The trend towards lower cost and maitanence dentistry continues as the economy continues to contract, with dentures, teeth cleaning and fillings enquiries all seeing substantial increases against the last year’s averages. Bucking that trend though are dental implants, one of the most costly treatments around, which saw a 20.7% increase in market share, up to 17% compared to the yearly average of 14.1%.

Irish patients continue to enquire about treatment in Northern Ireland in large numbers, with root canals and dental implants seeing the biggest shifts from the norms, but it’s bad news for denture clinics for this month at least as patients in the Republic seek more intent on staying put than making the journey across the border.

Figures for Irish enquiries about dental tourism treatments reveal a shift away from the slightly cheaper treatments of teeth whitening and veneers back towards implants, crowns and bridges. There were also more surprising increases for root canals, dentures and even fillings. This might be because of the run up to people’s summer holidays, so people are already travelling to foreign destinations.

The trend more for breast reduction operations for women continues, as does the increased interest in liposuction. Male breast reduction, also known as treatment for gynecomastia, mirrors the increase in popularity noted in the UK by growing its market share from an average of 1.5% of enquiries to 3% of enquiries in May.

Botox is the undisputed king of the hill in the cosmetic beauty treatment world, accounting for 27.9% of Irish enquiries in May. Laser hair removal is a distant but growing second at 14% of the market.

Finally the overview of medical tourism from Ireland shows very small falls in market share for dental and cosmetic surgery enquiries, with fertility clinics being the biggest winners. In an average month fertility clinics abroad account for 1.5% of Irish medical tourism enquiries, whereas last month they managed to take 3.6% of the market.

More data about the UK market will follow on Monday. If you’d like to see some other statistics about Irish private health patients or have any questions about the above please leave a comment in the box below.

As ever, your comments and feedback both about the figures we’ve published and other figures you might like to see are more than welcome. You can leave a comment at the end of this post or contact us via email or Twitter – full details on the contact us page.

British Patients

Top 10 Dental Treatments Requested by UK Patients - May 2010

First up we take a look at what UK dental patients are interested in. The classic cosmetic treatments of teeth whitening and veneers lead the way. This month I’ve broken out Invisalign from traditional braces as they account for such a big share of the market by themselves, 11.05% in the last month, a 55% increase over their yearly average.

Looking at the other differences between last month’s and last year’s figures you can see a shift towards more basic treatments like teeth cleaning, extractions and dentures to the expensive of some of the more expensive cosmetic treatments. Veneers in particular are 37% behind their yearly average despite still being the second most popular individual treatment. It will be interesting to see if the cosmetic treatments make a comeback as the UK economy turns around.

British Dental Tourism Patients - May 2010

Patients from the UK heading abroad for their dental work are still interested primarily in the top end treatments like veneers and dental implants, but the number one treatment enquired about last month was teeth whitening, traditionally one of the cheaper cosmetic dental treatments. Last month it accounted for 26% of enquiries for dental treatment abroad.

Patients thinking of having teeth whitening abroad are more than likely going to be travelling to their chosen clinic’s location already, as it would be hard to save the travel and accommodation costs on the reduced treatment cost alone.

British Cosmetic Surgery Patients - May 2010

For this month’s figures I’ve rolled a lot of treatments up into their category, and one surprising result is shown here in the UK’s cosmetic surgery figures. Genital reshaping is and has been for the last year the most enquired about area of treatment in the UK. I didn’t really believe this when I saw it myself, so I looked into it a bit further and it turns out that in the past this was largely down to circumcision being included in genital reshaping. However, last month it accounted for only 35% of genital reshaping enquiries. Other treatments enquired about in the last month include vaginoplasty, labiaplasty, hymenoplasty and penis enlargement.

Seeing as genital reshaping accounts for so much of the market we will probably start breaking it out into its individual treatments in next month’s figures.

Top 10 British Cosmetic Beauty Treatments - May 2010

The cosmetic beauty sector has one of the most dependable treatment breakdowns around, being solidly dominated by Botox again and again. Judging by last month’s figures it shows no signs of declining in popularity.

Breakdown of British Medical Tourism - May 2010

Looking at what treatment areas British people are looking for when travelling abroad, you can see that plastic surgery, cosmetic beauty and fertility enquiries are all increasing. We haven’t seen any decrease in the number of enquiries for treatment abroad so although it accounts for less of the market overall, that is just down to the increasing popularity of the other areas mentioned.

Top 10 Medical Tourism Treatments for British Patients - May 2010

As reflected in the breakdown by treatment area, cosmetic surgery treatments are growing in popularity relative to their market share over the past 12 months.

Irish Patients

Top 10 Dental Treatments in Ireland - May 2010

There is an interesting spike in last month’s figures for dental implants compared to their yearly average market share, this despite being among the most expensive treatments available. Similarly there is an increase in interest in Invisalign treatment too, again one of the more modern and expensive treatments available. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues into next month.

Top 10 Dental Treatments for Irish Patients in Northern Ireland - May 2010

Northern Ireland remains a very popular alternative for dental treatment for Irish patients, accounting for 26% of all Irish dental enquiries last month. Again the expensive treatments dominate the enquiries, with braces leading the way. There is evidence of prices falling somewhat in the Republic recently and the Euro is getting weaker at the moment, so it looks like Northern dentists will be in for some competition over the coming months.

Top 10 Dental Treatments for Irish Patients Travelling Abroad - May 2010

The increase in interest in dental implants at home in Ireland seems to be mirrored by a decrease in their popularity last month among patients intending to travel abroad, while the other traditional favourite veneers remains just as popular. Dental crowns, invisalign and dentures all experienced a relative boost in popularity this month too.

Irish Plastic Surgery Patients - May 2010

There has been a fairly steady interest in the cosmetic surgery treatments that are popular among Irish patients for the last year, and it continues this month. The biggest change in the last month has been an increase in popluarity for breast implants, which are 18% ahead of their yearly average.

Irish Beauty Patients - May 2010

As with the UK, the cosmetic beauty sector is dominated by Botox enquiries, here accounting for just under 30% of the market. Frequent television ads for a laser hair removal company seem to have increased the popularity of that treatment also, with enquiries running 23% ahead of their yearly average.

Breakdown of Medical Tourism in Ireland - May 2010

Again, following the trend in the UK, Irish patients looking for treatment abroad are increasingly interested in cosmetic surgery and beauty procedures, as well as fertility and bariatric surgery. The relative decrease does not represent a drop in enquiries numbers for dental treatment abroad, rather it reflects in the increase in numbers for the other treatment areas.

Top 10 Medical Tourism Treatments for Irish Patients - May 2010

The top ten individual treatments for Irish medical tourists are dominated by dental treatments but interestingly botox makes an appearance along with breast implants.

US & Canadian Patients

Medical Tourism Breakdown - USA & Canada - May 2010

Much more so than in the UK or Ireland, US & Canadian patients are looking for dental treatment aborad, and the increases in popularity of other treatment areas is much smaller. Mexico remains by far the most popular destination, followed by the Philippines and Costa Rica.

Top 10 Medical Tourism Treatments for American and Canadian Patients - May 2010

As with dental tourism in Europe, the most popular treatments are the expensive cosmetic treatments of dental implants and dental veneers.

Next Month

As ever we are interested in providing information that is not only useful to us here in RevaHealth.com, but also is of use to you, our readers. Whether you are a journalist, a business owner or a patient, we’d love to hear your feedback and any requests for additional information you might have.

By way of example, our April traffic increased by a modest 8.60% versus March, but the number of enquiries we processed increased by 47.81% in the same period.

RevaHealth.com Traffic and Enquiries Increases - April 2009

Traffic from Ireland increased by 26.82%, traffic from the UK increased by 9.70%, but traffic from the US fell by 12.63%. Unsurprisingly, the fall in US traffic was most notable during the Swine Flu panic, which centred largely around Mexico, our number one destination for our US visitors. We expect traffic from the US to return to normal this month as the panic fades. We expect it increase dramatically in the coming months now that we have started to list local clinics in the US also.

Irish Visitor Analysis – April 2009

An interesting metric that we look at every month is the proportion of enquiries for clinics at home versus abroad. In April the split was 64.89% in favour of local clinics, versus 35.11% for clinics abroad. This is a significant shift towards people contacting clinics at home, as last month’s figure was 58.83%.

Irish Enquiries - Home vs Abroad Split

Digging deeper, while the number of visitors from Ireland who contacted clinics abroad actually increased by 65.10%, the number who contacted clinics at home increased by a far greater amount, 74.83%.

Interest in dental treatment in Northern Ireland continues to be the talking point for Irish visitors. Following on from roughly doubling for each of the last two months, this month there was a staggering 256% increase in the number of enquiries for clinics in the North. The media coverage of “everything is cheaper across the border” seems to be having an even greater effect on people as the economic situation continues to deteriorate. Clinics along the border and on the main traffic routes to Belfast in particular are benefiting from people already travelling for groceries, alcohol and Ikea.

Clinics in Northern Ireland now account for 19.73% of all enquiries made by people in the Republic, up from just 9.96% in March.

The other most popular destinations abroad were Poland (7.91%), Hungary (4.51%), Turkey (3.40%), Poland (2.22%), and Spain (1.18%).

Top 5 Destinations (from Ireland) - April 2009

Back to the overall picture of visitors from Ireland, dentistry is still the number one thing on their mind, with dental clinics taking 70.81% of all enquiries, followed by cosmetic and plastic surgery clinics, with 21.80%.

The top 5 most commonly requested dental treatments are Teeth Whitening (17.12%), Braces (10.75%), Veneers / Lumineers (9.08%), Implants (7.62%), and Root Canal Treatment (3.24%).

Top 5 Dental Treatments (Ireland) - April 2009

The top 5 most commonly requested cosmetic or plastic surgery treatments are Botox (16.92%), Tatoo Removal (9.77%), Liposuction (8.27%), Mole Removal (6.39%), and Breast Reduction (5.26%).

Top 5 Cosmetic Treatments (Ireland) - April 2009

UK Visitor Analysis – April 2009

As with Ireland, the breakdown of whether UK visitors are looking for treatment at home or abroad is one of the most interesting to look at. This month there is a continued swing in favour of contacting clinics at home, with the April figures showing that 63.60% of enquiries are for local clinics, versus 36.40% for clinics abroad. This is an increase from last month’s figure of just 43.89% of enquiries being for clinics in the UK.

UK Enquiries - Home vs Abroad Split - April 2009

While there was a modest increase of 37.62% in the number of people from the UK contacting clinics abroad in April, the number who contacted clinics at home increased by 112.36%.

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are responsible for their fair share of enquiries from the UK, at 3.91% and 4.52% respectively. Outside of these countries, the most popular destinations for visitors from the UK were Poland (7.91%), Hungary (4.17%), Bulgaria (3.21%), Turkey (2.43%) and Thailand (2.09%).

Top 5 Destinations (from the UK) - April 2009

While dental clinics are still the most contacted by visitors from the UK, with 60.82% of all enquiries, cosmetic and plastic surgery clinics have increased their share from 22.72% in March to 31.45% in April.

The most popular dental treatments requested were Veneers / Lumineers (14%), Braces (12.43%), Implants (9.86%), Teeth Whitening (9.86%), and Dentures (2.14%).

Top 5 Dental Treatments (UK) - April 2009

The most requested cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures were Botox (9.67%), Facelift (8.89%), Tatoo Removal (8.29%), Mole Removal (5.25%) and Trachea Shave (4.14%).

Top 5 Cosmetic Treatments (UK) - April 2009