India leaves foreign tourists all smiles21 Jun, 2007, 0332 hrs
IST,
Vishakha Talreja & Khomba Singh, TNN NEW DELHI:
American tourist Christina Douglas enjoyed her recent 12-day visit
to India. Besides the Taj Mahal what she remembers most is that the
country returned her smile. That too for just $3,333 she spent on
cosmetic dentistry as compared to $88,888 that it would have cost
her in the US.
Incredible India is now putting smiles on
many faces. Thanks to quality dental treatments available at over
70% cheaper than that in the west, globetrotters are thronging the
country, to get various dental treatments from root canal surgeries
to implants.
Getting
cavities filled and teeth repaired are just a small part of the
growing medical tourism sector. Tummy tucks with a trip to the Taj,
cardiac surgeries followed by spa massages and dental implants after
an excursion to Khajuraho - medical tourism has come of age in
India. Dental tourism, growing at 30% per annum is one of the
fastest growing segment of medical tourism.
Says Jaipur Dental Hospital’s Dr Harvender
Singh, “Owing to lower cost as compared to that in UK and US,
foreigners opt for India. Cost can be as low as 1/15th at times
varying with the type of treatment.” Dental implant is the most
common type of treatment that foreign patients avail of.
What has also made dental tourism one of the
fastest growing segment of medical tourism, is the fact that dental
treatment is not covered by insurance in most countries. Max
Hospital’s, head of dentistry department, Ramesh Mathur says, “About
90% of the preventive dental treatment is not covered by insurance
policies. Many hospitals in India provide world class treatment in
terms of laboratory, materials used and also easy and speedy
appointments.”
And what
about the competition? “Though there is competition from Asian
countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, they cannot match the
quality of treatment provided by Indian hospitals,” he added. To woo
dental tourists, doctors and tour operators are working in sync.
In India, the procedures are quite speedy as
compared to those carried out in the west where there could be a
waiting period for some surgical procedures. And then there are
cases of incidental dental treatment too. “About 40% of the dental
tourists are patients who have come for some other treatment and
then decided to have dental treatment done as well,” says Mathur.
With growing market,
dental tourism is serious business for many players. For instance
Confident Dental Equipment, Bangalore based dental equipment
manufacturing company, is setting up a chain of 100 dental
hospitals, investing around Rs 500-600 crore, largely to cater to
the needs of foreign patients.
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