AN INFLATABLE surgery selling cheap cosmetic dentistry in Eastern Europe is to set up shop in Greater Manchester.

But local dentists are warning patients to think carefully before signing up for foreign surgery.

The company behind the scheme says their dentists are qualified to work in Britain, use the same equipment and materials but offer treatments at a third of the cost because of the lower cost of living in Hungary.

Hungarian Dental Travel will begin a national road show with their new blow-up consulting room at the Heaton Moor Conservative Club, Heaton Moor Road, in Stockport on Friday and Saturday.

They say thousands of happy customers have already travelled to Hungary for treatment with them in the last four years. But local dentists are warning people to investigate the standard of care they will receive abroad after some patients were left with problems which they had to treat.

Lester Ellman, a regional spokesman for the British Dental Association, said: "Dentists locally are seeing an increase in people coming to them with problems following treatment abroad, so I would advise people to be a little cautious, ask lots of questions before you sign up about the treatment you will be having and which materials will be used.

"Check with your own dentist to see what the same procedure will cost you - materials for crowns are expensive but they cost the same wherever you buy them and you also need to add the cost of an airfare and accommodation.

Complicated

"With the best will in the world things can and do sometimes go wrong. It happens here too, but when your dentist is thousands of miles away it is much more complicated - you need to know what will happen then."

Chris Hall, 38, managing director of the dental travel company, said: "Hungary has become the dentistry capital of the world and treatment is still a great deal cheaper there than it is in the UK.

"We find British people are cautious - or even over-cautious - about going to a different country for dental treatment. The mobile surgery means patients can find out what treatment they will need and what the likely cost will be before they travel.

"They can meet the dentists, who are all approved by the General Dental Council to work in this country. People don't tend to travel out there for one or two crowns. It tends to be major restorative treatment which can cost up to £40,000 in this country."

William Booth, 68, a retired bridge engineer from Ashton under Lyne, has been wearing false teeth for 40 years and they have worn away his jaw bone so he has had a bone graft and is now having implants put into his jaw to hold his dentures in place. He has been told the procedure will cost him no more than £11,500 - half of what it would cost locally.

He said: "The cost of these operations is so much I have put it off and I nearly left it too late - I hardly had any bone left at all which would have meant I couldn't wear dentures and I wouldn't be able to eat or talk properly. I'd lose my social life.

"I was very apprehensive about going abroad and not speaking the language, but I've been very happy with my treatment so far. At the end of the day things go wrong with dentists in this country as well - there are no guarantees and I could not afford to get it done here."

The inflatable surgery is equipped with a portable x-ray machine from the US and x-ray safety barriers from Japan. Bosses hope they will soon be able to use it for minor treatment and after care.

The company uses five Hungarian dentists who they say have all been passed stringent tests.