According to a recent study, the most expensive country for dental care is England. This will probably result in many patients who will look for dental treatment abroad.

This study determined that in nine countries the total cost of a standard filling ranged from €10 in Romania to about €145 in the US to about €156 (£117) in England. This total included the cost of the dentist’s time, overhead, drugs, materials, and x rays.

The findings come at a time when there is a growing dissatisfaction the shrinking NHS provision and with dentistry in Britain. Last March the Government admitted 2,000,000 patients who wanted NHS treatment couldn’t get it. In the past ten years dentists have significantly increased their private at the expense of their NHS work. Desperate patients are quick to register whenever a new NHS practice opens.

Although dental care was the most expensive in England, at about €156 for a filling, it was closely followed by Spain at about €125 and Italy at about €135. The costs in the other western European countries were less than half that much and ranged from about €46 in France to about €67 in Germany.

In most healthcare systems, the larger government subsidies occurred where the cost of doing dental work was the largest in order to keep the price down for a patient’s dental treatment.

The countries that were the least expensive for dental treatment were Romania at about €10 and Poland at about €18 which was the primary destinations for dental tourists from Britain.

There was a considerable amount of money that was saved promised by the agencies that arrange for the dental treatment in these countries. Undoubtedly, the most important driver of dental care costs was labor which accounted for 70% of total dental care costs in England. These costs ranged from about €2.88/minute in England to about €0.20/minute in Hungary.

The problems finding NHS dentists combined with these high dental care costs make dental tourism the fastest growing type of medical tourism. Of the 77,000 people who traveled abroad from the United Kingdom for medical it is estimated that 43% of them traveled in search of dental care.

The single largest part of medical care is easily dental care. This is the result of the problems finding an NHS dentist and the high prices for dental care that is being charged in the United Kingdom. When a person does happen to find an NHS dentist, they often find that they can’t afford them.

NHS patient charges include about £194 for root canal treatments to about £43.60 for one to six fillings and about £15.90 for a checkup. In addition, private charges are as much as three times higher.

The primary purpose of the study was to determine differences in the costs. The goal of the study was to assist governments plan the necessary levels of reimbursement, if there is a continued increase in cross border medical tourism.

There is a draft plan in the works that would open European borders to medical tourists and permit citizens of any of the 27 member states to seek dental treatment in a neighboring country.

Under this plan, in some circumstances, the home country would pay the bill. If the plan is approved, it will focus attention on the performance of other health systems against the NHS system.

The dental care study determined that the cost of a filling was greater than the charge to the patient and in most cases it was greater than the combined payment from government and the patient.