DENTAL TOURISM - OUR PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

A lot of European countries are developing dental tourism as a one of the most important segment of the growing medical tourism on our continent. In our country, it must be noted that mainly private clinics, dental offices and practices are involved in dental tourism. Main advantage in dental tourisam must be based on the quality of dental services, affordable prices and attractiveness of the destination. In our country big number of places that can attract tourists throughout whole year. The main aim of this article is to explore the factors of the success of dental tourism development in neighboring European countries, services that are offered, equipment, limitations and possibilities for development that will increase the competitiveness of the Macedonian dental tourism industry. Dental tourism, as a part of medical tourism, is also expanding nowadays. Even, dental tourism is a rapidly developing industry in many parts of the world, academic and scientific research on it is very limited. The results of this research show five key factors influencing the decision: Quality-Price, Facilities and Technology, Length of Time and Price of Treatments. The main reasons for abroad dental treatment seeking are lack of availability for adequate dental treatment at home, dissatisfaction with dental treatments at their home countries, lower prices, and high quality care together with patients’ wish for vacation. In most of the highly developed counties dental care is too expensive. As a consequence, countries with a lower cost of living and less expensive overheads become attractive destinations for cheaper dental treatment. Dental patients may combine their cheaper dental treatment with a holiday, thanks also to the increasing availability of low-cost air travel. When combined with a holiday, as the name implies, dental tourism can be an opportunity to receive low-cost, quality dental care. Dental tourism is expected to continue growing, as consumers continue to seek out lower-cost options. Dental tourists mostly come from the developed countries of the western world. Patients from Western Europe mostly choose to travel to Hungary, which is a leader in this part of the world. On the American continent leaders in dental tourism are Mexico and Costa Rica, while in Asia it is a leading medical-tourism force India, which is superior in the world, followed by Thailand. In these countries can be included also Poland, Turkey, Romania, Croatia and others. For improving dental tourism it is necessary to improve knowledge of advertising and marketing orientation in general. Also, it is necessary to work on improving the on-line presence and on-line communication with patients (which includes clinical effects from therapy, X-rays, offers, estimates, additional information by email), which is crucial for the success of this form of services. It is necessary to network dentist offices so that they could appear in the market as a cluster and offer a wide range of service packages, with prosthetics seen as a particularly good opportunity. Also, it is necessary to work on networking accommodation and tourist capacities and on developing the overall offer. The prices of dental interventions in Macedonia are 5-10 times lower than the prices in the USA, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, despite the fact that in most dental offices and clinics in our country, the same high quality dental materials and the latest state-of-the-art equipment are used, and also a highly professional staff is working on it. Most often, patients from foreign countries are interested in the placement of dental implants, bridges, crowns and prostheses, which provide complete reconstruction of the tooth.