ADA President warns of the risk of dental tourism
The ADA has once again addressed issues surrounding what is commonly known as "dental tourism", in the aftemath of Queensland retiree Christine Gwin describing how her trip to India to get cheap dental treatment went terribly wrong, resulting in remedial dental work "in excess of $50,000" when she got back home.
ADA president Scott Davis has said while some patients received good care overseas, he saw others return with major issues.
"There's often crowns that might not fit, might not be the right colour, may not have been cemented properly," Dr Davis said.
"So there's a lot of sensitivity, dead nerves, decay left behind, teeth extracted and half the roots left behind, all sorts of things.
"If the government funded dentistry properly in Australia so it targeted vulnerable Australians like seniors and those on low incomes, then many Australians who head overseas every year to get dental treatments done supposedly for less money would not need to."
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Dr Scott Davis also made an appearance on The Project on Channel 10 where he discussed the urgency of the Federal Government's need to act on providing dental care for groups most in need such as the elderly and those in lower socioeconomic groups.