Dental Travel
I've had the work done myself, in Ho Chi Minh City. And if you'd rather not walk into a clinic on the other side of the world by yourself, I'll come with you.
No photos. No forms. No quote in your inbox an hour later. It comes to me and nobody else.
Five years ago I was quoted $1,800 a tooth in Australia, and more than $40,000 for the work I needed. I researched the alternatives properly, chose a clinic in Vietnam, and had it done. I'm not sending you somewhere I haven't been.
Where it helps, I travel with you — the flights, the first appointment, the days in between. Not as a guide holding a clipboard. As someone who knows the city, knows the dentist, and knows what the first morning feels like.
I don't sell a fixed itinerary with a price on it. Every trip is built around what your mouth needs, how long you can be away, and what you're comfortable with. Some people want company. Some want to be left alone. Both are fine.
February this year
She'd had the quote, she'd done the reading, she'd decided. And then she couldn't get on the plane. She rang me and said she was too frightened to go on her own.
So I went with her. I met her at the airport, we flew up to Vietnam together, and I sat in the waiting room while she had her consultation. We had dinner that night and she talked about something else entirely, which felt like the point.
She's home now, and she's happy. She's given me permission to tell you this, and she's asked me not to use her name — which tells you most of what you need to know about how private this is for people.
A client, Ho Chi Minh City
Honest answers
These are the questions I get asked on the phone, usually after a long pause. None of them are silly.
We plan for it before you go. You come home with your full treatment notes, the x-rays, and the materials used, so any Australian dentist can pick it up. The clinic I work with stands behind its work and I stay in the loop — if there's a problem in six months, you ring me, not a call centre. Where a return visit is genuinely needed, we sort out how that's handled before you book anything.
Only if you tell them. Your enquiry comes straight to my personal inbox. I don't add you to a mailing list, I don't pass your details to a clinic until you say so, and I don't put anyone's photographs on this website. Plenty of people book this as a holiday and simply come home looking well.
Yes — a partner, a friend, an adult child, or me. I'll build the trip around two people just as easily as one. If you're going on your own and would rather not be, say so when you write to me and we'll talk about what that looks like.
No. It's the same procedures, the same anaesthetic, often better equipment than a suburban Australian practice. What's different is that more of it gets done in one visit, because you've flown a long way — so the recovery is more concentrated. We build rest days into the itinerary rather than pretending they aren't needed.
Because I checked, and then I let them work on my own mouth. I looked at credentials, in-house labs, specialist departments, English-speaking staff and what happens when a case goes wrong — before I sat down in the chair myself. I'll walk you through exactly what I found and you're welcome to disagree with me.
The dental work I priced came back around 70% below the Australian quotes, from clinics in Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, the Philippines and South Africa. But I won't put a number on this page, because your mouth isn't the same as anyone else's. Tell me roughly what you've been quoted here and I'll tell you honestly whether the trip is worth it for you. Sometimes it isn't, and I'll say so.
How it goes
You tell me what you've been quoted and what you're worried about. No photographs, no dental history form. This call costs nothing and doesn't commit you.
If it makes sense, I introduce you to the dentist for a proper consultation and an estimate. You decide after that, not before.
Flights, somewhere comfortable near the clinic, rest days between appointments, and the rest of the country if you want it. I come with you if you'd like me to.
You come home with your records and my number. If something needs attention later, you call me and I deal with the clinic.
Why I do this at all
Most people can't afford the level of dental care they need in Australia, even with private cover. So they live with a smile they're unhappy with and they stop showing it in photographs. That was me, five years ago.
I researched costs across Asia and South Africa, then spent longer researching what goes wrong with cheap dental work — the clinics, the credentials, the pitfalls — so that I could make an informed decision rather than a hopeful one. I chose Ho Chi Minh City. Modern facilities, in-house labs, specialist departments, and a dentist whose care genuinely surprised me.
I have never regretted it. That's the only reason I'll help anyone else do it.
Private enquiry
Three lines is plenty. You don't have to explain everything, and you certainly don't have to send a photograph.