One logical question the individual considering dental tourism asks is, “Foreign dental clinics claim they are safe but are there any independant organizations that can assess on organizations safety?” The answer is that, yes, there is an independent organization called JCI (Joint Commission International) that evaluates facilities around the world.
The accreditation process demonstrates the high quality of patient care, and safe environment to reduce risks for the patient and staff that a facility has. It has gained a world wide reputation as an effective quality assessment tool. The JCI accreditation process is lengthly, thurough and expensive. It takes at least three years to achieve accreditation and costs the facility about $42,000 US.
To this date only 20 hospitals have received accreditation world wide with eight of those being in Mexico. If a one of those hospitals offers dental services then the individual considering a dental vacation would have the peace of mind knowing that their provider has JCI accreditation. At this point smaller dental practices do not have an accreditation process so if having the independant assessment is important for your confidence in a facility look for the JCI accreditiation.
Dental Vacation Reviews
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am considering either Mexico or Costa Rica for dental work.
I would really appreciate any info you could offer regarding JCI designations in those countries.
Sure. Go to: jointcommissioninternational.org then click on the link in the upper right area “Find an Accredited Organization”. It will give you a list of hospitals with accreditation.
Hope that helps!