The inciDENTAL tourist
01-Sep-07
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-07-28-dental-tourism_x.htm
“…Within hours of landing in Vienna, a jet-lagged Nancy Carothers was tilting backward in a dental chair, mouth wide open, a dentist poking at her molars. It wasn’t too painful, though. It was also part of the plan. And by the end of her 10 days in this small border town, Carothers had much to smile about.
She had visited Budapest and Vienna, sampled some of Hungary’s most popular wines and enjoyed people-watching in neighborhood cafes. When she returned home to suburban Washington, D.C., she brought gifts for friends and a few souvenirs of her own, including eight new crowns.
A trip to the dentist may not be everybody’s idea of a vacation, but it paid off for Carothers. Literally. The tab for her dental work came to $2,900 — about a quarter of the $11,150 she estimates she would have paid had she gone to a preferred dentist in her employer’s insurance plan. In all, she spent just under $4,300 on dental care and travel, including a $45-a-night hotel room and last-minute airfare at a pricey $899…”