Question:

I'm a 41-year-old male and I need to have a dental implant (T2) and apparently a bone augmentation before proceeding to another procedure for a permanent crown. I don't have private health cover and they are expensive procedures.

Can you tell me the approximate costs I can expect to pay for these and where do you stand on dental holidays to Thailand, for example?

Answer:

It is really difficult to quote for a procedure like this with so many variables involved, such as implant type and tooth position for bone augmentation, but typically single-tooth implant replacement can range between $5000 to $7000.

While it certainly may not be cheap, you need to consider that such treatment, if performed and maintained correctly, can last a lifetime. So given you have a life expectancy of 40 more years or longer, your decision to treat should not be based on the fees alone. This brings me to the second part of your question.

I see a number of patients in my practice who have had work that has gone wrong and is in need of retreatment. "Holiday dentistry" patients are over-represented here.

While I don't want to generalise, I find it difficult to understand why anyone would entrust their health to less-qualified practitioners in countries with less rigid educational and infection control guidelines. This is especially worrying when there is little or no opportunity for recourse if anything does go wrong.

Have you considered enforcing any warrantee that might have been given? If you were buying a car would you order one from overseas that hasn't been subjected to Australian standard safety and reliability standards, or would you buy one locally for a bit more, and have the peace of mind that you are getting what you paid for?

My advice is if you want to go for a holiday than you can do much worse than go to Thailand. But if you want to have quality dentistry performed you could do much worse than having treatment performed in Australia.

For more information please visit Dr Angelo Lazaris's website.