Editorial · December 13, 2018
Dental Tourism in Vietnam: A Trip Planning Checklist
Dental tourism in Vietnam means travelling to a Vietnamese city for dental care, usually to compare cost and to combine treatment with a holiday. The trip works best when you plan four things first: your dates, your paperwork, your clinic checks and your aftercare. Each one gets its own short section below.
This is general information, not medical advice. Only a dentist who examines you can say what your own mouth needs, and what a trip should include.
1. Fix your dates before you book flights
Ask the clinic for a written treatment plan before you buy a ticket. The plan should say how many visits you need and how many days must pass between them. Some work can be finished in one short stay. Other work needs a gap between visits, so you may have to stay longer or come twice.
Leave spare days at the end of the trip. Swelling, a loose temporary crown or a sore spot can show up late. If your flight leaves the morning after a procedure, you have no room to be seen again.
Ask what happens if the dentist finds more work once the exam starts. A good clinic tells you the new plan and price before it goes ahead, and lets you say no.
2. Check your visa and entry rules
Vietnam's rules for foreign visitors sit in Law 47/2014/QH13, which took effect on 1 January 2015. The Immigration Department publishes the details. The rules depend on your passport.
Travellers from certain countries may enter visa-free for a brief stay. Examples added in recent years include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and Belarus, from 1 July 2015, and Chile from 11 August 2017. A pilot electronic visa system began on 1 February 2017. Lists and stay lengths change, so read the current notice for your own passport before you book.
Match your plan to the days you are allowed to stay. If treatment may run past your visa-free period, ask the Immigration Department or a Vietnamese embassy about an extension or a different visa first. Also check that your passport has enough months left on it, as most airlines and border officers expect.
3. Check that the clinic is licensed
Law 40/2009/QH12 on medical examination and treatment, in force since 1 January 2011, is the base law for clinics and the people who work in them. In short, a clinic needs a licence to operate, and a dentist needs a practising certificate.
Ask to see both. Ask for the dentist's name, school and the kinds of work they do each week. A clinic that is proud of its licence will show it. A clinic that dodges the question has told you something.
Look for plain signs as well. Check that the clinic is clean, that tools come out in sealed packs, and that the staff explain things in a language you follow. If you do not share a language with the dentist, ask who will translate and whether that person is on staff.
4. Get the cost in writing and compare it fairly
A low price only helps if you compare like with like. Request a quote on paper that names every item: the exam, any X-rays, each procedure, the materials, the lab work and any follow-up visits. Ask which brand of material is used and where the lab is.
Then add the full trip cost: flights, hotel, food, local transport and any extra nights. Set that total against a quote at home for the same plan. Sometimes the saving is large. Sometimes it is small once travel is counted. Do the sums before you decide.
Ask how you pay and when. Ask whether a deposit is refundable. Keep every receipt and the written plan in one folder, in case you need them later at home.
Prices and materials differ a lot from clinic to clinic, so treat any number you read online as a rough guide only.
5. Plan your aftercare before you leave
Aftercare is the part most travellers forget. Ask the clinic what care you need once you are home and what warning signs should send you back to a dentist quickly. Ask for a copy of your records, X-rays and a list of the materials used, so a dentist at home can read them.
Ask how you can reach the clinic after you leave, by email or a messaging app, and how fast they usually reply. Ask who pays if something must be redone, and for how long the clinic stands behind its work. Get that answer in writing.
Book a check-up with your own dentist at home for after the trip. Tell that dentist what was done.
A short checklist to print
Written treatment plan with visits and gaps. Visa or entry rule checked for your passport. Clinic licence and dentist certificate seen. Itemised quote and full trip cost compared. Records, X-rays and aftercare terms agreed. Spare days and a home check-up booked.
Again, this is general information, not medical advice. Your treating dentist decides what care you need.
A place on this register is not for sale.