Just bought my plane ticket to Romania...

Yes, it is real: I am going to Romania to try to fix my dental problems in a...cheaper manner than my Canadian doctor advised me. The quote my Canadian doctor gave on the same dental problems I inquired Office Dent-the Romanian clinic about (www.officedent.ro) is...a bit over...TRIPLE!

And that includes my plane ticket and spending money for the month of August...in Romania.

Today I have again talked with Dr. Draghici from Office Dent in Ploiesti, Romania and she was once again very professional, answered all of my (tens and tens :) questions and explained to me in great detail how they are planning to approach my dental issues. She also, again, emphasized the fact that after removing the porcelain bridge that I am currently having on the sides (which I have it done years ago) the situation could (even dramatically) change as the x-ray that I had could not properly show EXACTLY the nature of the problem under the bridge.

I knew about this aspect from my Candian dentist as well...he warned me in the same manner...(the difference being again, in price).

I also got the courage to ask Dr. Draghici if she could slightly revise my treatment plan (money wise) as I have received a slightly lower quote from the other dentist in the same city. She agreed to it although she explained to me once again that she is confident that their services and its quality are going to match and even exceed the financial quotes she gave me.

After talking to the other dentist from Ploiesti that I had previously considered also...I knew that Office Dent was my main choice and I have made a firm first appointment on August 3, 2011 at 11:00 AM.

On August 2, 2011 I am to arrive to Romania...

Choosing a cheaper dental clinic in Romania

It is really hard to find a good Romanian dental clinic based only on the presentation found on their websites and a few (or none!) testimonials left out there...I am currently only dealing with three dental offices from Romania. Two of them are in Ploiesti and one is in Bucharest. My intuition is already screaming out loud the name of one, in particular, but the other two are also... not to be ignored.

I am inclined to choose Ploiesti as the city I will handle my dental problems in because I could live with my mom there (although my husband's apartment in Bucharest is vacant now and I could very well live there as well, hence a few more relatives I have there) but again, my intuition is telling me that... the clinic in Ploiesti will be the best option, plus...I need my mother care also in this journey. I miss my mom very much and I feel the need to "just be  her (needy :) child" at this time in my life...

Another reason for which I'm inclined to choose Ploiesti is because the dental clinics in this city are practicing slightly lower prices than the dental clinics in Bucharest. Could the quality of work be the same though? I absolutely think so... The reason Bucharest dental care is more expensive is...the location. Bucharest is the capital of Romania, but Ploiesti is not too far from there (just 60 km away...or a merely 30 minutes drive). I am sure there are great and bad clinics in both cities, I am just praying that I have already eliminated the "bad" ones...

But the most important reason I am thinking of Ploiesti and ONE dental clinic in particular is the fact that the owner-dentist of this clinic (Dr. Raluca Draghici) was the most professional  in delivering an answer to my email of dental inquiries. I have found this clinic online, through www.whatclinic.com

As I mentioned before, I wrote to a lot of dental clinics from Romania about my dental problems that need to be solved; some of these clinics answered me with a quote but not a complete treatment plan, some "got scared" (maybe!!) of my panoramic dental x-ray because they stopped communicating with me after receving it, some gave me very superficial answers and quotes.

But this clinic in particular: OFFICE DENT from Ploiesti sent me a very detailed treatment plan and was very confident that if I am to travel to Romania for 3-4 weeks, in August 2011, they will dedicate all of their time and professional expertise to effectively trying to help me. In the same time, they did not give me false promises  because they also wrote me: "More often, what we see just through an x-ray could be different than the reality of the same problems, so only after an extensive -in our office-face-to-face dental check-up we could know, for sure, the way we could start handling your dental problems".

I liked their honesty and professionalism (so far), this is why I also called them today and talked to Dr. Draghici on the phone. When I hung up the phone, I knew that my intuition was right about choosing them.

From my experience so far I could summarize choosing a cheaper dental clinic abroad this way:

-research, research, research, there are a lot of online tools and info regarding dental tourism or dental travel in cheaper destinations (personally, I would ONLY choose destinations in Europe for such reason: Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic)

-read the information stated on the dental clinics' website and trust your intuition regarding which one to further contact

-look for their contact info and call them or write them an email stating your dental problems and asking them for a treatment plan, quotes, duration of treatments, etc. They will most likely always be able to answer your emails in English and/or French, Italian, Spanish, these are languages often known by the employees of such European dental clinics

-make sure they understand your limitations (your duration of stay, funds, etc) and that they are able to back up their promises with facts

-make sure you also have a budget for traveling to such country, for accomodations in such country, for living and transportation expenses in such locations. Ask the clinic about it too, you might be surprised how helpful they could be in arranging some sort of...extra help or giving you better options in such areas of concerns

-have a good confirmed plan before leaving your country, talk to your dental clinic representative on the phone, confirm all the appointments and any other details they might ask you for

-take any  very recent X-rays or blood work info with you, they normally cost you EXTRA (and this "extra" means a few extra hundreds of dollars/euros).

These are just a few hints that come to my mind now, if you are going through what I am going now and if you want to ask me more (shall I know the answer), you can email me at mydentaltravel@yahoo.com and I will be glad to help you as much as I can.

The decision

I am a Canadian citizen and this is the true story of my dental travel experience in Romania (that includes traveling to Romania and extensive dental treatments including bone grafting, zirconium bridges, titanium implants and, most likely, a few...more operations.

I have never truly considered a dental travel experience until I was forced to face and make this decision, a few days ago, when my Canadian dentist told me that "things got pretty serious in your mouth"...

Having had a good Canadian dental insurance (which took care of my regular check-ups, regular cleaning sessions and a few fillings) I thought I could ignore the "bigger picture" of my dental problems, but when the sad reality of it hit me, at the last dental check-up, my dental insurance could not even cover 10% of the money I was adviced to spend on my Canadian treatment plan. And this Canadian treatment plan was not including ALL of my problems, just the most urgent ones...(the others remaining to be solved later...next year or so).

I won't even start with the stressful facts of how I got to need such an extensive restauration of my mouth but one could only imagine: young years of...pure neglect (ok, I must admit, some "neglect" was due to stress, money issues, changes that happened in my personal life...and body), then meeting and working in the past few years with a few dentists who were more interested in...bill-ing me than...giving me the best treatments, put me face to face with the BIGGEST decision I have had to make this year: an entire (and urgent!) dental restauration.

I had been a Canadian citizen for  many years but I was born in Eastern Europe ( the continent that I have left when I was very young, more than 13-14 years ago) so when I realized that I can not pay the tens of thousands of dollars my Canadian dentist asked me for, I knew that the only chance I've got is a good dental care at third-world country costs (namely: Romania), a trend that is becoming more and more popular. That is why, after carefully thinking all the details over, I have decided to look into Romanian dental clinics' treatments (and prices for dental care). 

Romania has recently become a major tourist hub of dental care and the fact that it is the country of which language I still speak, the decision came quickly.... (especially after I started writing e-mails to a few clinics from all over the country and I realized that a quality dental treatment done in Romania with, of course, the latest state of the art technology, might not be making too much of a hole in my pocket and/or on my bank account.

And this is how everything has started...

I am currently still researching Romanian dental clinics and writing e-mails, back and forth, with a few Romanian doctors interested in helping me. I have sent them all extensive details about my dental issues and every email is followed by a panoramic dental x-ray that I am attaching so the doctors could truly "see" most of my problems.

From about...39  dental clinics from Romanian cities like: Bucharest, Ploiesti and Constanta (that I chose to inquire about my problems) I narrowed my search down to about....4 and these days I must make a final decision...I am keeping in mind not only the cost (which is, indeed, one of the big concerns) but also the nature of the treatments the Romanian dentists offer because I truly need the best doctors I can...(virtually-for now) find. And yes, I must admit that I am also using my intuition too in makind this decision. My intuition never let me down in my life's decisions...