The Medical Tourism Travel Guide: Your Complete Reference to Top-Quality, Low-Cost Dental, Cosmetic, Medical Care & Surgery Overseas Paperback – May 14, 2008

For those looking for a well-organized guide to obtaining high-quality medical and dental care outside the United States, this is a helpful book. Information gained from the Internet is often self-serving and unreliable when it comes to quality of care. That’s why I ordered this book because I am looking for a source for high-quality dental care without the astronomical prices for major procedures in the U.S. Since Medicare does not cover dental procedures, seniors are at a terrible disadvantage.The author, Dr. Paul Gahlinger, is familiar with the emerging and ever expanding medical tourism industry for patients in the United States who are fed up with their own failing medical system. He has traveled in over 120 countries, has worked as a doctor in many of them and has been aided by people who have had experience with medical tourism. I have the confidence that he recognizes quality medical care when he sees it.The book is organized for easy reference. A cross-reference chart by country and type of procedure is provided at the beginning of the book, emphasizing top destinations for specific procedures. It goes on to discuss all the reasons why getting health care overseas makes a lot of sense and provides a cost comparison chart for a variety of procedures. You will get valuable tips on how to decide where to go as well as information on precautions to take, and why relying on the Internet is likely to get you in trouble. Everything you need to prepare for your trip is covered. Part I of this book ends with a discussion of the most common procedures for which patients seek care overseas, such as cosmetic surgery, dental care, weight-loss surgery, joint replacement, heart disease, cancer, transplants, stem cell therapy, assisted reproduction and alternative medicine, such as Ayurveda.Part I discusses all countries that offer medical tourist services – from Argentina to Vietnam. Most of them are developing nations, but there is also information on available services in highly developed countries, such as Germany. You’ll find information on politics and travel requirements for each country, followed by listings of specific hospitals, clinics or referral sources with their addresses and contact information. Many of these locations represent desirable vacation travel destinations – another draw for medical tourism.One quibble about this book: It was published in 2008. In terms of the rapidly expanding industry of medical tourism, a lot of changes have probably occurred in the five years since then that are not covered. One area is the concern of patients regarding follow-up care when they return to the U.S. They are not likely to be welcomed with open arms by their doctors. The book mentions a new organization that would address that problem (www.medicruiser.com). That URL now belongs to another business in Utah. That tells me that I will be on my own when I return home. In my online research of quality dental care overseas I have come across a provider in Varna, Bulgaria that is not mentioned at all in this book. The Dentaprime Dental Clinic appears to be highly competent in high-end dental care. In fact, they have won the 2012 Dental Care Excellence Award - http://dentalexcellenceaward.org/ placing second worldwide and No. 1 in Europe.The Medical Tourism Travel Guide is an excellent resource, but it is in need of updating.

I bought this book because I needed all my teeth crowned and a couple of implants. The book does provide valid information. The pricing of having all your teeth re-done is not too far off from what I would pay in Montreal Canada. In any case, the book puts things in perspective. I subsequently discovered that very few dentist really know what they are doing and very few are really capable of re-doing a whole mouth ! Doing the work overseas means getting the dental work fast ! For dental work, you would need a long vacation, as the dentist should first make a complete overlay in your mouth to see if you are comfortable for 2 weeks or so and can still pronounce vowels without feeling you have marbles in your mouth ! Look for a dentist with a cupboard full of dental work of mouth reconstruction ! In any case I found a local Montreal dentist at $1,000. a crown while some where at $1,500 to $2,000 a crown. I found this dentist by referrals from others such as the endo dentist(root canal specialist) or a gum specialist who sees a lot of work from different dentist. Dentist who teach , I generally found them to be almost worse...Having it done locally has the advantage to sort of following a more normal pace along with my cash flow... Note that some will offer an implant in one day in these far away places...- I prefer the old way: waiting 4 to 6 months before the crown, as its seems to do a better job. But each situation is different. Also, will I have to travel back to the clinic if I have a problem? Will they use the same methodology and materials as where I live? Or will the local dentist at home nix the overseas work for repairs and maintenance ?Back to the book: its worth reading and part of your homework to make up your mind how to proceed...

Entertaining commentary on a dazzling array of countries. The author's research ranges from first hand experiences of some organizations, to irresponsibly superficial web surfs for others. Do NOT use this book if your destination is Argentina or Brazil. Research online patient message boards instead. The "medical tourism company" this book suggests for Argentina, Plenitas, has in real life achieved a tabloid level of infamy. Argentine publicity is finally exposing its years of such practices as refusing to deliver pre-paid services once patients arrive in Argentina, or switching the surgeon for an assistant once the patient's under anaesthesia. Once every Argentine surgeon caught on and refused to work with them any more, the company's solution was to continue advertising the surgeons' services without their consent, collect payments from overseas patients before their journeys, put patients under anaethesia, and wake them later to lie that they had undergone surgery that was never performed.

The information in the book is quite thorough, though I wonder how long it will be up-to-date. Things like phone numbers can change very often. Nevertheless, this book has a great deal of useful information and addresses a subject that I had heard very little about until the passage of ObamaCare.

If you plan to travel as a medical tourist, this book is worth having, for an overview of the medical tourism phenomenon. You'll still have to do a lot of your own research, but this book will make that research more efficient.

The information icluded was too out of date to be useful. Given the explosion of medical tourism, an update would be very welcome.

good

Great read