Even as an adult I long to believe in fairies, especially the toothfairy (yes, that same toothfairy I have played on numerous occasions in the past few years.) 😉
If I’ve just lost a milk tooth will the toothfairy come and bring me money to replace it? Don’t you think I would so deserve a toothfairy visit even at the age of 40 for having kept the tooth for 34 years longer than nature intended?
You see, due to weird anatomical anomaly two permanent teeth in my lower jaw never developed and appeared when I was a child. Instead, I had two milk teeth that didn’t get pushed out by permanent teeth. They were sticking with me a bit longer.
One milk tooth was decayed (what can I say, I liked sugary cereals, especially Coco pops, a LOT!). The tooth was pulled when I was about 11.
The dentist assured me that the new one would come soon, so it made more sense to pull it than fill it. It never came! Instead I had to have braces as my teeth started wandering into the space left by the missing tooth.
The milk tooth on other side was lovingly filled by another dentist. He put in a ceramic inlay, when I was 15, saying it would last about 10 years and need replacing. We were living in Hungary at the time and I had it done there. Credit to the orthodontist’s skills the inlay lasted 25 years.
Unfortunately, the milk tooth developed a cavity in the past months, not helped by my struggle to have a toothbrush in my mouth without gagging ever since my last pregnancy. (If anyone has any suggestions on how to overcome this reflex I would be grateful for the advice.)
Then a caramel gave the last stab: there was a crunch as I chewed the softening sweet. I looked in the mirror and a large chunk of the tooth was missing. Ironically, the ceramic inlay still held in the tooth strong.
Consulting my dentist, he suggested probably the best option for replacing a single tooth is an implant. As my teeth, hopefully, have to give me at least another 40 years of service and it’s not worth sacrificing any others for a bridge.
Then he told me the cost and I had sharp intake of breathe on hearing it.
…c. £2,000.
OUCH!!! That’ll hurt even more than pulling the damaged tooth!
As we were over in the Netherlands a week later I asked the dentist, where the in-laws go about the procedure and the costs. He quoted 1,800 Euros…That already sounded a little better.
Then I did a bit of research and realised dental tourism might be the answer to this pricey problem.
Hungary came up as a top destination for dental tourism, with standards of training, hygiene and customer service rated highly. My research tells me they have an abundance of highly-qualified orthodontists and the competition makes the prices very competitive without compromising the quality.
“Yes, but what about aftercare?” – you may ask.
The first thing my local dentist warned me about: we won’t touch the implant unless you have it done with us!
Nice!- I thought to myself- that sort of threats never work with me.
Digging around further I found that some practices have duo bases: a main location in Hungary and one in the UK. They offer a service where the patient can have the major work done in Hungary and get all the pre- and post-op work done here (mostly in London). With some, you can even have all the work done in the UK, so you don’t need to take more time off work than absolutely needed.
As I was due to be in London one Saturday I booked myself in for a pre-op consult and asked for them to pull the broken milk tooth while there.
On arrival, I was really pleasantly surprised by the facilities of the dental practice: it was central London based and was better equipped than my local practice in Oxford.
I was seen promptly. The doctor and assistant spoke excellent English.
We got to the point and first I had a full mouth X-Ray in this super modern machine, which whizzed around my head in a matter of seconds to create a full panoramic X-Ray of my teeth.
Supported by the X Rays the doctor assessed my teeth and created a multi-tier care plan broken down to minor fillings, repairs suggested to other teeth and the implant. They gave me the costs both for having the work done here in London, which would involve 4 trip to the dentist in London or in Budapest.
Choosing treatment in Budapest would involve two trips over: a long weekend and a 3-4 day trip. Heck, I could cope with that: some oral surgery speckled with thermal bath visits, massages, cafés and sightseeing!
The outline plan gave me a schedule of 4 visits.
Visit 1:dental hygiene session is to be carried out in London a couple of days before my trip to Budapest;
Visit 2: the implant surgery: I will need to stay about 2 nights in Budapest for this;
Visit 3: implant uncovered and fitting of healing screw is to be carried out in London. Healing screw will need to stay in the implant for at least one week, ideally two weeks, so this will have to be done before my second trip to Budapest.
Visit 4: preparation and final fitting of a single porcelain crown in Budapest, for which I will need to stay about 3-4 nights.
The cost: London £1350 while Budapest £900.
So including travel and accommodation the two roughly equal out and I still save £700 compared to having it done by my local dentist.
During my visit to the London surgery the dentist pulled my damaged milk tooth. His skills couldn’t be faulted and gave me the confidence to carry on under his treatment.
I have a flight booked for Budapest next week.
Dental tourism here I come… with some pampering thrown in 😉
In the meantime, I keep checking under my pillow whether the toothfairy has been and left a large deposit towards my dental fees.
That would be fair, wouldn’t it?
Wow that is a lot. Interested to hear how you get on. My husband also had baby teeth up until a few years ago. He had bridges fitted. I’ve never had anything other than checks up and the odd polish done.x
How lucky for you Susan!
Wow, that is one pricey dental treatment. i am not sure how I would feel about going abroad for treatment,
That’s really interesting – I would definitely consider going abroad to get work done like this!
The price of dental work in this country is really quite disgusting. It sounds like a great deal and you get to go away for it too! Good luck 😀
I’m looking forward to the pampering! 😀
that’s amazing, well done you for thinking outside the box! My husband had his eyes lase de in Cyprus and it was a lot cheaper than the uk
Did you have any concerns about having it done abroad?
Such a great idea – getting the dentistry work done, with enough money left over for a mini-break! I hope it all goes well and that you have a great trip.
This is something that I’ve never even thought about. Amazing how the price fluctuates so much. I’d worry I think about going abroad for work completed but I don’t know why.Perhaps it’s because I’ve only ever read about “when things go wrong”.
I have to admit I struggled reading this (I have a serious phobia of dentists!) but that is a ridiculous difference!!
Ouch…I hadn’t realised how expansive just one implant is. Looking forward to reading about your Hungary experience.
I have always been lucky when it comes to surgery as i am a qualified dental nurse!
Therefore i have never had any reason to look into the aspects of dental care abroad, however i think you have made a great choice in a lovely part of the world!
Enjoy.
When brushing your teeth try breathing through your nose to prevent gagging and find a toothbrush with a small head. Maybe try a childs brush x
Teeth are one the health things i am always worried about actually. I have a good dentist in romania so will always choose to do it there rather than do it in england. its way cheaper.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I have rubbish teeth, but dread the costs involved. I will be taking a closer look into this, and would love to know how you got on with your complete treatment and post-care.
How very expensive, I hope the rest of your treatment ges well.
Gosh dental treatment is so expensive isn’t it – glad you found a more economical option , but even so!
Now this is really interesting and I can’t wait to hear how you get on with the rest of your schedule. It’s something I would think about if I had a good recommend
Wow that expensive. Not sure I would travel abroad for dentistry as would be too worried if something went wrong
Blimey, what an ordeal! *slowly steps away from the Quality Street*
Crickey, how much? I can’t believe even including travel it is cheaper abroad. How nuts is that!? Thankfully I have been referred to an NHS specialist dentist, one that only has phobia patients. Cost me £49 all in, that includes about 7 filings. Please don’t judge me, I know that sounds awful, but this is the first time in about a decade dentist has been able to do more than look.
Next time you need a dental treatment consider Poland, much cheaper than NL and far cheaper than UK prices.
I know there are UK agencies offering medical trips like this.
No, didn’t know about this! I hate the dentist, it terrifies me! I guess when faced with a huge bill, looking into options is paramount! Thanks for the enlightenment 🙂
You definitely deserve a coin, or even a note, under that pillow!!
Oh thank you Emma! I certainly thought so.
But as no one showed up, it will have to go to the creditcard fairy. 😀
Ouch. The scariest place in the world. Yikes!
LOL! Mike, Hungary or the dentist?
Lucky you, you get to save on dental expenses as a result of frequently traveling! Factoring in the travel and accommodation costs, is it really the cheaper option than having it done locally? I’m very interested in the route you took and really wouldn’t mind chilling out on the side. Cheaper dental work IS a legit reason to go abroad!
So far it is working out cheaper Sundra
I have never considered getting dental work done outside of the U.S. My grandma had her bridge fall out while we were traveling in Mexico. She had to have emergency dental work done while we were there. That is my only experience with dental work outside the U.S. Although, having a reason to travel abroad would be nice. Thank you for sharing.
This proves that Dental care is easy and important if done at right time! And it’s so much cheaper to take care of it early rather than letting is get worse.
I wish dental tourism was a feasible option in the United States. International airfare is pretty expensive! I think that’s really cool that the estimated cost was significantly cheaper than having it done locally.
Actually it is feasible Veronika: My dentist has clients from the US and Canada.
The like of Norwegian Airlines and WOW are pushing cross-Atlantic airfares down significantly.
I’m so grateful to live during a time of advanced dental technology. There are so many things that it has done for us, and I’m so excited to see where it goes from here. I don’t even want to imagine if we didn’t have it.