Dental Tourism in India

In the wake of the recent global economic turmoil and the rising cost of health care, people have sought for ways to reduce their medical bills while still gaining comparative levels of dental services. One of country that is well poised to establish itself as a power house in the dental tourism industry is India. At the moment, the annual growth in dental tourism figures, in India, are reputed to increase at a rate of 30% annually and the contribution to the GDP is gauged to be around $2 billion, by the year 2012.

The rise in this industry has a lot to with an investment on top medical equipment, excellent services and great discounts on medical costs. The quality of the services in India have risen to such an extent, as to be able to rival those found western countries like Germany, USA or United Kingdom.

The dental tourism industry in India, has also received a lot of support from the government, through investments in infrastructure development. The industry itself is trying to posing itself to compete directly against their western rivals by trying to comply with international quality standards on practicing dental procedures. Another added useful resource that India has in the provision of dental services is the wide spread use of the English language, especially in medical institutions. Therefore, dental tourists won’t have to worry about any language barriers as they stay in India.

Perhaps the basic reason why India is being sought out as an attractive destination for dental tourism is the price charged for a variety of dental procedures. For instance, patients in western countries are accustomed to paying 300-400 dollars for fillings, whereas in India a similar procedure will cost you between 20 to 40 dollars. For more complicated procedures like root canals, patients can expect to pay 3,000 dollars in the United States, but in India you will only pay a fraction of the cost (between 1000-2000 dollars). Dentures in western countries will cost 1,000 dollars, but in India they will cost you $200.

Travelers also have the opportunity to visit world renowned sites like the Taj Mahal or to go on a memorable elephant ride in the jungle.