From Volume 41, Issue 1, January 2014 | Pages 40-43
The concept of dental tourism can be considered two-fold. On one side it is a term used to describe non-UK residing patients who visit, requesting NHS dental care whilst here in the UK. Alternatively, it also encompasses patients who travel to destinations outside their residing countries to receive care. The latter has become an ever-growing issue in the UK; one that warrants appropriate management and knowledge of current legislation amongst dental professionals.
Within the United Kingdom (UK) the majority of the public will access NHS primary dental services for routine dental care. Others who have the financial means may wish to seek services within the private sector. Over recent years, it has become more evident that many individuals are opting to travel overseas for dental treatment; complex restorative dental care and treatment involving dental implants are amongst the most popular.1
With successive Government reforms to the NHS dental contract, a proportion of dentists have shifted their services from the NHS into either mixed or private dentistry. The primary focus of the new NHS contract rightly strives towards prevention of disease, resulting in a change in the treatment pattern of care provided by NHS dentists. Fewer complex procedures are being carried out in primary care and are now increasingly redirected either to secondary care or to the private sector.
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