A new survey has found that over the past 12 months, 76% of Irish dentists in private practice have had to treat patients for problems linked to dental treatments they received abroad.
The survey was carried out in April and May 2009 by independent research company Behaviour & Attitudes on behalf of the Irish Dental Association (IDA), and 440 Irish dentists responded to the survey, which dealt with a variety of issues. Approximately 1,700 dentists are in private practice in Ireland at present, according to the IDA.
Donal Blackwell, D.D.S., president of the IDA, said the findings reinforced concerns about the quality of dental care being provided in some other countries.
"We're seeing a lot people returning home with problems which are directly related to the quality of the care they received abroad," he said in a press release. Common problems include too much dental work being done over too short a period of time, unnecessary work being done, and poor materials being used.
Dr. Blackwell said that one of the problems was that when considering traveling abroad for dental treatment, patients tended to focus on short-term, aesthetic results rather than the long-term quality of the care they received, and that the lure of lower prices meant that patients were less concerned about the need for different treatments than the cost of them.
Patients need to be more discerning when considering traveling abroad for treatment, Dr. Blackwell said.
"Dental tourism, like medical tourism, is a fact of life in every developed country, and some people travel to Ireland for specialist dental work," he said. "However, we need to encourage people who may be traveling abroad to focus on the quality of work they receive and whether that work is really necessary, not just the price of that work."
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