has
been an increasingly popular alternative for the uninsured
desperate for care, and for middle-class Americans willing
to travel to secure affordable health care.
Roughly half a million Americans sought medical care abroad
in 2006, of which 40 percent were dental tourists, according
to the National Coalition on Health Care, an alliance of
more than 70 organizations. That’s up from an estimated
150,000 in 2004, said Renee-Marie Stephano, the chief
operating officer for the Medical Tourism Association, a
nonprofit organization that researches global health care.
Dental bridges and bonding ranked No. 1 and 2 on a list of
most sought-after procedures for Americans traveling abroad
for medical care, according to a report just published by
HealthCare Tourism International, a nonprofit group that
tracks health care.
In the latest twist on this trend, families are traveling
abroad together, turning an annual vacation into a
cost-effective checkup for the brood. Two reasons are at
play, according to industry experts: a higher demand for
elective dental care like bonding and veneers, and second,
the growing number of medical travel agents who vouch for
the foreign doctors they recommend. Agents help patients
choose between sightseeing-cum-dental packages from Hungary
to Mexico and can even arrange a foreign baby sitter for
parents in need of fillings.
“You can see where this could be a perfect opportunity to
incorporate dental care — not typically treatment that will
leave you bed-bound — and a family tour of a new country,”
Ms. Stephano said.
There are 75 medical travel agents based in the United
States, she estimated, a number she suggested will double by
the end of this year.
To allay new customers’ fears, many dentists abroad, some of
whom have trained in the United States and use the same
equipment as American dentists, rely heavily on word of
mouth from satisfied customers. Their Web sites include
testimonials, and stateside references are provided.
Although the American Dental Association has no official
warning against foreign travel for dental care, a spokesman,
Dr. Edmond Hewlett, said, “Dentists abroad are not held to
the same standards as in the U.S.”
“Teeth are not just appliances,” added Dr. Hewlett, a
professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
School of Dentistry. “They’re not like a car you take in for
an annual tune-up. Your oral health affects your general
health and vice versa.”
There are two main groups of family-oriented dental
travelers, said Neil Patel, the founder of HealthCare
Tourism International. Immigrants have long returned to
their countries of origin for dental and medical care and to
spend time with relatives. But now there’s a more recent
wave of patients, interested in taking their families to a
far-flung location to make the best out of what is
essentially a rather unpleasant chore.
“Call it multitasking, if you will,” said Mr. Patel, who
added that he was also seeing improvements in risk
management, the transfer of medical records and translator
services.
Sometimes
patients take relatives along to nurse them (if they need
it) and to city-hop with them (if they don’t). That was the
case when Robert Mucci, 55, a utilities manager from Valley
Stream, N.Y., contacted Dental-Offer, a dental tourism
agency, to book a trip to Mosonmagyarovar, Hungary, a hot
spot for tooth travel.
“I had no idea how I was going to feel, and I wanted to have
my family with me as a support system,” said Mr. Mucci, who
had several teeth extracted, bone grafting and implants. “It
turned out the pain was totally manageable,” said Mr. Mucci,
who went with his wife, 24-year-old daughter and 8-year-old
son. He still paid a third of what he was told he would have
to pay at home, and that included flights. And, since the
work was done in less time than he was told it would take at
home, he had plenty of time to sight-see in Vienna,
Bratislava and Prague.
Most medical tourism agencies do not specialize in tooth
travel for families, but it is fast becoming a staple of
their business. Just a year ago, Steve Gallegos, a retired
Army lieutenant colonel who used to coordinate health care
for military families abroad, opened Medcentrek, a medical
tourism agency in San Antonio. He has already had dozens of
requests for family dental travel.
“We make recommendations not only on the health care end,
but also where to stay, what to do, parasailing, deep-sea
fishing, you name it,” Mr. Gallegos said. “As people get
comfortable with the idea, this kind of family dental
vacation could become an annual thing.”
In years past, the farthest that Leona Denison, 30, a
cosmetologist from Albuquerque, usually went for a getaway
was Arizona. This year, her family of four went to Costa
Rica, where she got nine dental implants and three crowns.
“It took a lot of coaxing on my part to get my husband to
agree, but Medcentrek helped with all the arrangements,” Ms.
Denison said. “We saw waterfalls and volcanoes. My husband
went rafting. Being from New Mexico, my girls really loved
the ocean.”
Even with travel expenses, she paid $6,000 less than the
$21,000 price a local dentist had quoted for the work.
Remarkably, some patients argue that a flight and a few
hours in the dental chair is less hassle than having to rush
back to the office half-sedated. For others, turning a trip
to the dentist into a family vacation takes their mind off
pending procedures. Lori Sullivan, 43, an administrative
assistant in a home health care agency in Port Angeles,
Wash., admits that she fears dentists.
Last spring, when she found out she would need an expensive
root canal, she decided to book a diverting trip with her
8-year-old daughter to Tijuana, Mexico, through
PlanetHospital, a medical tourism agency based in Los
Angeles.
“I had heard of this, but had never considered it an
option,” Ms. Sullivan said. “Then, I did my research. The
procedure went fine and the price was right.”
Her agency hired a baby sitter for her daughter during her
root canal, and, she said, they “even arranged to have us
driven down to Baja one day where we had lobster and walked
along the beach. It was a long weekend we’ll never forget.”
She added: “Now, I’m saving up to go back for veneers. My
daughter can’t wait.”
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