Dental tourism from Switzerland to Germany

Abstract

In recent years the topic of dental tourism has increasingly come into focus of dentists and patients. In the present study an attempt was made to find out, why patients from a restricted region travel to Germany for dental care. In five German dental clinics located in the border area between Switzerland and Germany, 272 women and 236 men ranging in age from 5 to 94 years, who had undergone at least one dental treatment in Germany, were questioned concerning the reasons for their visits. The interviews took place within a period of 6 months and relied on a questionnaire to collect data regarding sociodemographic features and patient behavior. In comparison to residents of Germany, patients residing in Switzerland took on considerably longer travel distances for the dental visit, in some cases more than 50 km (9.7%). For patients residing in Switzerland the technical equipment of the practice was more important (p < 0.001), whereas for residents of Germany the cost-effective treatment was decisive (p < 0.05). Almost all patients residing in Switzerland (95.6%) confirmed that dental treatments in Germany were cheaper and that additional family members also came to Germany for dental care (65.0%).