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Advantage India

Dental Tourism India : Advantages to International Patients

 

Dental Tourism India

Dental tourism is a subset of the sector known as medical tourism. It involves individuals seeking dental care outside of their local healthcare systems. While dental tourists may travel for a variety of reasons, their choices are usually driven by price considerations. Wide variations in the economics of countries with shared borders have been the historical mainstay of the sector. Examples include travel from Austria to Slovakia and Slovenia, the US to Mexico, and the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland. While medical tourism is often generalized to travel from high-income countries to low-cost developing economies, other factors can influence a decision to travel, including differences between the funding of public healthcare or general access to healthcare.

DTI Advantages for international clients

The UK and The Republic of Ireland are two of the largest sources of dental tourists. Both have had their dental professions examined by competition authorities to determine whether consumers were receiving value for money from their dentists. Both countries' professions were criticized for a lack of pricing transparency. A response to this is that dentistry is unsuitable for transparent pricing: each treatment will vary, an accurate quote is impossible until an examination has occurred. Thus price lists are no guarantee of final costs. Though they may encourage a level of competition between dentists, this will only happen in a competitive environment where supply and demand are closely matched.

  • Initial query handling through electronic mailing
  • English speaking staff & doctors
  • World class technology & most modern equipments
  • International standard patient management
  • Stringent infection control mechanisms
  • Tailor made treatment plans
  • Efficient time management through dedicated treatment slots
  • Computerized patient history & database management
  • Effective relationship management
  • Travel help

Worldwide Scenario of Dental Tourism

 

The UK and The Republic of Ireland are two of the largest sources of dental tourists. Both have had their dental professions examined by competition authorities to determine whether consumers were receiving value for money from their dentists. Both countries’ professions were criticized for a lack of pricing transparency. A response to this is that dentistry is unsuitable for transparent pricing: each treatment will vary, an accurate quote is impossible until an examination has occurred. Thus price lists are no guarantee of final costs. Though they may encourage a level of competition between dentists, this will only happen in a competitive environment where supply and demand are closely matched. The 2007 Competition Authority report in the Irish Republic criticized the profession on its approach to increasing numbers of dentists and the training of dental specialties – orthodontics was a particular area for concern with training being irregular and limited in number of places. Supply is further limited as new dental specialties develop and dentists react to consumer demand for new dental products, further diluting the pool of dentists available for any given procedure.

Figure below shows that roughly 50% of the world’s dental travel market is driven by European patients. 86% of this travel is internal to the EEA with 13% to Asian countries and only 1% to Mexico & Caribbean countries. On the whole Hungary, Mexico, Thailand, Poland, India, Costa Rica is the countries where majority of patients from Europe and US visit for dental tourism. (For Gender split and popular treatments refer annexure 4)

Dental tourism source countries

 

Rate comparison

Comparison Of The Cost Of Few Treatment Procedures Between USA And India
Dental procedure
Cost in US ($)—Top End Dentist
Cost in India ($)—Top EndDentist
Dental Implants 4,000.00 1000
Porcelain-Metal Crown 1,200 150
Porcelain Metal Bridge(3 Unit) 3,000 450
Metal Free Crown 1,500 200
Metal Free Bridge (3 unit) 4,500 600
Veneers 1,500 200
Tooth whitening (At Home) 500 110
Tooth whitening (In-Office) Britesmile 1,000 350
Root canal Treatment 1,200 150
Smile designing (Ant 6 teeth) 8,000 1,500
Complete Dentures 3,000 500

 

Advantage India

Tourism and medicine have become synonymous in India. And the latest one to join the bandwagon is our line of talented dentists. Holidaying in India has become all the more relaxing as the tourists are set to get a perfect smile, new crowns and fresh implants, all at a much lower cost than other countries. The result is that tourists can spend the rest of their time relaxing in the wide range of mystic places in India.

The maximum patients as shown below come from countries such as Germany, France, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Middle East, the former Soviet Republics, South Africa, Spain, Singapore and Denmark. Though foreign patients are flocking to various parts of the country for dentistry, the four metros witness the maximum inflow.

Indian Dental Tourism Source Countries

 

Reasons for choosing India

a) The cost factor

 With more than 15,000 dentists in the metros, India is well equipped with dentistry. Tourists receive quality treatment in India primarily due to low labor cost as compared to any other region in world, viz. the Middle East, Western Europe, the US, or the UK. Thus, even if the cost of materials and equipment stays the same, the overall cost of the treatment plunges. Cost comparison is given on next page. In monetary terms still Indian dentists earn benefits from a single foreign patient which they could do from multiple domestic patients.

b) Easy appointment

 In other countries, patients have to wait for months to get an appointment. What makes India favorable for dental treatments is that online appointments are possible here. An additional factor is that dentists abroad do not spend much time with their patients. One of the things international patients appreciate is the quality time spent with them.

c) Clubbing With Tourism

India has a great cultural history and Indian philosophy is internationally acclaimed. The varied nature of the Indian population with respect to language, religion, practices, celebrations and geography is very interesting and enticing for foreign travelers. Moreover, travel and accommodation in India are certainly cheaper than in Western countries. The patient is first consulted his records are checked online. This way, the treatment is decided before the tourist arrives in India. Apart from the patient directly getting in touch with doctors, liaison agencies are providing the bridge between the foreign patient and the Indian dentist.

Dental tourism India as an opportunity

  • There is various health tour arranging agencies like Incredible India health tours, Royal health tours, Med net India tours etc. All these agencies have arrangements with various dental care providers all throughout the country. They provide with various travel arrangements, facilities for stay in various hotels, sightseeing and also list of various dental care services providers. To get into the panel of these medical tour agencies involves paying the tour agency a fixed sum as they highlight the service provider on the website. For this however, a resume revealing the details about the services provided at the health centre, rate list, location, doctors involved had to be given to these health tour agencies. If they select it then the details as given by the health care services provider is forwarded to the patients who have the choice to select from the list of all panelists. However, there are some providers who do not mention the panelists on their website and hence do not charge for the same but if patient selects a service provider the tour agency has to be paid a commission for the same.    
  • Another way of attracting dental tourists is directly by giving information on the website. Here information about location of the clinic, treatments provided, rate list, about the places to visit nearby and about the qualification and achievements of the dentists providing the service. This seems to be the most effective way as no intermediaries are involved and the information which the leads get is what the service provider wants to give to them.
  • To gain even more leads rather than just your own website is via the search engines like Revahealth.com To be a part of the website is not a very difficult task and can be free as well as paid. For this a brochure has to prepare which will be visible on the website. Depending on the amount one pays the position on the website varies, more favorable given to highest payer. It claims to be the largest search engine for dental tourism.
  • Presence on sites like ionosoftsystems.com developed by incredible India  and also to gain good positions at search engine like Google and yahoo is another option.
  • Having NHS-accredited dental clinics in India is another solution. Two years back, the British Government published a study stating that their country was short of dentists. And, of late, NHS is referring their patients to some dentists in India. NHS is also considering hiring dentists from India temporarily. For this, they will first screen dentists and then employ them at an appropriate remuneration and give them temporary work permits.
  • Having NHS-accredited dental clinics in India is another solution. Two years back,
  • Opening channels in UK and US is another great option which can be achieved by tie ups with dentists abroad. Thus instead of marketing in India directly marketing abroad can be other option.