When Baltic States like Latvia were part of the Soviet Union, dental treatment was inferior to that offered in the West. For example, the lack of powerful anesthetics made a trip to the dentist a nightmare of pain and stress. Horror stories were common and no one in their right mind wanted to have a cavity filled or worse still, endure an extraction.
Nowadays all that’s changed as two decades of development have brought these countries up to and sometimes above the level of their Western counterparts. Indeed, every year thousands of patients from old industrialized EU countries are taking advantage of EU dental care at reduced prices. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Latvia’s capital, Riga, where dozens of clinics compete for patients arriving from Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and as far away as the US.
There is a good reason for all the travel. Even when the costs of a plane ticket and hotel are calculated, treatment in Riga will be significantly cheaper than at home. The difference is even greater when you require multiple procedures or treatment for several teeth.
Clinics like Baltic Dental Services in Riga are offering new patients an array of sharply discounted standard procedures like cleaning and whitening, while providing visiting patients extra concierge services including airport transit and hotel reservations assistance.
Dr. Olga Galkina, one of Baltic Dental Services busiest dentists, describes the new attitude, “We want the patient to feel completely at ease with our clinic, as if they were visiting their local dentist – but we know we must do more because the patient is traveling so far.” Dr. Galkina, a statuesque blonde who could easily pass for a fashion model, is serious about making her patients feel at home; in her spare time she studies Norwegian, soon to add it to her French, Italian, Russian, and English. In addition to language fluency, Dr Galkina opens her clinic on Sunday to accommodate the weekend visitor, an important advantage since many foreign patients cannot afford to miss many workdays.
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