Trykke

Health Editor

DISGRUNTLED NHS dental patients are being lured by a Polish firm offering cut-price treatment combined with a weekend break.

The enterprising company is offering patients all-inclusive trips to?Warsaw, including flights, accommodation and dental work.

Dental Travel Poland says prices are up to 60 per cent cheaper in?Poland?than the?UK?with quided tours of the Polish capital thrown in.The firm, which is sending out thousands of leaflets across the South-east offering its services, claims: ?œThe idea of our company is to provide you with high quality dental care during a charming stay in?Warsaw, the capitol of?Poland.

With?DTP you don?™t have to care about anything as we organize everything for you including plane tickets, accommodation, quide in the city and of course dental service.?œYou can spend the evening in a hotel or enjoy city nightlife. If your treatment doesn?™t require an additional visit the next day we will be happy to??present you with some of?Warsaw?landmarks before you leave.??/p>

Dental Travel Poland is offering accommodation in either the four-star Marriott Warsaw or the cheaper three-star Hotel Grand.?Patients fly out on Sunday evening saving, the firm says, hundreds of pounds. For example, prices to fit braces begin at £250 compared with £934 for private treatment in the?UK.

Yesterday the company said it was inundated with inquiries and bookings from?UK?customers.

Julie Sparrow, 37, from?Greenwich, south?London, said: ?œI?™m seriously considering taking up the offer because I need some dental treatment and I quite fancy the idea of spending a weekend in?Warsaw.??/p>

One satisfied patient is Andy Sinclair, 36. With no NHS dentist available, he faced a £350 bill to have four painful molars treated privately.He booked a £50 budget flight to?Krakow?where a dentist cured his problem for just £58. Mr?Sinclair, from?Preston, said: ?œThe treatment was excellent and her facilities were very clean and modern. She even kept her surgery open late to finish the work. Since then, I?™ve had no problems.??/p>

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Tens of thousands of Brits head abroad every year, not in search of sea, sand and sun, but for cut-price medical treatment. A growing number of ?œhealthcare tourists??fly off for operations or routine treatment, from dental work, serious heart surgery and hip replacements, to tummy-tucks and facelifts.

The number of medical tourists is rising, driven by the often drastically lower prices of treatment abroad ??even when the cost of travel and accommodation is taken into account ??and the length of NHS waiting lists.

But experts warn it can be hard to put matters right or seek compensation should anything go wrong. And don?™t expect travel insurance to cover you.?Financial considerations are what drove Ann and Stanley Carter to travel further afield when?their local dentist, in?Plymouth, would no longer take on NHS patients.

?œWe saw an ad for?Dental Travel Poland, which arranges dental care in?Warsaw,??says Ann,64, a?retired nurse. ?œAs the costs of private dental??treatment are so much in the?UK, we thought we would give?Poland?a go.??/p>

The couple flew to?Warsaw?and, after having check-ups,?Stanley, who used to work in security, had a crown fitted, which cost him £250.?Ann?™s dental work included having a bone implant, costing £1,800. The flight from?Luton?cost them £44 each and they stayed two days. The implant would have cost £3,000 at home, says Ann, and a crown would cost about £600.

She says: ?œThe surgery was hygienic and the dental work and care was of a high standard. I don?™t think that pensioners really should have to go to?Warsaw?to see a dentist, but it?™s a lovely city and the bills are far cheaper??

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