Dental tourism aboard can be risky for patients. Unregulated
procedures, equipment limitations, undertrained staff, and
sanitation issues can arise. These items may be more present in
services relating to dental implant surgery where cut rate implants
and poor surgical and sanitation standards are used and can cause
medical complications that may have no recourse.
CHICAGO, Feb. 4, 2023
/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The number of patients seeking medical/dental
care abroad, a practice called "medical tourism," has grown
dramatically in recent decades, to an over $100 billion market-value annually. Historically,
the direction of travel for medical care was from less-developed to
wealthier nations, but that trend has reversed: patients from
wealthy nations with high healthcare costs, including the
USA, are now seeking discounted
health services in lower-income countries, and facilities in these
destinations have expanded to meet the demand. As elective
procedures with often out-of-pocket costs, aesthetic surgeries are
particularly disposed to medical tourism, and an entire subset of
the industry has developed specifically to support cosmetic surgery
tourism, affecting not only patients but also US physicians and
Dental surgeons.
As consumers, we all love a great "deal" right? says Dr. Atcha.
But "great deals" sometimes seem to good to be true. Many
medical/dental tourists may receive receive reasonable care, but
issues of safety and quality can loom large. Substandard surgical
care, poor infection control, inadequate screening of blood
products, and falsified or outdated medications in lower income
settings of care can pose greater risks than patients would face at
home. In fact, there is an old saying when it comes to deals. "If
it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is,‟ says
Atcha.
Patients who choose to fly to an unfamiliar environment for
cheaper care are often looking to save money, however, some people
seek treatments that are either unavailable or not approved for use
in the United States. So why do
some patients take the risk? The answer is usually one of the
following factors. The patient is looking for cheaper medical care,
the patient shares the same language/culture as the foreign
destination or the patient wants a surgery that is not approved for
use in the US but will get it due to cheap cost.
Medical findings have shown a number of risks associated with
medical/dental tourism to destinations such as Mexico, costa Rica, Turkey, Dubai, India
and other far east countries includes: Antibiotic-resistant
infections such as MRS, unknown blood supplies used during surgery,
bloodborne infections and bacterial infections due to unsanitary
condition and infection from foreign and waterborne bacteria to
which the patient has not developed immunity states Dr. Atcha
In dental surgery when we are seeing these cases Atcha asks, "If
it's a country you wouldn't drink the water in why would you think
of having a medical/dental procedure done there?" Fortunately, no
one dies when dental work collapses. However, it is a near 100%
guarantee that following the collapse, the work necessary to
reconstruct the dentistry correctly will be 2-4X what the original
cost to properly engineer your dentistry would have been by a
dentist who understands these issues related to the engineering
side of your dental work. In addition, it's not unusual for the
cost to not only be far higher but the amount of time to re-treat
the situation to be far longer than it would have taken original.
"We have to revise and retreat these patients who had full mouth
dental implants done and they are all failing and are not placed
with the proper surgical skill and have poor esthetic outcomes as
well," states Atcha
For over 26 years Dr. Irfan Atcha
maintains a private dental practice with emphasis on Dental
Implants placement and restoration and Cosmetic Dentistry in
Chicago IL call New Teeth Chicago
Dental Implants. He attended the University of
Illinois and graduated with a D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental
Surgery). He has completed extensive post-graduate training in
Dental implants surgical and prosthetic components. He also has
extensive training in Advanced Sedation and Anesthesia techniques
for his patients comfort to rescue the dentally disabled and the
disastrous. He has completed over thousands of advanced post
graduate CE hours in Implants, Sedation and Cosmetic Dentistry to
stay on the cutting edge techniques. He also is a Diplomate of the
International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI), Diplomate of
International Dental Implant Association, member of Academy of
Osseointegration and has presented his cases locally and
internationally in dental implant meetings. Dr. Atcha can be found
on the web at http://www.newteethchicago.com. Dr. Atcha also has
active dental licenses in state of FL and CA as well. Patients
travel form all over the US for complex full mouth dental implants
surgical and cosmetic reconstruction to restore health, function,
esthetics and quality of life.
Media Contact
Barbara, New Teeth Chicago Dental, 1 3129518338,
teethforchicagoao4@gmail.com
SOURCE New Teeth Chicago Dental