Overseas providers have long been trying to tempt UK patients, often with disastrous consequences for themselves and causing problems for UK dentists. Yet they are becoming even more blatant in their attempts to infiltrate the market, finds Sophie Borland

 

Over the next few weeks, destinations including Bristol, Croydon in South London, Liverpool, Newcastle and Norwich will all play host a new breed of health tourism – the free dental meet-up.

These pop-up events will see Turkish dental clinics fly out to the conference rooms of premium UK hotel chains including the Radisson Blu and Double Tree by Hilton.

Adverts have already been posted on Facebook encouraging prospective patients to come along and ‘take the first step towards your dream smile’ and ‘combine your treatment with a perfect holiday’.

While on the face of it these are just free, informative events, both the General Dental Council (GDC) and the British Dental Association (BDA) tell GDPUK they may be illegal.

Both organisations are worried that the dentists providing the consultations at the hotels are not registered with the GDC, the regulator for the UK’s 120,000 dental workers. Although the clinics claim they are not providing treatment at these events, it is illegal for any non-registered dentist even to carry out an assessment here in Britain for a future procedure in another country.

The GDC told GDPUK that they had ‘concerns about these events’, pointing out that it is ‘illegal for anybody who is not a GDC registrant to provide dental treatment in the UK.’

A spokesperson for the regulator said they would be making the legal issues clear to the hotels hosting the event. They added that they were also concerned that patients turning up would be getting advice that would lead to ‘inappropriate or substandard treatment’.

But the BDA, the trade union and professional body for UK dentists, says authorities including the GDC and the Care Quality Commission – which regulates healthcare providers - are not doing enough to clamp down on these meet-ups.

Dr Eddie Crouch, the BDA’s chair, says: ‘Any major city within the UK will have something happening this weekend where they’re looking to attract people to go here, under the guise of having a consultation.’

‘Any weekend, even here in Birmingham where dental access is relatively easy, there’s probably three or four different hotels hosting events where they’re trying to recruit patients to go for treatment.’

He says the regulators are ‘seemingly unwilling to tackle crimes taking place in plain sight’.

One Turkish clinic hosting an event in Croydon in June is advertising ‘special discounts’ for patients if they show up and then book their treatment in Istanbul.

Another provider organising a meet-up in Norwich in May promises patients ‘no pressure, just real answers’ while a clinic organising an event in Bristol, also in May, claims there will be ‘no hidden costs.’ Several adverts tell patients there are ‘limited spots available’.

Dr Crouch tells GDPUK: ‘Dentistry in Britain is tightly regulated, but the authorities here seem utterly untroubled these clinics are now touting for business in UK hotels.’

Root canal on the Costa del Sol

As well as travelling abroad for cosmetic procedures, the BDA says increasing numbers of patients are going overseas for routine care which was previously available on the NHS.

These include root canals and tooth extractions which should, in theory, be provided on the health service as ‘band 2’ treatments.

But many patients aren’t registered with NHS dentists and the cost of an extraction at a UK private clinic can be over £200, rising to more than £1,000 for root canal procedures.

Experts say patients are travelling to Eastern and Southern Europe for these treatments and GDPUK found companies in Hungary, Croatia and the Costa del Sol in Spain all marketing themselves to patients in Britain as a means of avoiding NHS waits and saving money.

One clinic in Budapest, Hungary, which publishes testimonials from UK-based patients on its website, offers root canal treatment for just £142 per canal. Its website promises them ‘affordable prices, avoiding long waiting lists’.

Another provider based near Zagreb, Croatia, which quotes a root canal fee of £75 per canal, encourages patients to book Ryanair flights from London Stansted or Manchester, which take just two hours.

A firm based in Estepona on the Costa del Sol, in Southern Spain, also providing root canal treatments, says patients can save up to 65% on costs. Its website claims the ‘NHS dental crisis’ has led to ‘endless waiting lists and the risk of serious dental problems’.

Many clinics encourage patients to combine their treatment with a holiday and some provide free or discounted accommodation.

Dr Crouch says: ‘I think people are travelling for all sorts of things now. It’s not only patients chasing Hollywood smiles now sadly, it’s going for treatment that should be provided here in the UK.’

Neil Carmichael, non-executive chair of the Association of Dental Groups, the trade association for groups of dental and oral health care providers, says he is also aware of people travelling abroad for routine care.

‘If people are needing to go abroad for NHS care, that means they aren’t getting it here and that is largely caused by the shortage of dentists we have. I would bet on the fact that most people who are flying out to get dental care live in areas which we’ve described as dental deserts.’

Potentially harmful consequences

Despite the rise in patients travelling overseas for routine care, it is the serious consequences of cosmetic treatments dentists told us they are most concerned about.

In April, an inquest in Norwich heard how a 48-year-old father of three had taken his own life after a botched dental procedure in Türkiye had left him without any teeth.

Pawel Bukowski, who was originally from Poland, was sent home without any dentures after his teeth were removed and told he would have to wait six months for his new implants.

In January, 41-year-old Leanne Abeyance revealed how a ‘Türkiye teeth’ procedure had left her unable to breathe through her nose and in need of reconstructive surgery.

There is no official data on the numbers of people from the UK travelling abroad for either cosmetic or routine dental care. But a survey of 1,000 dentists by the BDA in July 2022 found that 86% had treated patients who had developed problems following procedures overseas.

Dr Simon Thackeray, president of the British Association of Private Dentistry and a practising dentist in Mansfield, Nottingham, has seen serious complications including one case where he says he just didn’t know where to start.

‘They’re coming back with periodontal disease, gum disease, because the margins on the crowns or the veneers don’t fit, they are coming back with fractures to porcelain because nobody has checked the way the teeth bite together, the occlusion, they are coming back with teeth that are dying with abscesses because too much tooth has been taken away. I’ve seen implants put in at interesting angles which are then difficult to restore. I’ve seen multiple crowns joined together whereas in the UK you do them as individual units.’

Dentists are also concerned they are going to get sued by the very patients they are trying to help as it may be easier for them to take legal action here in the UK than Türkiye.

Dr Thackeray adds: ‘There’s sort of a once you touch it you own it in dentistry. As soon as you start assisting these patients, you’re now taking ownership of the potential problem. Some of them are so deep seated, these problems. Because we’re then in this litigious society, are we then going to get sued?’

Dr Crouch adds: ‘People are demanding the perfect smile and wanting it in a period of time when they’re actually on a two week holiday in Türkiye. Some of that treatment just can’t be done over that period of time, safely and appropriately.

‘If you intervene in trying to help someone with a problem, the liability shifts to the dentist who’s actually trying to help. I imagine that that’s one of the things in most colleagues’ mind when they actually get a patient like this presenting.’

Referring to the meet-ups run by Turkish clinics in UK hotels, a GDC spokesperson said: ‘We do have concerns about these events, for two reasons. The first is that it is illegal for anybody who is not a GDC registrant to provide dental treatment in the UK, and that includes assessing patients for treatment to be delivered in another country.

‘We will make that clear to the venues hosting these events and will discourage events of this kind where we can – but ultimately we have powers to prosecute and the courts can impose unlimited fines on conviction.

‘But we are also concerned about prospective patients being given advice which may not be in their best interests and which may lead to them getting inappropriate or substandard treatment. We have no powers to regulate dental treatment given in other countries, but we do provide advice on our website about the questions patients should ask themselves before deciding to seek treatment in other countries.’