Budapest’s five biggest dentist’s offices have established an association to better promote dental tourism, business daily Vilaggazdasag reported on Friday.
The Association of Leading Hungarian Dentist’s Offices was set up to allow more efficient use of marketing tools, the association’s head, Attila Kaman, who is also managing director of Implantcenter, told the paper. Dental tourists account for 60-80pc of the association members’ business, he said.
Dental tourists account for more than 10pc of guest nights at Budapest hotels, Mr Kaman estimated. Most dental tourists stay 6-7 days in Hungary, spending EUR 600-800 per day.
Normally, tourists to Hungary spend EUR 80-120 per day, Vilaggazdasag said.
I don’t quite get it, just because they are getting their teeth fixed, these dental tourist spend 6 times as much as normal tourists.
Interesting.
I don’t quite get the connection, but if these dentists are trying to drum up business and make a living then good luck to them.
“Most dental tourists stay 6-7 days in Hungary, spending EUR 600-800 per day.” MY TAKE: Oh yeah, right. Why don’t we all agree that “dental tourists” (ha-ha-ha-ha) spend an average of 100,000 euros per head while having their teeth filled in Hungary. Deal?
I had emergency dental work done in Hungary — once. All through the procedure, the dentist was bithcing and moaning to me how little he was making and how much more the same procedure would cost me in the West.
Needless to say, I won’t be doing any “dental touristry” in Magyarland any time soon.
JD. After they’ve paid the Budapest dentist fees,they’ve got nothing left in their wallets.
This must mean that their claim that these people are spending six time more than the normal tourist is dubious.
Unless normal tourists spend nothing. Then six times nothing is nothing. The maths is correct anyway.
Ahh Fog. So you are proposing a mathemagical formula to solve this mystery.
I just hope their dentistry is better than their revenue predictions.
That’s way expensive. You can take a roundtrip to India/Thailand in that amount, get some best doctors to work on a patient and then return back still saving money!
Dental treatment abroad is increasingly popular as it combines low cost treatment, plus the chance to vacation, something that people going for other serious surgeries usually cannot do.
@fog,
How do you do that? I mean how do you live on nothing in Budapest? In most cases it goes like this: you pay a million bucks (Forints) to your dentist, and another million or more goes on hotel, rental car, food, entertainment, shopping and such.
So we’re at two million, and yet it’s still less than half of what you would pay for the dentist alone in New York. Dental tourism is good for everyone. More about this next week, when my dental work is done… in Hungary… I’m not afraid of the dentist… I’m not afraid of the dentist…
@Kosansh,
No, thanks. Asia is pure hell. I know, I’ve been there. Never again.
The difference between Dentists in Hungary and elswhere in EU is that Dentists elsewhere are regulated properly.
And most of the time can be trusted in their diagnosis????
I agree w. Kosansh, dental and medical care in Asia is far superior than that which can be gotten in Europe or North America still peddling their ‘Western’ medicine. Even in Latin America one can get better care, and for a lot less money.
The Hungarian dentists, although apparently going after the foreign pockets, will eternally grumble about the fact that the same foreigners come to Hungary because they can get the work done cheaper in Budapest than in Belgravia or Boston. There is no pleaseing some people, I guess.
Anyhow, since the majority of youngwer Hungarian physicians and dentists are moving to other EU countries anyhow, this will be less of an issue in years to comne, when the current aging crop of Hungarian tooth docs retire and/or die out.
@Stan – I’ve been to dentists in 3 countries in Asia. The good ones are at least as good as the ones in the US and Germany.
I haven’t been to a Hungarian dentist yet, but I’m think it would be alright. No need to Scream Thy Last Scream like here http://tinyurl.com/devoep
It seems as though Hungary has become the dental capital of Europe.
Many medical tourism patients can actually save up to around 30% off the cost of private dental in Europe when receiving treatment in a Hungarian dental clinic.
I am not really following why Budapest, Hungary has to be “Europe’s Dental Capital,” when everyone already knows full well that Hungaria is already the “Prostituition and Whore Capital of the World.”