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Klinika

Healthy smile designers

Poland – the new health and beauty center

Article in Rzeczpospolita (Polish newspaper)
17th of March 2006

(...)

Our dentist’s offices, private clinics, beauty centers and health resorts undergo an invasion by foreigners.

Their owners invest dozens of millions of zlotys to meet the requirements of their clients. It is worth fighting for. In 2005, foreigners spent 65 million dollars in Poland for treatment procedures. Year before, these expenditures amounted to 45 million dollars. Foreign tourists, allotted at least several times that amount for cosmetic and beauty services. Visitors are enticed by low prices of services and their high quality. For instance, standard porcelain crown at a Polish dentist’s office costs 650 PLN, while in Germany 260 Euro i.e. approximately 1000 PLN. For a stay in Polish health resorts they pay three times less than in similar centers in other European Union member states.

Mecca of dentistry

For several years now, hundreds of patients from Scandinavia, Germany or even more distant countries, come to Szczecin. –Half of all our patients are foreigners. Not so long ago, we had six treatment stations and now we have nine. We are constantly purchasing new equipment – says Marcin Gaborski, director of Hahs Dental and Implantology Clinic, one of the largest in Szczecin. In order to launch a dentist’s office in this city, one has to invest at least 100 thousand PLN. – In the past, it was enough to import a used dental chair with equipment from Germany of USA.

Today, the standards are much higher. Apart from a dentist chair and equipment, offices must be equipped with a camera, a radiological set, computers and many other appliances – says a young dentist planning to open his own office. Szczecin’s dentists advertise themselves on the Internet, in at least three languages. Thanks to the clinics, dental laboratories producing components for their needs are developing steadily.

Everyone will benefit.

The popularity for dentists is closely followed by plastic surgeons.– Foreign guests constitute 80–90 percent of our patients – says Krzysztof Kapturski, chairman of the Plastic Surgery Clinic in Szczecin. He adds, that in the past it was mainly Germans and Scandinavians. Currently, most clients fly in from Great Britain and Ireland. Lower prices are only one of the incentives to visit out country. Apart from plastic surgery, cosmetology is also thriving. Its clients are mainly Germans, coming for short treatments, e.g. staying at one of the health centers in Western Pomerania. Hairdressers also reap their benefits. Other fields are ophthalmology and ophthalmic salons. Prices of glasses in Poland are still lower than in Western Europe. Thanks to flourishing medical tourism other area of business are also developing – catering, hotels as well as entertainment and recreation. Many clinics collaborate with selected hotel or travel agencies on an ongoing basis (...)

Michal Stankiewicz, Anna Sielanko, Marek Szczepanik