The key facts
- Intermediaries offer tours to Heihe with treatment, accommodation and excursions: implants from 45,000 rubles, a filling 2,500.
- Patients report that the real cost may be twice as high, and after returning the teeth have to be treated again.
- The complaints cite violations of sanitary standards and possible substitution of materials.
What happened
Russian patients have complained about the results of dental tours to Chinese clinics: the complaints include violations of sanitary standards, possible substitution of the promised materials, and the need to have teeth treated again after returning home. Citing the Telegram channel Mash, this was reported by Gazeta.Ru. The outlet Life.ru describes the same picture: the final bill grows on the spot, and after the trip the result has to be fixed.
How the tours work and how much they cost according to the ads
Clients are attracted online with offers to combine treatment with rest and shopping: organizers promise a meeting in Blagoveshchensk, crossing the border to Heihe, free hotel accommodation, excursions and visits to local markets. In the advertised offers, Chinese-made implants cost from 45,000 rubles, Japanese ones about 50,000, German and Swedish ones about 80,000. A filling costs 2,500 rubles, a tooth extraction 100 rubles, canal cleaning 2,000. Besides dentistry, clients are offered cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery.
What does not match the promises
According to patients, the actual cost of treatment may turn out to be twice as high as stated, and after returning to Russia some discover chips and cracks on the treated teeth, which forces them to see dentists again — increasing expenses even further. According to Gazeta.Ru, Russian specialists point to possible problems with the quality of materials and compliance with sanitary requirements in some clinics: such violations can affect the outcome of treatment and patients' health.
Context and expert recommendations
Earlier, Life.ru already reported on dental tours to Heihe and Manzhouli: according to a SHOT verification, organizers offered veneer placement within a few days with accommodation, an interpreter and transfers included in the package. At the end of October, Galina Slobodchikova, a dentist-therapist at the Dream Team clinic network, told Gazeta.Ruthat if complications arise after tooth treatment, the first task is to get urgent medical care, not to find out who is to blame, and only after that should one collect documents. The publications do not report the real scale of the problem or any official reaction from the sources.
