In UK Dental Tourism Comes To You In Blowup Tent

LONDON—The Hungarian dentist will see you now. In his inflatable office (pictured above). Getting your jaw X-rayed by a foreign practitioner in a blowup tent may sound like a hard sell to British patients, but a group of Hungarian dentists is arguing otherwise. Their blowup dental clinic is touring the U.K. to showcase their hygiene, professionalism and affordability to the British.

It's all in the hope of attracting a bigger share of Britain's "dental tourists"-- patients looking to Eastern Europe for cut-price crowns, bargain bridges and inexpensive tooth implants.

Basic dental care in Britain is free to those under 16 or over 60, the unemployed, students, military veterans and some low-income families. For others, government dentists offer lower prices than private practitioners.

However, the government does not cover cosmetic dentistry, and a recent reorganization of the way dentists work has prompted many to leave the public sector. Katherine Murphy, a spokeswoman for The Patients Association, an advocacy group, said it was proving increasingly difficult for Britons to get anything beyond basic dental care from Britain's National Health Service.

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HT: Ben Cunningham