thread: Plastic Surgery/Dental Surgery in Thailand or O/S?

  1. #1

    Oct 2005
    A Nestle Free Zone... What about YOU?
    5,374

    Plastic Surgery/Dental Surgery in Thailand or O/S?

    I am noticing a bit of a theme that there are folk heading overseas for plastic surgery. My neighbour's daughter is off to Thailand for a breast augmentation next month...

    My close friends daughter is in Thailand now having her wisdom teeth done.

    2 other friends went to India for dental work in December...

    What's the story? I thought it iffy but they tell me it's a 1/4 of the price as in Australia & the surgeons are either from the UK or Europe & internationally recognised...

    Anyone know anything about this?

    It's amazing to think that these types of ops are so exxy here but affordable o/s... Especially the dental stuff....

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Dec 2006
    In the Angelic Realm
    1,675

    a few of my friends have gone over to Turkey to get plastic surgery, but i wouldn't and don't. What if they botched it up and something went wrong and your return flight date arrived? What happens if something goes wrong after you get here? Not worth the risk, i say.
    My motto is my wherever i am, my dr should be there too.

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Jul 2006
    Melbourne
    3,715

    Mmmm, like you Inanna, I would be extremely wary of this sort of work. Especially the dental stuff. I've seen some shocking work come back from o/s.......patients who needed really exxy work, or wanted cosmetic work, couldn't afford it here, so had it done in Thailand/India. It ended up costing them all a fortune because it was so dodgy it caused them problems once they were home, and they had to pay someone here to fix it!!!! So a very expensive venture, and one that ruined their mouth as well.

    As far as I know, there is no international dental qualification. To be brutally honest (sorry to all the brits out there) I wouldn't be keen on letting a UK dentist work on my mouth. And there is NO WAY I'd let an Indian dentist near me. I am in no way racist, that is merely based on their lack of quality training. I know an Indian dentist, lovely girl, who has been working for a few years in Melbourne as a dental nurse.......she came here hoping to undertake the necessary course and work as a dentist (overseas dentists have to take a course and pass exams before they are allowed to practice here). After working for a very competent dentist, as her nurse, she has decided that she won't do that, as there is no way she knows enough!!!! She'd never even performed an extraction in her Indian studies, yet she's a qualified dentist???? There are procedures that she'd never even seen, let alone performed herself. Craziness.

    So yeah, that's my five cents, I'll get off my soapbox now. I won't continue on about the cost of dental treatment, and the incredibly long waiting lists......

  4. #4

    Mar 2004
    Sparta
    12,662

    Nope, I've read one too many stories in trashy mags about botched up O/S cosmetic surgery. Then again, one of my friends moved to Bangkok last year with a nasty gynie problem that Australian Drs had done nothing for. Her first visit to her Thai gynecologist he gave her a going over with the dildo cam, found the issue and had admitted her to hospital and fixed up within the week.
    Soooo, I guess that if a serious medical problem arose while I was overseas I would be comfortable with Drs in a quality hospital treating it but I doubt that the Drs offering cut price cosmetic surgery and the Drs working in the good hospitals are of the same standard.

  5. #5

    Oct 2005
    A Nestle Free Zone... What about YOU?
    5,374

    I think it's alarming that people feel that the "have" to go o/s to afford dental work though.... This girlfriends DD just couldn't afford it in Aust but in Thailand it was a done deal... I am just a bit shocked...

  6. #6

    Mar 2004
    Sparta
    12,662

    Our dental system is pretty horrible - it's kind of sad that people's dental work has become a mark of their economic state. The lamest thing is that the wait is so long that people lose teeth that could have been fixed if they had seen a dentist when they first tried to make an appointment.

    This thread is reminding me that I'm long overdue for a visit to the dentist - I hate going.

  7. #7
    Registered User

    Mar 2007
    on cloud 9.....
    2,105

    Having had cosmetic surgery myself, there's no way I'd get anything done overseas.
    So do the plane fares, accomodation, surgery and hospital stay all cost less than just the surgery in Aus or is it just the surgery?

  8. #8
    Registered User

    Dec 2006
    Melbourne
    3,737

    Plastic Surgery/Dental Surgery in Thailand or O/S?

    I couldn't do it I wake up really fast after a ga and have a bad reaction to morphine and pethidine, I don't think I would want to be in a foreign country. Apparently the whole lot is cheaper over there.

  9. #9
    Registered User

    Nov 2008
    727

    My DP had some minor dental work done in Russia recently and it was about 1/3 of the price of what it is in Australia. In his case it was a little bit different because he is from Russia and his family go to the same dentist. Actually, they do a family discount of about 10% which I found interesting.

    No way would I have any kind of plastic surgery or anything major done.

  10. #10
    BellyBelly Member

    Mar 2009
    1,385

    Plastic Surgery/Dental Surgery in Thailand or O/S?

    I was actually booked in to have a breast aug in Thailand last Jan. It was going to cost me about $3500 for the surgery (it is about $12000 here). I personally know a few girls who have had it done over there and are extremely happy with the results. I booked through an agency in Perth who organizes the whole thing and who only deal with certain surgeons, so they know their reputation. They get feedback from every person that they send over and get testomonials from everyone. The hospital I was booked into was amazing.. Compared to our hospitals it was like a 5 star hotel! I felt 100% comfortable with having my surgery done there. If you were to encounter any problems over there you had the agency here in Perth to deal with it for you.
    In the end I didn't end up going as we had the opportunity to buy a house in Feb and needed all our spare cash for a deposit, I figured my family couldn't all camp under my new perky bosoms so I made the right choice!!
    I was pregnant by march and am now pregnant again so it will be a long time before I will be considering having my breasts done again but if or when I do I will definately consider going to Thailand again.

  11. #11
    Registered User

    Mar 2006
    7,046

    the costing has to do with the cost of their indemnity insurance, hospital charges etc.

    As a health care professional... I dunno... we have pretty tight infection control standards here in Australia which aren't so stringently followed in other countries. There is also bacteria in other countries I'd be wary of. It is not just the training of the surgeon, but also the nursing staff that would factor into it for me. And also their equipment. Do they reuse equipment? If so, is it adequatley sterilised? Do they have the appropriate and necessary equipment should something go wrong? And do they have the knowledge and skills to deal with any negative side effects? How would I go with a language barrier?

    My Mum's friend had a hysterectomy overseas (her husband was working overseas at the time) and it went horribly wrong. She developed an infection they couldn't identify. She was medi-vaced back to Australia. You have probably heard about her - the plane she was on crashed just off of Norfolk Island. She was in ICU for a very long time and nearly died as a result of the surgery... then add the accident into it!

    If I DID have to have surgery overseas, I'd be making sure I had adequate insurance to cover any emergency flights home as that would require specialist nurses and doctors being flown from home over there.

    FWIW, I work with several doctors trained overseas. Some of them I shake my head in amazement at their skills and knowledge (in a negative way) whilst others I take my hat off to. But there are also many Doctors (and nurses) who have trained here in Australia that have me doing the same thing. We DO have very high standards here in Australia for surgeons to pass before they can be deemed a consultant... but there is a big leap between registrar and consultant!