01 August 2023

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Dental tourism: could flying after treatment create problems?

Lara Figini

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Millions of people travel every year for health care and, mainly, they do it to obtain therapies at a lower cost than in the country of origin. To a lesser extent, people travel to obtain assistance from a provider who shares the same culture or language, or because that specific therapy is not available or approved in the traveler’s country. People may also travel due to the need for a complex procedure and because there is no satisfactory experience or suitable specialist or adequate devices in the country of origin.

According to market research, dental tourism is growing by 12% and could generate $5.83 billion in business by 2025.

Dental care is one of the most common causes of medical tourism, along with surgery and cosmetic surgery, fertility treatments, transplants and cancer treatments.

Dental tourists usually travel from Western European countries to Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, Greece and Poland. North American patients typically prefer dental services in Mexico or Costa Rica, while Australian citizens tend to travel to Asian countries, including Malaysia, India and Thailand.

Dental tourism requires frequent air travel, and despite the pressurization of airliner cabins, at altitude pressure conditions <8000f there is still a risk of several adverse physiological effects caused by air pressure changes.

The dental tourist can be exposed to various health risks including barotrauma and barodontalgia, a pain caused by changes in ambient pressure.

Materials and methods

In a study published in January 2023 in the British Dental Journal, the authors provided guiding principles regarding the minimum time interval that must pass between dental procedures and air travel to prevent complications and adverse health effects.

The authors performed a literature search to gather information on complications related to air travel after dental treatment and were able to ascertain that there is little research in this area. Most of the studies were conducted on military crews, with flight and personnel characteristics different from those referring to civilians.

Results

The recommended time to fly safely and after most dental procedures is one week to six weeks after a sinus lift treatment.

The minimum time required between a conservative procedure and a flight is 24 hours and 24 to 48 hours for a simple extraction, 72 hours for a non-surgical endodontic procedure and a surgical extraction and implant placement, and at least two weeks for a sinus lift procedure.

Conclusions

From the data of this study, it can be concluded that dentists treating dental tourists should know and be familiar with the post-operative risks associated with air travel and should provide guidelines to their patients on how to prevent or reduce these risks.

However, more research on civilian flights is needed to formulate more accurate guidelines for the civilian population.

For more information:  "Dental tourism and the risk of barotrauma and barodontalgia."