How do we manage the aftermath of maximally invasive cosmetic dental treatment? Addressing the clinical and ethical dilemmas facing dental teams following extensive dental treatment elsewhere

Key points

• Some dental tourism, comprising of unethical, financially driven dental intervention, causes permanent and irreversible damage that ruins lives and brings our profession into disrepute.

• Such practices are not endorsed by most of our profession. We must educate patients into thinking hard before committing to such interventions and to consider the longer-term biologic and financial implications of their decisions. We must dissuade colleagues from doing this kind of ‘treatment'.

• Patients that have undergone such interventions must be treated sympathetically, without judgement, and with sound diagnosis and treatment planning for long-term predictable rectification. This will create a huge burden on public healthcare services and is more likely to require private sector treatment at substantially greater cost.