The level and determinants of international patient satisfaction with dental tourism in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Along with the medical tourism industry, dental tourism has become a trending industry as many patients travel around the world to receive dental treatment. This research aims to analyze the level of international patient satisfaction with the dental tourism experience in Bangkok, and to identify the determinants that significantly influence patient satisfaction. This study applied a crosssectional research design and a quantitative research method. The data were collected using questionnaires. A total of 106 respondents were involved in this study. Descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to address the research objectives of the study. It was found that international patients are highly satisfied with their dental tourism experiences in Bangkok. In addition, the results showed that quality of dental treatment, location accessibility and destination appeal have a positive and significant influence on dental tourist satisfaction. This study provides valuable inputs for dental care providers by highlighting the determinants and their relationships to dental tourist satisfaction to overcome challenges in this competitive market.

Perception of dental medicine students on dental tourism

“…Furthermore, students generally believed that the quality of dental work in those countries, in which a large number of dentists engage in dental tourism, is at a higher level due to the demand of tourists for higher quality. These results are in line with the statements of surveyed dentists from countries that are receptive markets for dental tourism from existing literature, who similarly described dental tourism as an activity that encourages them to invest in high-end equipment, education, and better quality of work [7,16,17]. This indicates that a positive perception of dental tourism is not necessarily conditioned with direct involvement in this activity, but can also arise from living in a country where dental tourism takes place, especially if there is a perspective for oneself to engage in this activity.…”

“…As far as knowledge of foreign languages was concerned, almost all students were aware that it is extremely important for dental tourism, and vast majority were ready to learn a new language if they decide to work in this field. This is not surprising considering that research on the most important factors on the basis of which potential tourists make the decision to choose a dentist in another country regularly emphasize that knowledge of the patient's language by the staff of the practice they choose is one of the crucial factors [7,25]. Additional explanation for this attitude can be found in the fact that most of the participants were from the Republic of Croatia, where parts of the country with dentists speaking Italian were the first areas of massively developed dental tourism, precisely due to knowledge of the language and proximity of the Italian market [11,12].…”

Intra-Regional Medical Tourism Demand in Malaysia: A Qualitative Study of Indonesian Medical Tourists’ Rationale and Preferences

“…This situation is primarily the case with dental treatment since public health insurance does not cover it. Thus, travelling to countries that provide comparatively low prices is one of the few available options for accessing affordable medical care ( 67 ). Countries like Malaysia, Thailand and India offer affordable and reasonable accommodation, food and beverage and local transport cost.…”

Medical, Health and Wellness Tourism Research—A Review of the Literature (1970–2020) and Research Agenda

“…A consensus is yet to be established on the definitions and contents of medical-healthwellness tourism, and how they interact, including their potential overlaps. Medical travel and tourism, health tourism, wellness tourism, and other similar terms (e.g., birth tourism, cosmetic surgery tourism, dental tourism) tend to be investigated separately in tourism research [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Notwithstanding the apparently disconnected nature of published research in this field, medical-health-wellness tourism has become much more popular for a variety of economic, cultural, lifestyle and leisure reasons [11,21,22].…”