Q&A about Dentistry-Answered by a qualified Goan Dentist

Nick-H

Amazing! My UK implants were done by one guy and his nurse! (not that I have any complaints).

My Chennai dentist (prosthodontist and implantologist) here always works with at least two assistants. For the fittings for my mouth-full of crowns currently in progress the lab technician has been involved as well. No "it'll have to go back to the lab come back in a week...".

--- because this is your Q&A thread, but I'm chucking in my comments to show how happy I am with my experience of Indian dentistry

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Goandentist

Nick , your comments are very much welcome. Its good to have an insight into patient expectations from a dentist, how we can now move from a medical industry in which the doctor thinks he is god to a service industry where the patient is god . You pay a lot for dental treatment you have the right to excellent service and you must be completely satisfied by the service. Its a shame you dont have any pre-op pictures but do post a picture here of your new look so we can all see what dental implants can do for you.

Cheers !

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Dr. Ambert Pimenta
www.goadentist.com

The India Mike Dental thread

Goandentist

EDIT NOTE - this post has been merged into this thread.

Go Goa : Suntans and bright smiles included by Reuven Proenca, Gomantak Times 27th July 2005 Goa India

Goa with it combination of super specialty hospitals and luxurious hotels, has been touted as an ideal medical tourism destination where ailing foreigners can combine a relaxing holiday with cheap but effective medical treatment.
But the state is seeing a new trend: hitching onto the medico-leisure bandwagon are dentists who are offering their services at a fraction of the price their foreign clients would expect to pay at home.
Dr. Ambert Pimenta, for example catches the attention of prospective clients with a simple promise: get your dental treatment in Goa and holiday for free. His website (www.goadentist.com) says, "Yes as I promised, here is how you can make your holiday to Goa absolutely FREE ! Consider how much you pay in Europe or America ...are the long lines and frustrating long waits at an NHS dentist wearing you down ? Compare our pricing with that of any NHS service or private practice for that matter, we will leave the competition behind.
The subsequent arithmetic proves his point : the average cost of an all inclusive package holiday being approximately £600 per person. While a dentist in the UK would charge £900 for tooth whitening, three crowns and a bridge Dr. Pimenta, on the other hand does the same job for just £240 (approximately Rs 20,000), which he says amounts to a saving of £660, hence the free holiday. The website also carries details of various dental treatments and a comparison of costs.
While dentists practicing in and around the tourist belts have been treating foreign patients for years now, increasing numbers -like Dr. Pimenta, Dr. Anand Colaco and Dr. Hubert Gomes, to name a few are focusing their sights on the potentially lucrative foreign market. " Last year we had a lot of British patients ," Dr. Pimenta, who has clinics in Margao and Calangute, told Gomantak Times. " Goa is already been marketed as a tourist destination so we are just adding value to the brand by offering them our services"
He says that he first latched onto the idea of catering to tourists when a foreign patient told him how difficult it was to get treated by Britain's National Health Service (NHS).
" He told me he had to sleep on the streets for hours to be among the first to get an appointment. Even then it would take at least six months to get to the dentists chair. What we do here is to offer them a holiday coupled with dental treatment and they get treated like royalty for a fraction of the price they would have to pay back home." Dr. Pimenta explained. He adds that he gets between 300 to 400 patients per season, most of them through word of mouth.
Dentists say the most frequently sort treatment is laser tooth whitening , a 45 minute job that costs approximately Rs 48,000 in Britain and Rs 5,000 in Goa.
Dr. Anand Colaco says, " the cost factor is very attractive to foreigners, unlike other treatments in the west, dental treatment is not subsidised or covered by insurance so they have to shell out exorbitant amounts. When they come to India they see that dental treatment is not only affordable but also of good quality. We also make an effort to build up a rapport with the patients unlike practitioners in the west."

note to mods : Original newspaper clipping are here http://www.goadentist.com/goa_news.htm

Goandentist

EDIT NOTE - this post has been merged into this thread.

For years tourists have been coming to India not realising that the doctors here are well qualified and treatment here is at par with any surgery in the UK. India is today is a "Preferred Health Giver State " as stated by the british authorities.
A friend of mine came down 2 days back from Essex and brought the Saturday edition 25th June 2005 of the Daily Mail to show me . A beautiful aricle by David Jones from Banglore. He writes " With sparkling wards and medical costs a fraction of ours , India is ruthlessly targetting the growing number of British patients fed up with waiting lists and terrified of MRSA. Could this be the answer to our NHS crisis ?

Why Goa ?
I would say yes, India is the answer to the NHS crisis . Many members on India Mike have been to Goa and seen what it has to offer as a tousirt destination. So the idea of Goa as a tourist destination does not need to be sold to anyone. The value added services that go on with it has not been looked at closely.
Why am i saying Goa and not the rest of India ? Its because cheap charter flights today fly direct to Goa only. Goa has been on the world map for 2 decades now, as a hot tourist destination.
The idea of a holiday in Goa coupled with Medical treatment is a sure winner ! ( and No the Goa Govt is not paying me to promote this information )

Dr. Ambert

Digital Drifter

I think it works the other way too. Instead of patients flying down, the NHS is /also/ recruiting doctors from India, S. Africa. My friend has been recruited in such a manner. He leaves in a few months.

agni5454

Why do the British have bad teeth? Is it because they eat a lot of chocolate?

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"Human Life without happiness or hope of happiness is not a life, but rather a death in life" - David Swenson The Dignity of Human Life

"History is always a perspective; but numbers never lie"

Goandentist

Thats a very interesting question ... I dont think its limited to any country. People are the same in any part of the world. We have bad teeth too !

About Chocolates and how yr mama has been telling you that too many chocolates and your teeth will get spoilt >> Most dairy milk chocolates are soft and sticky and we dont really wash our mouths after eating do we ;not a chocolate , everyone loves the sweet taste to linger ! So now the choc sticks to yr teeth in spaces that u cannot reach. We have normal bacteria in our mouth , they feed on whats left and the by-product is acid . Acid is what starts breaking down the teeth and thats how we get cavities. Once a cavity is formed the bacteria will sit inside there and chomp on what you eat but the nasty acid makes the cavity bigger and bigger .

So listen to your mama !! BTW hard boiled sweets are fine as they dont stick to your teeth

Cheers

LuAnnandJawahar

How about some pictures of your office??

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Reject violence.

Goandentist

will update soon !

Nick-H

Hard boiled sweets broke at least two of my teeth. Swore never to eat one again after the second time . Never could suck without biting them.

So, is it true then that sugar has no direct effect on the teeth? with regular brushing to get rid of the bacteria and the residues one could eat as much sugar as one liked without rotting the teeth?

How about milk? Someone tolkd me once that Lactic Acid in milk attacks the teeth and that the habbit many people have have giving children a glass of milk before going to sleep is a very bad one. True?

Goandentist

Hi Nick,

Lets learn a golden rule about how to prevent cavities :

" Always rinse your mouth after meals and make it a habit for children to do so after every meal"

Its not just milk or chocolates , any food that remains in corners and spaces of your mouth are potential areas for bacteria to make their nest !

Rinse ,Rinse , Rinse !

Indianworker

A dentist in Delhi where I am staying has recommended that I have my teeth whitened. Looking through this thread I notice you write about teeth whitening using the 'home' method - that is the patient is fitted with a shield to wear which is filled with a gel to whiten the teeth and has to be worn for 2 hours a day or all night if poss for about 8-10 days. This is the method he was stating.

I have to admit my teeth could do with whitening and would like to go ahead but a few friends in Delhi have told me that the 4,000rps cost he is quoting me is too steep. This cost equates to cleaning my teeth and the whitening procedure.

Could I ask in your professional opinion does this cost seem too high or about right?

Thank you for your help.

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Indianworker

Goandentist

Hi,

Delhi is generally acknowledged to be the most expensive for dentistry in India and the price the dentist quoted is really good. I recommend that you have the treatment done , but insist on a good cleaning of yr teeth before you start the procedure . This should be included in the price.

Indianworker

Thank you for getting back to me. Really want to go ahead now but could I just ask one more question which is puzzling me.

I have white fillings (can't remember proper name - sorry) in my front teeth, both top and bottom section. I was told by my UK dentist that in order for the whitening to work I would need to have these fillings replaced as although the gel would whiten my teeth it would not change the colour of my fillings which at the moment blend in fairly well with my teeth i.e. if I had the procedure done I would end up with white teeth but yellow fillings. It is because of this she recommended not to go ahead with whitening but leave so that fillings remain untouched.

However, my Indian dentist has said that the gel would lighten my fillings as well so the discrepancy between the fillings and teeth would be minimal.

Now puzzled as to whether whitening will work or not on fillings. I am not trying to question either Dentist but would you be able to give me your professional opinion on this so that I can make my decision. If gel will change filling colour so no difference then I would like to go ahead.

Thank you

Goandentist

Hi ,

If the indian dentist said that your fillings will whiten with tooth bleaching he has got another thing coming. In all the years that i have been doing whitening i have never seen fillings change colour on whitening. Its not a possibility.
You must be realistic about going in for this treatment . Your dentists statement puts him on my "ignorant/lack of experience" list. If you are to go ahead with the treatment , wait for 2-3 weeks till the colour stabilises then see your fillings , they will need to be changed for sure.

I agree with your UK dentist !

Cheers