A dental clinic in Munich has taken out adverts this week on Dublin Bus vehicles offering all-in packages to Irish "dental tourists". This comes with airport pick-up by a Porsche or Rolls Royce car and hotel accommodation in Munich.
The "Munich Dental Clinic" claims that even when the cost of accommodation and flights is included, the price of the dental work - mainly non-routine procedures such as implants - can be significantly reduced when compared with the same treatment in Ireland.
The clinic hopes its adverts will encourage more Irish patients to fly out for treatment. By doing so, it claims it can offer patients savings of up to 50 per cent if they have a lot of work done. At least one Irish airline, Aer Lingus, offers direct flights to the city.
Dr Thomas Koty, clinic director, yesterday said most international patients usually stay for a week, and may need follow-up visits. Among the countries proving increasingly popular with Irish "dental tourists" are Hungary and Poland, while Northern Ireland is also popular.
Last December, a Competition Authority report on the dental profession recommended radical changes to anti-competitive practices in the sector, and said the price of dental treatment had consistently increased above the general rate of inflation.
As competition among dentists is "actively discouraged", it was "not surprising" that some consumers were travelling to other countries for certain dental services, it stated.
The authority's report also noted that dentists here were prohibited by the Dental Council from advertising or offering discounts - unlike the Munich clinic.
Typical prices at the Munich clinic are €550 to €590 for a full ceramic/porcelain crown, €1,500 to €1,980 for a three-point bridge, and €600-€850 for an implant. But the clinic says these prices can be discounted further according to the volume of work involved, although costs also vary based on the complexity of the procedure.
Dr Koty said the clinic had decided to take out the adverts - due to run for about six weeks and include a freephone number, because it has previously treated patients from Ireland who found dental treatment in Germany to be cheaper.
Ciara Murphy, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association, stressed that much of the work which people avail of in other countries is "non-routine".
She said it was important that Irish patients ensured they were getting a "like for like" treatment plan, using the same quality of materials, when travelling abroad.
When patients did this, they would find that Irish dentist's prices for such treatments were similar to elsewhere, she claimed.