"Dental tourism is fast emerging as a major branch of medical tourism. Most leading tour operators and websites have included this in their service charts," chief surgeon of Dental Designs, Gins Paul said.
Located close to tourist spots, most of the dental clinics have state-of-the art facilities for diagnosing the visitors in advance through video conferencing or web cast and fix the duration and cost of treatment before landing.
Most of the visitors are from Europe and the Gulf, Paul said. "The medical expenses are very high in foreign countries, especially the dental treatments. So people there prefer countries which offer less expensive treatment, without compromising the quality and standards," Paul told PTI.
Quite a few dental clinics with qualified doctors and imported equipment had come up across the state in the last couple of years, he said, adding that they offer all kinds of treatments--from dental implant to composite bonding, from root-canaling to the most-modern trends in cosmetic dentistry.
According to industry sources, the cost of dental treatment in the state is four to five times cheaper than that of the Gulf and much less than European nations. While in Europe it costs Rs 1.5 to 2.5 lakh for dental implant, in Kerala it is only around Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000.
Similarly, hospitals in US charge around Rs 40,000-Rs 45,000 for partial denture, but in the state, the expense comes to around Rs 7,500-Rs 12,000 only, the sources said.
Similar is the case in other kinds of dental treatments like teeth replacing, cosmetic dentistry package which includes teeth whitening, metal-free ceramics, laminate veneers and smile design.
So far, Kerala has been able to attract dental tourists mainly from UK, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France and the Middle East, the sources said. In most cases, the treatment session is combined with the tourist seasons (November-April) in Kerala, they added.