In India Dental treatments are 65 to 90 per cent cheaper than the developed world. The favourable cost-benefit ratio, quality and technological infrastructure in treatment attracting international patients from US, Europe, Middle East and South East Asian region to India.
One thing is that they have a genuine customer-friendly attitude toward patients. That sincerity is the basis for great customer service that will keep your customers coming back. Dental tourists travel chiefly to take advantage of lower prices. Reasons for lower prices are many: dentists outside the "developed world" are able to take advantage of much lower fixed costs, lower labor costs, less government intervention, lower education fees and expenses, and lower insurance costs. In India, there are currently over 1,00,000 dentists with nearly 20,000 dentists in metros and over 10,000 dental specialists, which include orthodontists, peridontists, endodontists, prosthodontists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, pedodontists and implantologists. Dentists are also known to be accessing the world’s best consumables and instruments.
Replacement of missing tooth and dental implant is a regular and preferred treatment procedure. Teeth whitening procedures, veneers are also generating interest among international patients and promoting dental tourists. Typically, a patient takes two trips to have implants. The first trip is to set the base and the provisional crown. The second trip is typically 4–6 months later after the implant has stabilized in the bone. One Day Implants are not recommended for dental tourists due to the higher failure rate of the system.
50% of the total dental tourism cases are from the Middle East countries. South East Asian and neighbouring countries reporting 30% inflow and European Union accounts 20% of patients coming to India. Key hubs include Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kerala and Goa. This is due to lack of medical technology and need of infrastructure in their region and the availability of the same in India at an affordable cost. Other countries which include Singapore, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Hungary providing dental tourism. The low waiting period is another factor of attraction.
The Indian medical tourism industry is expected to reach $6 billion (around Rs.36,000 crore) by 2018. Currently, the size of the medical tourism industry in India in value terms is estimated at a little over $3 billion, with tourist arrivals estimated at 230,000.
