HAVING a good smile is currently the ultimate fashion requirement. A perfect set of gleaming pearly whites, and you're halfway to Hollywood. But with one measly crown costing around Euro2,000 in Ireland, the quest for beautiful teeth can be restrictively expensive. Which is why it is no surprise that busloads of Irish people are packing their toothbrushes and flying to Budapest, where getting a happy smile doesn't require re-mortgaging the house. But can it really be all good news?

Well yes, frankly, according to Mary O'Connor from Booterstown, who has been beaming her beautiful set of gnashers all the way to the bank. Mary has just saved Euro44,000 by having major dental work done in Budapest, instead of Ireland. Her teeth look perfect, and feel perfect, and she's busily recommending the trip to all her friends.

"I started having a lot of problems with my teeth in my early 20s and it just got worse from there, " said Mary.

"I had a lot of abscesses and I had to have eight teeth removed, mostly from the top of my mouth. So I started researching the price of implants. The cost of one implant in Ireland was Euro4,000, and when I checked up North, it wasn't a whole lot cheaper.

Also, I found that the Irish dentists were very aware of the price of the treatments, to the point that they were working my treatment around how much I could afford, as opposed to what I needed.

But that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted this done right."

Through word of mouth, Mary heard about dental clinics in Budapest that were offering the same procedures for considerably less cash. "I found an Irish agency that was organising trips to a clinic over there, and that was a great comfort, to have an Irish contact that could answer all my questions for me, " she said.

"I sent in an x-ray, and then I had a consultation. I was told that as well as getting seven implants, I also needed 16 units of bridgework, and 10 crowns. The implants alone would have cost me around Euro28,000 here, but I was getting them for Euro6,000 in Budapest. My entire treatment came to just Euro14,000.

Here it would have been around Euro60,000."

On top of the base fee, Mary also had to pay for travel and accommodation in Budapest.

In total, she had to make three trips to the country. "The cost of flights was pretty low, and we got a special deal on the hotel, organised through the agency, " she said. "In total, with spending money, I would say that I spent around Euro2,000 on all of my travel expenses.

And I also got to see a whole new country."

The hotel itself catered specifically for dental treatment guests, with special 'soft food' menus and custom-made ingredients that wouldn't aggravate sensitive gums. "The place was also full of other people from Ireland, getting work done, " said Mary. "Every time I went over, there were at least 10 Irish people staying in the hotel, so there was a really good atmosphere, and a good social scene."

The clinic itself was clean, efficient and modern. "All the equipment was gleaming, and everything seemed so up to date. I've never seen an Irish dental clinic like it."

The actual clinic that Mary was attending was called Dr Moho's clinic, co-owned and run by Irish-born manager Margaret Molloy. The clinic was one of the first to begin running Irish dental tours to Budapest, and continues to be fully-booked every week.

"There's definitely been a noticeable increase in the numbers of people travelling, " said Molloy. "But because of that, there has also been a mushrooming of the numbers of agencies that are organising the tours, and some of those agencies are overcharging clients on a ridiculous scale."

Molloy told of one client in particular, who originally contacted a dental tours agency in the south of Ireland. "The price he was quoted for all his treatment was Euro7,000 more than what we were charging him. They had lined his quotation with hidden charges, and the extra money was not going to the dentists in Budapest, it was going directly to the Irish agency. It was a terrible scam, and we're hearing more and more of this type of thing happening."

The man, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday Tribune more details about his experience. "My dentist in Ireland had quoted me a price of Euro32,000 for eight implants, " he said. "I heard that it was possible to get it for much less, so I contacted an agency in Cork and asked for a quotation. They told me that I actually needed 13 implants, and that that would normally cost me Euro52,000 here, but that they would be able to do it for half that price - at Euro26,500."

Not convinced that he was getting the best possible deal, the client contacted Dr Moho's clinic, where he was quoted Euro19,000 for 13 implants. "I found the place very professional, well-organised and spotless, " he said. "I was very impressed with the whole thing. It's unfortunate that there are people out there trying to take advantage, because you already feel like you're taking a bit of a risk by going abroad at all, and these people just intensify that risk."

The existence of bogus agencies is also confirmed by another well-established dental tours agency, Kreativ Dental. The Irish representative of the company, Maeve Delaney, said there was serious concern about some of the new agencies that have sprung up. "I don't want to name any one agency in particular, but I would urge people to do their research and be very cautious about what company they choose, " she said. Delaney had also noticed a substantial increase in the numbers of Irish people choosing to travel abroad, with at least 30 patients attending the clinic every week. However, Kreativ Dental will not agree to provide treatment to everyone.

"I get a lot of people calling me up about getting braces, " said Delaney. "And in those cases, I would always tell them it's not a good idea.

Braces require ongoing maintenance, and it's just not practical to be getting that type of treatment in another country. There's also no point travelling for a few fillings, or relatively minor treatment.

It's only when you need to get really substantial work done that it can save you money."

However, not everyone agrees that, in the long run, dental tours are really a costsaving initiative. According to Ciara Murphy, chief executive of the Irish Dental Association, patients who have had work done abroad regularly have to return to their Irish dentist to have the work re-done.

"We are getting more and more reports from dentists around the country who are so frustrated having to deal with large numbers of patients who are in pain due to shoddy dental work they've had abroad, " she said.

"Such is the number of reports, that we've decided to do an internal survey amongst our members about how many patients they are seeing who have had bad treatment, what sort of treatment it is, and other questions along those lines."

According to Murphy, both the quality of the work and the quality of the products used can often leave a lot to be desired. "For example, the cost of one crown can vary from between Euro28 to Euro400, depending on how well made it is, " she said. "Also, we regularly have patients coming back saying they got 20 crowns fitted in four days.

That is something that would never happen here. Firstly, you have to be very careful about the pre-treatment before the crowns are fitted, to make sure that the gums are healthy and fit - all of that takes time.

"Then you have to be extremely careful about the fit of the crown. An Irish dentist will take, on average, two and a half hours to fit one crown. In Budapest, a lot of the time they're fitted in 30 minutes or less. It should take more time than that, because there's no room for error. If there is any margin left between the crown and the tooth, it's a nesting ground for bacteria, which will lead to tooth decay."

Murphy said that the speed of the treatment regularly leads to the patient having to have the entire process redone. "In our experience, when a person has 20 crowns fitted in such a short space of time, the work is usually not of a very high standard. The person smiles, and they have a lovely set of teeth, but in reality those crowns are like tombstones, " she said. "Dental tours are becoming more popular, and the more people that travel, the greater the numbers that are coming back to us, looking for help.

We have had cases where an entire mouth reconstruction needs to take place following below-standard treatment."

However, that is not to say that every clinic is bad, said Murphy. "Some of them are very good, " she said. "And certainly we are all in favour of consumer choice. The patient should have the right to travel. However, in the long run, treatment provided by Irish dentists is likely to last you 1520 years, in comparison to maybe two years for some of the treatments abroad."

Murphy's words of caution are backed up by Professor Robert J McConnell, head of the Dental School and Hospital in University College Cork. McConnell says his experience over the past 10 years suggests that patients should be extremely careful about accepting treatment from any dentist without first understanding exactly what is involved. "In my experience as a teacher of restorative dentistry for the past 30 years, complex crowns, bridges and implants cannot be carried out over a holiday trip of a week or two but require detailed planning, careful delivery and appropriate aftercare by suitably qualified dentists, " he said.

McConnell pointed to one patient of his who had serious problems following dental treatment outside the state.

"She was referred to me following a number of episodes of severe pain, just two weeks after her treatment in Hungary, " he said. "Radiographs showed that the patient had been over-treated and had inappropriate treatment carried out by an incompetent dentist. Every tooth in her mouth had been crowned. No attention had been paid to the normal biological requirements or to the normal occlusion [bite]. As a result, she developed acute facial pain, requiring medication and the placement of a splint to correct the facial dimension. In the longer term, she will require all of the crowns to be removed, and replaced with either new crowns and implants, or false teeth."

McConnell said if his patient had been treated here she would have had recourse to civil action, or had the dentist who treated her referred to the 'Fitness to Practice Dental Council'.

As it was, she had nothing to fall back on.

Mixed messages from people who have taken a chance on a Budapest dentist. Ultimately, the expert's advice is simple. Do the research, do it well, smile all the way home.

TOP TIPS WHEN LOOKING FOR DENTAL TOURS » Look for a recommendation from someone you know. Nothing beats personal experience » If you can't get a personal recommendation, ask your dental tours agency for references from past patients. Make sure the references are relatively recent - standards can change dramatically in a year » Check out the types of products being used by the dentist, and compare these with the products used in Ireland. Your dentist may be willing to help in this regard » Look for a guarantee on the products being used. Most good clinics will offer at least five years guarantee on crowns, and up to 10 years for implants » Shop around. You do it for groceries, so do it for your teeth. Ask for quotations from a number of agencies, and question any prices or charges that you don't understand