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News
UK Dental Implants from £599 - Yes, really.
1 May 2008
Since August 2006 our dentists have been placing dental implants in the UK regularly.
We worked out a reasonable price for dental implant treatments. Prices for one, single dental implant placement start at £599, total cost of one tooth replacement starts at £1199. This is an average 20-30% savings compare to UK prices.
For more details please refer to our pricelist.
Our Budapest Clininc turns into Space Age - mayor works
30 April 2008
Our surgery in Budapest became extremely busy in the last 3 years. Although our equipment is state of the art we decided to upgrade them even further and to extend the surgery with 3 new chairs. We will also add a consultation room and an extra chair only for tooth whitening.
How it will look? See it on the video and it looks for itself.
FREE Consultation** at Harley Street, London from 1st May
1 April 2008
The consultation costs £40, however from 1st May 2008 the consultation fee can be deducted from your final bill. All you need to do is to start your treatment within 3 weeks of the consultation.
We introduce a cutting edge bone regeneration treatment
15 March 2008
We carry out an average of 40-50 consultations a week at our London surgery. We often see patients who went under sever bone loss and sometimes bone replacement using synthetic bone replacement material or bone harvested from the mouth is not sufficient.
For complicated cases we set up a world class service in one of Hungary’s best equipped hospital, offering world class bone regeneration treatment using bone taken from the hip. For details please speak to our staff.
American implant company nominates our clinic education centre
19 February 2008
The American Zimmer Inc (leader in joint replacement solutions for knee pain and hip pain and provider of comprehensive spine care solutions for acute and chronic back pain. The company also provides a broad range of trauma, dental implant, and orthopaedic surgical products) nominates our Budapest clinic for a local Zimmer educational centre.
In addition Dr Batorfi is a local lecturer in the Munster University's (Germany) Master Implantologie Training Program
DentistAbroad's mother company invests into safety and quality
1 January 2008
Many of our clients were concerned about aftercare and check up facilities when considering travelling abroad for treatment.
Now we have the answer.
DentistAbroad’s mother company understands these concerns and made steps to ensure their clients that safety and the quality of the service is on the tops of the list.
DentistAbroad is the first in their kind to set up their own dental practice in the UK at 46 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PT.
100% Success Rate - DentistAbroad Masters the way
30 October 2007
DentistAbroad introduced the revolutionary new Straumann SLActive implant system last year. DentistAbroad was the first to launch the system in Hungary and among the first users world wide.
We are proud to announce that all of the 300 SLActive implants we placed since July 2006 healed perfectly and took, giving 100% success rate with the Straumann system.
We are also proud that our 98% success rate of the conventional implant systems we use, is also above the average.
We believe that the key to the success is the top quality of the implants we use and the expertise of our dentists.
From October 2007 DentistAbroad has 3 Master Dentists in Implanotolgie.
Our head dentist Dr Batorfi bears the masters qualification for over year now. Our two other dentists holding masters from October 2007 are Dr Balazs Kozik and Dr Attila Halasz.
Falling pound affects treatment prices abroad
22 April 2008
BBC NEWS - Thursday, 10 April 2008 22:05 UK
We are writing to inform about a few changes in our services.
Our clinics in Hungary have informed us that as the British currency fell about 15-20% against the Euro and the Hungarian currency in the last year they are no longer able to provide their services without increasing their prices.
Following a general meeting last week there is a mutually accepted decision was made between the directors and representatives of our Hungarian dental clinics. They have increased their prices with 15%.
How will this effect you?
If you received your treatment plan before this notice (24th April 2008) was issued you will be able to enjoy the old prices. You just have to make sure that your treatment plan and quotation is with you at any stage of your treatment.
If you received our quotation at 25th April 2008 and after, the price will no longer be valid and you will have to calculate with a 15% increase in the price which will be clearly stated in your treatment plan.
If you are a new patient you will receive your treatment plan with the amended prices.
Good news is that the discount on cash payment will still be available and will mean an 3% deduction from the total payment.
Press
The Observer - Guardian Unlimited
Open wide for your next holiday - by Lisa Bachelor
Last year 20,000 Britons went abroad for dental treatment. Lisa Bachelor finds out the drill
Property investors and skiers have long known about the advantages of a trip to Eastern Europe, but growing numbers of Britons are now jetting off to the likes of Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria to cut the cost of their dental bills.
Read full article here
Mirror
DOC HOLIDAY
Treatment Abroad says you can save 79 per cent by travelling for heart surgery, 69 per cent on a hip replacement and 65 per cent having cataracts removed. The savings are also significant for dental work. Implants cost some 61 per cent less, wisdom tooth extraction a 52 per cent saving and acrylic dentures 44 per cent cheaper.
Two insurance companies will pay you cash if you choose to go abroad for treatment - Freedom Healthnet and Patient Choice.
Read full article here
Escapeartist.com
Looking For Something A Little Different? - Journey Thru Hungary - By Steve Phillips
Well as I discussed earlier it is an absolutely fantastic place for any kind of dental work, all the dentists that operate there are University trained and most are licensed to work in other parts of Europe. The service is first rate, the quality is unrivaled anywhere, the price is incredibly low and best of all most dentists will offer a five year guarantee.
Read full article here
Evening Star
Patient says go abroad for dental work
Mr Gillen, 63, said the total cost of his dental work, which included an orthopantograph x-ray, 13 extractions, four porcelain crowns and two long term temporary partial dentures in the upper and lower jaw, cost £1,346.
Read full article here
Thisismoney.co.uk
Heading abroad to see the dentist - Helen Loveless, Mail on Sunday
According to revahealthnetwork.com, a medical search engine, 35,000 Britons a year travel abroad for dental work, while nearly 60,000 searched online for information on dental tourism in July - up more than 50% on the previous month.
...
There are also huge savings to be made on less expensive procedures. Veneers that cost £500 in the UK are £270 in Hungary...
Read full article here
New Statesman
Down in the mouth - by Neil Clark
"We are going back to the dark ages of dentistry," says Richard Daniels, chief executive of the Dental Laboratories Association. Eighteen months on from the introduction of new NHS contracts, discontent within the dental profession is growing. The DLA says the current contract "forces dentists to make prescription decisions based on financial resources rather than clinical need" and claims there has been a 57 per cent reduction in "Band 3 treatments" such as crowns and dentures.
Read full article here
The Observer - Guardian Unlimited
'Open wide for your next holiday - by Lisa Bachelor'
Last year 20,000 Britons went abroad for dental treatment. Lisa Bachelor finds out the drill
Property investors and skiers have long known about the advantages of a trip to Eastern Europe, but growing numbers of Britons are now jetting off to the likes of Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria to cut the cost of their dental bills.
Fifty thousand people in the UK travelled abroad for medical treatment last year and 20,000 of these did so for the sake of their teeth. The average spend on dentistry was £2,500, according to website Treatmentabroad, which surveyed 300 clinics, medical tourism companies, hospitals, doctors, dentists and healthcare providers overseas that are promoting their services to the UK market.
Cost is the biggest factor driving people overseas - savings of more than 80 per cent can be made on some forms of treatment - but the rise in dental tourists has also been due to changes in the NHS in the past year. 'The biggest growth in dental tourism appears to have been fuelled by the changes to NHS dental contracts, especially for people who want more complex procedures carried out,' says Keith Pollard, spokesman for Treatmentabroad. 'They are either struggling to find a dentist to do it or when they do are being met with costs of £10,000 to £15,000 in some cases.
The Dental Laboratories Association, the professional body for lab owners, claimed last week that its members were being deprived of work because the new NHS contracts rewarded dentists for carrying out less complex procedures. Chief executive Richard Daniels said: 'The current contract is forcing dentists to make prescription decisions based on financial resources rather than clinical need. We are getting a lot of inquiries from patients, mainly the most vulnerable in society who require dentures, who just can't get them.
A number of websites have sprung up to act as broker between people seeking treatment and clinics that see overseas patients. RevaHealth is one of them. It says those who go overseas for dental treatment can be broadly divided into two categories: people who need a lot of expensive, unavoidable work done and those who want cosmetic procedures. 'If you need something minor done the cost of the travel and accommodation is likely to outweigh the savings,' says Philip Boyle, a director at RevaHealth. 'But if you are going for crowns, veneers or implants then you could save thousands of pounds.
Lee Mitchell, 33, runs a bar and restaurant on Guernsey and has just come back from Poland, where he spent an entire week at the dentist. 'I had seven fillings, two extractions, a root canal, some reconstruction work, a crown and some bleaching,' he says. 'I had never thought of going abroad for treatment but when I realised how much work I needed doing a couple of my waitresses suggested Poland.
Lee contacted the BB Cracow clinic in Krakow, which he had found on RevaHealth.com, and within days had booked his flight. A representative from the clinic sorted him out with accommodation and picked him up at the airport.
I made nine or 10 visits to the dentist over six days. I didn't go out once in Krakow and stayed in eating soup and dribbling beer down my chin, but it was worth it,' he says. Lee's dental bill came to £1,200, which he believes is about a third of what it would have cost him in the UK. His return flight was £130 and his accommodation for the week £200.
However, the British Dental Association has issued a warning. 'Anyone thinking about having dental treatment overseas must make sure they are aware of the potential risks and the hidden costs,' says a spokesman. 'Difficulties may arise if there are problems with the treatment when the patient returns home, especially if there are insufficient records of the treatment carried out.
Boyle says all the clinics they deal with overseas must sign up to RevaHealth's terms and conditions, which include the stipulation that they be registered with their local regulatory body.
All the clinics in our system are used to having international patients,' says Boyle. 'Both Hungary and Poland have some of the leading technology and strictest dental regulations in the world. Whole towns on the Hungarian-Austrian border have an economy almost entirely based on dentistry.
Mirror
DOC HOLIDAY
FED up with the NHS and massive dental bills, thousands of Britons are turning to medical tourism.
More than 50,000 people went abroad and spent £170million on treatments in the last year, ranging from a new crown to a hip replacement, says website Treatment Abroad.
A UK dentist told Shirley McWhirter, from South Yorks, four dental implants would cost her £15,000 as they couldn't be done on the NHS.
Treatment Abroad found her a clinic in Hungary that would do her implants - she eventually only needed two - as well as bridgework and partial dentures for just £5,000.
Shirley said: "I had not been able to eat properly for the past five to six years because of my teeth. I had suffered from stomach problems and headaches.
"I met a dentist in Hungary for a consultation and started treatment in May last year."
The 52-year-old cleaner added: "It is sickening when you have worked all your life and paid contributions to have to go abroad for care."
Today, you usually have to fund treatment abroad out of your own pocket, even if it is free under the NHS.
But this should change after the European Court of Justice ruled last May that Britons had the right to go abroad for treatment if there was an unreasonable delay by their local health authority. The savings are huge compared to private UK treatment.
Treatment Abroad says you can save 79 per cent by travelling for heart surgery, 69 per cent on a hip replacement and 65 per cent having cataracts removed. The savings are also significant for dental work. Implants cost some 61 per cent less, wisdom tooth extraction a 52 per cent saving and acrylic dentures 44 per cent cheaper.
Two insurance companies will pay you cash if you choose to go abroad for treatment - Freedom Healthnet and Patient Choice.
Freedom Healthnet offers four levels of cover. If you need one of the named treatments it will pay out a preset amount to cover the cost.
If you chose to use the NHS you can pocket the cash or use it to fund private treatment.
If treatment costs more than the payout you must fund it yourself and if it is less you get to keep the difference.
Patient Choice works in a similar way, but pays less if you use the NHS rather than go private. A 40-year-old woman in good health would pay £16 a month for Freedom Platinum without outpatient treatment (£30.16 with) and £19.47 for Patient-Choice. A 60-year-old would pay £55.60 (£61.33 with outpatient) and £46.34 respectively. Alternatively you could pay for treatment out of savings.
If you go overseas get a fixed price for the treatment and make sure the work is guaranteed. You also need to ensure you have enough cash to cover any unexpected delays to your return. Remember you will also have to pay for flights and accommodation.
Escapeartist.com
Looking For Something A Little Different? - Journey Thru Hungary - By Steve Phillips
Ah it’s here at last summer! That glorious time that every year we look forward to with great anticipation and joy. Summer a time to brush away the cobwebs of those dreary winter months and embrace longer days, suntans, BBQ’s, golf and holidays. But it’s the same old dilemma, where to go for that two week break?
It’s not such a problem if you are retired; you have all the time in the world and the capital to make it happen, but what about the rest of us who work for a living?
Will you pack the camper and head off into the great unknown or just plump for something a bit more familiar, say…Florida! If you do my friends then you are condemning yourself to the hum drum boredom of vacation apathy.
Now I’m a fairly well traveled individual that likes to stay off the beaten path, away from the “kiss me quick” hat brigade and the hassle of finding a place on the beach that hasn’t been used by the local canine population as a public convenience. I have been to Universal studios, bought the T-shirt and frankly if you’re really into lining up with two thousand of your closest friends for an hour or two under a blazing sun to enjoy sixty seconds of screaming kids then this article is not for you.
In my travels I have marveled at the most fantastic architecture that the greatest cities in Europe can offer, visited cathedrals that are steeped in history and stared awestruck at some of the most famous pieces of artwork ever conceived by man. There is so much of this world that lies undiscovered that it would take even the most adventurous of travelers several lifetimes to see it all. But there is one little place that I can highly recommend for those of you dear readers that are looking for something a little different, now pay attention this is going to sound a little strange.
A few moths ago I was being bothered by a tooth that was in desperate need of repair, so I set about to look for a local Dentist. Now living in Switzerland definitely has its advantages, beautiful scenery, great skiing and the absolute best chocolate in the world, sorry Mr. Hershey but it’s the truth. However it also has its drawbacks not least of which is that it ranks as one of the most expensive places in the world to live, just goes to prove that you can’t have it both ways. So needless to say that also applies to services, dentists being one of them. Well I made enquiries and was absolutely floored at the price of Dental treatment here, almost on a par with the US. Well being English I had for the longest time suffered from the British form of Dental treatment and we all know how bad our teeth are in England as it’ s a running joke amongst most Americans, just look at our Royal family, god bless you Liz, we still love you as our Monarch bad teeth or not.
After several frustrating weeks wondering if maybe I could get a second mortgage on the house to pay for this I asked a friend if they could recommend someone to me. Well with a beaming white smile that dazzled across the room they said that I should looking into getting my teeth fixed in Hungary.
“Hungary” I said.
You must be kidding, there’s no way that I’m going to go to Hungary and have the possibility of returning with a new set of teeth made of mahogany. That former communist country that for years was hidden behind the Iron curtain, a place where they probably have never heard of Novocain, not on your life my friend.
But as I listened I became increasingly less anxious about entrusting my oral health to a dentist in far away Hungary. The more I listened the more intrigued I became, they said that while doing a search for a dentist on line they had found out that a great many people from Switzerland, Austria and Germany who traveled to Hungary on a fairly consistent basis to have their teeth done. Ok this was beginning to sound weird but not being one to shy away from something different I asked them to carry on with their tale.
My friend then went on to tell me about this little town in western Hungary called Hevis. Situated very close to one of the largest lakes in central Europe, Lake Balaton (about three hours train journey from Budapest)
Heviz is unique in the fact that it is home to the largest thermal lake in Europe, covering 47,500 square meters, what makes this lake so special is that it is fed by a spring that delivers an average of 26,000 liters of water a minute, which means that the entire lake changes every 72 hours. The average temperature of the lake during summer is a very balmy 32 degrees and during the winter months the temperature never drops below 25degrees, quite pleasant. There is another interesting feature about the thermal lake and this is its main selling point. The bottom of the lake is covered in a highly curative mud about 1 meter deep and this has been proven to have a high concentration of “oestrogenous” substances of hormonal activity, especially suited for mud packs.
The curative effects of the lake are further enhanced by the high quantities of sulphur and radon in the water that can have a dramatic effect in treating loco motor disorders, regardless whether the disease manifests itself in the joints, extremities or the spine, one other thing that needs mentioning is that the cost of one day lying around in this lake is a mere $6, what a bargain, cheaper than a Big Mac meal and a whole lot healthier.
The town is full of Hotels that like to tout themselves as “Four Star” which is all well and good but the western impression of Four Star is a little different from that in Hungary, but in their defense I found the rooms very clean, the service was great and the staff went out of their way to be helpful to guests, mind you the food has a very German flair to it, so expect lots of meat and hearty quantities of beer with all meals.
So what else does Hevis offer apart from the therapeutic lake? Well as I discussed earlier it is an absolutely fantastic place for any kind of Dental work, all the Dentists that operate there are University trained and most are licensed to work in other parts of Europe. The service is first rate, the quality is unrivaled anywhere, the price is incredibly low (approximately $35.00 for a ceramic crown) and best of all most Dentists will offer a five year guarantee, unheard of in the US.
Ah but wait there’s more, there is also an abundance of Opticians that will give you a complete eye exam by a trained optician and then make you a pair of designer glasses in a day all for 50% less than you would pay anywhere else, fantastic. Still not satisfied? Ok then how about a full body massage, 45 minutes for $18.00 or if your in need of some more pampering how about a facial for the incredibly low price of $8.00, I don’t know about you but parking costs about that much these days.
This town is a little gem that has not yet been discovered by the average traveler, it’s unspoilt, clean, safe and very tourist friendly, the only drawback that I found was that the average age of the guests was about 60, so don’t expect it to be a party town as all the bars and restaurants close at 22:00…sharp, unless you can engage the staff in conversation, I myself was able to keep one place open till 23:00, that’s probably a record. If you really feel the need to let your hair down there are organized excursions to local Hungarian culture nights that usually involve copious amounts of very strong Hungarian red wine, schnapps, a meal and all the trimmings all for under $20.00 per person including transport. If one is so inclined you can also go Para-gliding or horse riding, biking or sailing on nearby Lake Balaton all for considerably less than you would pay in the US.
Talking of restaurants there is one place that deserves a special mention and that is the “Liget Restaurant” situated near the center of town it is primarily an Italian Pizza place but their menu is very varied and most people will find something to temp their palette, I would personally recommend the French Onion Soup that comes in a bread bowl decorated with a little Hungarian flag, marvelous, especially if your having dental work done as it requires no mastication what so ever…yummy!
So before the Euro changes this country for ever I would highly recommend that you check this place out, even if you don’t need new teeth or glasses then I would go just for the ambiance and laid back atmosphere, pamper yourself a little for less than the price of entrance to Disney World and believe me it’s not half as busy.
Evening Star
Patient says go abroad for dental work
DENTAL patients in Suffolk should seriously consider “voting with their feet” and seeking treatment abroad in an effort to bring down costs and improve service, it has been claimed.
Patrick Gillen, of Meadowlands, Kirton, near Felixstowe, recently travelled to Budapest in Hungary to receive dental work.
He was so impressed with the service he received compared to the UK that he said he would recommend others make the trip as well.
He said: “Over the years I've had a number of problems with my teeth and I've got a dental phobia but I never felt as if it was treated seriously or sympathetically.
“As a result I decided to see if I could go abroad and after some research I eventually went to Hungary.
“Over the course of two weeks I had seven separate appointments during which all the work was done, something which I was told would take six months in the UK.
Mr Gillen, 63, said the total cost of his dental work, which included an orthopantograph x-ray, 13 extractions, four porcelain crowns and two long term temporary partial dentures in the upper and lower jaw, cost £1,346.
He said: “I really think that people should start voting with their feet. Not only might this help to bring dental costs down but if enough people do it then waiting rooms in this country will start to empty.”
However health officials in Suffolk have urged people to err on the side of caution when deciding if to go abroad for treatment.
Paul Rolfe, Suffolk representative with the British Dental Association, said: “You have to be wary because if anything goes wrong when you get back then it will be dentists over here that have to sort it out.
“In any case I would suggest that what Mr Gillen paid in Hungary is no different to what he would have paid at my practice and other local practices in Ipswich.
“Therefore when you add on the costs of travel and accommodation then it would amount to more.”
Thisismoney.co.uk
Heading abroad to see the dentist
For a holiday with a difference, why not try taking in the sun and sights and then sitting back to put your feet up...in the dentist's chair.
Strange as it may sound, it is the perfect holiday for a growing number of Britons who cannot get treatment on the NHS and do not want - or cannot afford - to pay big bills for going private.
'Dental tourism' is a growing phenomenon, with more Britons combining a flight to a holiday resort with a visit to the dentist.
Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria and even Thailand are cashing in on the boom because of their low-cost, high-quality dental care.
According to revahealthnetwork.com, a medical search engine, 35,000 Britons a year travel abroad for dental work, while nearly 60,000 searched online for information on dental tourism in July - up more than 50% on the previous month.
This booming business is a direct result of the difficulty Britons have in finding an NHS dentist since the introduction of new contracts in April 2006 that saw a limit in the number of treatments that dentists could claim for from the NHS. This meant many dentists moved into private practice - leaving a shortfall of more than 2,000 for NHS patients.
Figures from the Department of Health show that the number of people with access to NHS dentists has fallen by 47,000 since 2006.
Last year, more than a million people were left without access to NHS dental care and the situation is likely to get worse. According to a survey by medical cash plan provider HSA, about 40% of those questioned believed it was only 'a matter of time' before NHS dentistry disappeared altogether.
Revahealthnetwork claims that Britons can save up to 70% by going abroad for dental treatment - before flights and accommodation are taken into account.
The most common dental inquiry it receives concerns implants, which cost £2,000 on average to have done in Britain but only £800 in Poland.
There are also huge savings to be made on less expensive procedures. Veneers that cost £500 in the UK are £270 in Hungary, £215 in Poland and £150 in Thailand. Most people opting for treatment abroad combine it with a holiday to help keep down costs.
Calen King, chief executive of Reva Health Network, says: 'Dental tourism is growing massively and there are big savings to be made.' But King also says there are some situations not suited to dental tourism. 'Someone who needs braces fitted, for example, would be better off having this done in Britain as the procedure requires regular follow-up visits,' he says.
Several websites give information on how to arrange dental treatment abroad and some will even book travel.
Dentistabroad.co.uk is a Londonbased company with a clinic in Budapest. It promises to give customers a written estimate of the cost, potential appointment dates and accommodation options within 24 hours of being contacted. Customers who decide to go ahead must have a full consultation with one of the company's dentists, either in London or Budapest. This costs from £40. Rival company treatmentabroad. co.uk has information on treatment all over the world.
Tibor Botos, who runs a dental clinic in Budapest, has offices in Ireland and plans to open in London and Liverpool. Since setting up the clinic in Hungary two years ago, Botos, 28, says there has been a steady increase in the number of Britons flying in for treatment. 'When I first set up, people were not so aware of the high standard and low cost of care in countries such as Hungary,' he says. 'Even now, many think that because the costs are so low, the standard must be low. This is far from the case.'
According to Botos, patients can save thousands of pounds by having treatment in Hungary. Work can often be completed more quickly. One patient was quoted £21,100 to have ten implants and two crowns in the UK - the same work would cost only £6,000 in Hungary.
Should heading abroad sound a little extreme, there are insurance policies to help meet the cost of treatment closer to home.
The benefit of dental insurance is that policyholders can choose who they see. For a monthly premium, patients can claim back part or all of the cost of dental treatment up to agreed limits. General work such as root-canal surgery, fillings and bridges are normally covered, while most policies also include dental injuries --caused by a fight or a contact sport, for example - and emergencies.
Basic cover starts from as little as £6 a month. Fillings and crowns are included, but check-ups, X-rays and visits to a hygienist are not.
More comprehensive policies will cost more but might be worth considering for those who have a history of dental problems. WPA, Boots and Denplan all offer such policies.
Tesco recently launched dental policies for NHS and private patients. The Tesco Core cover at £8.95 a month pays the full cost of all NHS dental appointments and any NHS treatments, such as fillings and crowns. There is also an annual allowance of £400 for emergency treatment and up to £10,000 a year to cover injuries, such as broken teeth.
Though a policy can be taken out without first having a dental checkup, there is no cover for the first month or for courses of treatment already planned.
There may also be exclusions, for example if an NHS dentist offers treatment not usually provided on the NHS, such as white fillings.
Tesco's Premium policy is aimed at those with a private dentist. It covers 100% of the cost of maintenance, including check-ups and hygienists, and 80% of general treatment such as fillings. Cover costs £16.95 a month. Paul Molyneux took out the Premium policy last month after paying £300 to have a broken tooth fixed privately. He was signed up to a scheme with his dentist that for £10 a month included free checkups and hygienist appointments and a ten% discount on treatment.
But after his NHS dentist went private, Paul, 34, who lives with wife Andrea, 33, and seven-year-old twins Christopher and Abigail in Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Manchester, decided he wanted more cover.
'I couldn't find another dentist, so I had to stay with my existing one. But with a family to look after, I was worried about the cost if I needed more treatment. At least I know that most of my bills will be covered,' he says.
Cash plans are an alternative for those who want to have some provision for dental care. They can work out less expensive, though cover is limited.
Cash plan customers can claim back part of the cost of dental and medical treatment, whether on the NHS or private. Though some providers offer dental-only plans, most policies also cover a wide range of other medical treatments.
Barry Timis, 80, and his wife Ruth, 74, took out a cash plan with Saga several years ago and have made full use of it.
The couple from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, have a level one policy, which costs them £39.50 a month. This allows them to claim 75% of the cost of dental treatment, up to a maximum of £80 each a year.
Barry says: 'It has definitely worked for us. We have the security of knowing our medical and dental needs are covered and we don't have to wait to be seen on the NHS.'
A third alternative is capitation schemes. Here, patients make monthly payments rather than settling the bill every visit. The premium covers any treatment and checkups.
Cost is based on the condition of the patient's teeth and the level of cover, which means customers must first have a check-up. Any problems must be dealt with before joining.
A whole new set of teeth for just £20,000
Emily Mayer is one of the many British dental tourists to have travelled to Hungary.
Having suffered from severe gum disease for several years, Emily, 46, had lost several teeth and many others were loose.
Despite regular trips to her dentist in Britain, Emily's teeth continued to deteriorate.
But the solution came when surfing online, she found details of smilesavershungary.co.uk. Two weeks later, she flew to Budapest for an initial appointment before having all her teeth removed.
Over the next six months, Emily, an artist from Kenninghall, Norfolk, had all her teeth replaced with implants. The total cost was about £20,000 - about a third of what it would have been in the UK.
Emily says: 'I was so conscious of the state of my teeth. Having this treatment has changed my life. Not only did the clinic take really good care of me, but I have also saved a huge amount of money.'
New Statesman
'Down in the mouth - by Neil Clark'
Observations on dentists
"We are going back to the dark ages of dentistry," says Richard Daniels, chief executive of the Dental Laboratories Association. Eighteen months on from the introduction of new NHS contracts, discontent within the dental profession is growing. The DLA says the current contract "forces dentists to make prescription decisions based on financial resources rather than clinical need" and claims there has been a 57 per cent reduction in "Band 3 treatments" such as crowns and dentures.
The British Dental Association shares DLA's concern. "The contracts are not going to provide quality oral health for the patients. We've got wonderful techniques and equipment now but we're not being encouraged to use them," says Lester Ellman, chairman of the BDA General Dental Practice Committee.
The new contracts were intended to solve an intractable problem. Before their introduction, there were more than 400 fee tariffs for NHS work, which left patients bewildered. Now there are just three and the contracts focus on providing cheap and affordable basic care, not on expensive, often unnecessary, treatments.
The old "payment by procedure" system, whereby dentists were paid for each item of work they undertook, was certainly open to abuse. An Audit Commission reported in 2002 that it gave a "perverse incentive" for dentists to carry out unnecessary work.
The NHS contracts are the latest attempt by the government to reverse years of decline in state provision - a decline triggered by the Conservative government's ill-thought out reforms of the early 1990s. These linked dentists' pay to the number of patients registered. When more patients than anticipated registered, the government reacted by cutting fees rather than increasing funding.
The result was a huge exodus of dentists to the private sector. In 1990, only 5 per cent of dentists' income came from private work; now it is more than 50 per cent.
The private dental market, virtually non-existent 20 years ago, is now worth more than £2.4bn.
Even a salary of £80,000 a year, guaranteed under the new contract, was not enough to persuade a further 2,000 dentists from leaving the NHS. Meanwhile, private chains and insurance companies are rubbing their hands in glee. In the year to April 2007, Denplan announced a 25 per cent increase in take-up of its schemes. In the same period, Oasis, Britain's largest dental chain, reported a doubling of profits.
But for the millions unable to pay to go private, the situation goes from bad to worse. Sixteen months on from the government reforms, an estimated 1.4 million additional people are thought to be without an NHS dentist.
In the sixth richest country in the world, thousands are forced to fly abroad in order to receive dental care. This year it is estimated that more than 25,000 Britons will travel to Hungary for dental treatment. An even more alarming trend is the number of children deprived of proper dental care.
Up and down the country dentists are telling parents they will no longer provide NHS treatment for their children. The long-term consequences for oral health is calamitous.
For most of the postwar period, access to an NHS dentist, paid for out of general taxation, was taken for granted. The idea that by the first decade of the 21st century, 60 per cent of Britons would not have access to an NHS dentist - and that one in five would be deterred on grounds of cost from going to the dentist - would have seemed unthinkable to a member of the public in the 1960s.
In 1999 Tony Blair promised that within two years everyone would once again have access to an NHS dentist. But the experience of the last decade shows that a flourishing private sector is incompatible with the notion of a state-financed system. We have enough dentists: the number has risen to more than 21,000 compared with 12,360 in 1977 and 15,400 in 1992. But so long as dentists can earn up to four-times more by going private, NHS provision will be threatened.
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