Dental Capital Of The World

What a random title, I know.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing until recently.  I basically stumbled across this blindly when planning an impromptu road trip with our visitors, the Sharpes.  Lindsay wanted to drive across the border into Slovakia and Hungary, so she could add a check off a couple more countries that she’s visited.  Since we are so close to the border of both (around 30 minutes), we thought this was an excellent idea!  The obvious choice for Slovakia was to go to Bratislava to Tesco (click here to learn about my love for all things Tesco), but Hungary was a new one for Jeremy and I.  The closest semi-large city across the border was a town called Mosonmagyaróvár.  

Quite a mouth-full!  Actually, I never attempted to pronounce it…I’m smarter than that.  When I googled Mosonmagyaróvár, I came across a Wikipedia article that was mainly talking about dental care.  Apparently, worldwide it has the highest number of dentists compared to the total population.  After reading this, I started to recall something in the back of my brain where I had read lots of people in Austria cross over into Hungary to get cheap (but good) dental work.  It never occurred to me that it was actually the Dental Captial of the World!  

We arrived there about tooth-thirty (ha), and we did see a lot of dental clincs in Mosonmagyaróvár…an insane amount.  Can you see all the signs on the left?

 

There is even a Dental Tourism Board.  I’m not joking!  Check out this site if you don’t believe me.  According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that around 160,000 Austrians cross the border every year for dental care.  This article talks about an American who traveled to Hungary to pay less than a third of the $50,000 in dental work he needed.  That definitely takes a bite out of the cost (ha again)!  I don’t plan on letting my teeth get that bad, but it’s nice to know that I have help just across the border if I need it!  :o)