When it comes to dental veneers, Thailand certainly does offer cheap prices. In fact, a quick search may find the price of dental veneers up to 60% less than what you might expect to pay back home here in Australia. It’s probably no surprise then that over 15,000 Australians embark on medical and dental vacations each year to places like Bangkok. After all, what could be better? Visit an exciting new destination and while you’re there, get cheap dental work in the process.
The trouble is, it rarely works out that way and there are lots of things which need to be taken into consideration before you jump on the next available flight. Things like:
The language barrier
While it’s fair to say that many Thai people speak good English, there may be a question mark over whether, if you encounter dental anxiety prior to treatment or have special requirements, you can get your points across clearly and sufficiently before treatment begins.
Even when you do, it’s very easy for things to become ‘lost in translation’ and let’s face it, whether you undergo dental veneers in Thailand or back home here in Australia, it remains an irreversible process. Therefore, communication needs to be spot on from both parties.
Differing standards
Although being fitted with porcelain veneers doesn’t require a surgical process, it should still be carried out under the highest standards of hygiene and infection control. Here in Australia, there are strict rules about infection and hygiene control that dentists must adhere to. Now, that’s not to say that dentists placing dental veneers in Thailand aren’t obliged to operate under standardised levels of control, it’s just that those levels might not be to the same standards as those back home.
Even in cases where the levels of cleanliness, sanitation, and infection control are outstandingly good – and there are such places in Thailand just as there are bad places here in Australia – you could argue that they aren’t the ones offering cut-price porcelain veneers to foreign patients and herein lies the dilemma.
Liability
Have you ever thought about what would happen if your dental veneers treatment in Thailand went wrong?
Back here in Australia, of course, if complications occur or something goes wrong, all dentists are bound by higher authorities to work towards putting the problem right. But what about when your dental veneers dentist is a 9-hour flight away in a different country? What recourse if any, will you have?
Even if you do, then there’s the added cost of flights back and forth to sort the problem out – of which there is no guarantee – plus the extra time off needed to rectify the issue. Suddenly, it’s easy to see how a straight forward cosmetic dental procedure like getting dental veneers in Thailand can become both stressful and costly.
Low-cost materials
When it comes to getting dental veneers, Thailand along with other popular destinations like India, Malaysia and Bali offer some of the lowest prices for porcelain veneers in the world. So you need to consider why this might be.
Could it be that the cost of living is simply far cheaper and therefore the price of dental veneers can be advertised cheaper and the dentist still make a living? Or alternatively, is it that lower-cost materials are used in order to keep the price down?
If it’s the former, then it’s a fair comparison with those high-quality, lifelike porcelain veneers provided across many dental clinics back home.
However, if it’s the latter and lower-grade materials are indeed used, then you could run the risk of your dental veneers not lasting or being as natural-looking or lifelike as you might have hoped. Ultimately unless you ask the question, it’s a risk.
Short Window for Dental Work
Sometimes people will travel abroad for relatively simple cosmetic dental treatments like teeth whitening or dental veneers, but from experience, this is usually because they are visiting on vacation anyway and have decided to indulge in a quick cosmetic touch-up whilst there.
Alternatively and typically, people travel specifically to places like Thailand for dental work because they require multiple treatments that would otherwise cost them thousands of dollars more back home in Australia.
Firstly, the problem with infusing a spot of cosmetic dentistry alongside a vacation is that dental processes are never entirely pain-free. By this, we mean that although the procedure itself is normally comfortable, there is always the issue of the day after. This may be something as simple as slight tooth sensitivity from chair-side teeth whitening, through to still feeling a little groggy from an anaesthetic after undergoing porcelain veneers. Either way, it isn’t particularly pleasant to be exploring the glorious sights, sounds and smells that Thailand has to offer when feeling less than 100%.
On the flip side, if you are travelling abroad specifically to have multiple dental treatments then the chances are your chosen dentist will only have a short window of opportunity to perform certain treatments like dental veneers. Thailand travel arrangements may dictate that your dentist may have to squeeze in treatments quicker than they might normally do. This may well be a risk and one that you might want to reconsider taking.
If you are considering dental veneers in Thailand we would advise you to consider the bigger picture – risks and all – and not simply be swayed by the price. Alternatively, you could consider the lesser risk option and undergo porcelain veneers back home.
Here at Beyond Infinity Dental, we offer patients a number of cost-saving ways to get the treatment they need or want including high quality, porcelain dental veneers. So why not contact us at (02) 8806 3799 and see just how we can help.
