People from the western nations are now more than willing to cross borders and even oceans to get low-cost dental care in countries like India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. The cost difference is indeed the huge draw for people coming in from more affluent consumers in U.S. and Europe. For example a single caries restoration costs $300 to $400 in the U.S., while it costs only $20 to $40 in the most state-of-the-art dental clinics in India. A dental bridge in the U.S. costs $5,500 while it is only $500 in India. Dental caps or dental crowns cost as high as $950 to $1450 in any U.S. suburb but it costs as low as a $100 in India. That's the dollar-rupee difference we are talking about.
But people from the U.S. and Europe are not just coming in for a small dental procedure like caries restoration, they are obviously coming down for a couple of root canals or a major dental surgery. Even a discounted round-trip to India would cost about $1,400 dollars. That's a lot of money so the trip ought to be worthwhile. Reason why, many visitors include a small vacation package to their dental appointments. For example, if a consumer comes to Bangalore for a dental procedure, he might finish up with his teeth and head to Goa for a vacation by the beach. And all this will still work out to be cost-effective for him.
Dental Tourism is growing phenomenally. It's something that the uninsured, the less insured and even the insurers are seriously considering in countries like the U.S. and Europe. It is estimated that $2 billion people will come to India as a part of the medical tourism initiative by 2012. And a good part of this crowd will come down to India for dental treatment. Because brighter smiles are more affordable in this part of the world.
