A few years ago, I realized that I was thinking about dental care all wrong. Instead of listening carefully to my dentist and making the necessary changes, I assumed that he was ultimately responsible for making sure that my teeth stayed healthy. Unfortunately, I developed a few serious cavities because I failed to properly brush and floss my teeth, and I knew that it was my fault. I decided to start taking notes at my dental checkups and carefully abiding by the dentist's orders. The difference was almost miraculous. This blog is all about working with your dentist to improve your result.
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Working With My Dentist
Dental Tourism: The High Cost of Cheaper Cosmetic Dental Procedures
Siiri Puro
Your smile is probably one of the most important features of your appearance. If you are like a lot of people, you will go to great lengths (literally) if it means you can keep your smile looking amazing for a good price. Dental tourism is just as much a thing in modern society as medical tourism, but are these trips for dental procedure really worth the savings? Before you start searching places like Mexico, Malaysia, or even Thailand for a cosmetic dentist, it is a good idea to assess the risks involved in low-price treatments in foreign countries.
There are major differences in health care provider standards in foreign countries.
Dentists and other medical professionals here in the US are held to strict standards of care by the federal government. These standards of care are in place to protect you as a patient and ensure that safe practices are consistently followed. If a dentist here is found to not be following these rules, they can be subject to fines, litigation, and even loss of their medical license. On the other hand, these same strict standards are not always in place in other countries. In fact, the differences between one place and the next can be incredibly huge. Therefore, even though a price may look attractive, you must first investigate thoroughly the standards of care set in place in any particular country.
Cheaper prices for cosmetic procedures can be relative to lack of modern equipment.
There are so many cosmetic dentists here in the US, that they must stay competitive with their rates and their availability of modern treatment. This means that most domestic dentists consistently upgrade their equipment to stay up to date, which can mean higher prices. In other countries, the cheaper prices can be relative to the fact that the same equipment has been in use for many years. For example, an international dentist may be using an old-fashioned x-ray machine instead of investing in a new one that would yield higher quality imagery, which means they can afford to charge less for certain treatments.
Getting unsatisfactory service from an international dentist may leave you with limited options.
If you are treated by a domestic dentist and are soon after unhappy with the results, you have the opportunity to go back to that dentist to amend their mistakes or even seek a lawyer for litigation if necessary. Unfortunately, this is not always a possibility if you received your cosmetic dental procedure in a different country. Laws and regulations in one particular area can be quite different than they are here at home and you may not be able to file a medical malpractice claim at all.
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