HELENA BURNS from Cork had never considered going to the North for dental work until she got a quotation of €6,000 in the Republic for essential treatment to deal with a baby tooth that never fell out.
“I felt that it was an awful lot of money, so I started researching having dental work done in the North,” she says. “When I contacted Cavehill, they were very professional and friendly, and they seemed to understand that, like most people, I was apprehensive about having a difficult job like this done. It is near the front of my mouth, so I was anxious.”
Burns got a quote of £2,400 from Cavehill, almost half the price of her original quote. She booked a return flight with Aer Arann from Cork to Belfast. Three trips later, the work was completed to her absolute satisfaction. She took three days’ holiday from her job as a sales representative with Johnson Diversey to have the work done.
But she says she would have had to take the same amount of leave whether she’d had it done North or South. Even with the cost of three return flights to Belfast at around €120 each she saved a lot of money.
“I chose to come North for both the costs and the professionalism, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone else,” she says. “Already I have passed on the number to friends, because I found it very satisfactory on every level.”
Burns admits that she spent some of her dental savings shopping in downtown Belfast, but she has no regrets about that either.
