The quick answer
We plan your dates together, and you fly home with your final teeth. Surgery comes first. On the days after, you have one or two short fittings a day, depending on your case, which is how the whole treatment fits into one trip. Our optional travel package covers flights and a hotel for you and one companion, and someone from our team meets you at the airport and drives you to every appointment. One week is most people's experience. Depending on your needs and circumstances, you may need fewer try-ins.
In this answer
The week
We plan the exact dates with you. The order of the week is always the same:
You arrive. Someone from our team meets you at the airport and drives you to your hotel, where a care kit is already waiting in your room.
Surgery. About two hours.
Fitting days. One or two short visits a day, depending on your case. Each takes 30 to 45 minutes, and you leave in a new set of prototype teeth with the changes you asked for last time.
Your final teeth. Your final zirconia teeth.
You fly home. With your final teeth.
When your case needs it, we fit two in a day, morning and afternoon, so everything stays within one trip. The side of each prototype that sits on your gums stays the same, so a second fitting the same day doesn't hurt. You just leave with a better set of teeth than you had at breakfast.
One week is most people's experience. Depending on your needs and circumstances, you may need fewer try-ins.
The travel package
It's optional and priced separately from your treatment. Ask us for the current price.
It includes:
- Flights for you and one companion
- A hotel for you both
- Someone from our team who meets you at the airport and drives you to and from every appointment
- The odd trip to the grocery store
- A kit waiting at your hotel with saltwater rinse, gauze, petroleum jelly, an insulated cup, bone supplements and your medication
DIO Travel is registered with the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel and bonded, and you ride in our own commercially insured company car, because we wanted to do this properly. Fla. Seller of Travel Ref. No. ST45536.
We don't make money on it. On most travel packages we lose some, and we're fine with that. It's there to take the stress out of your week.
Why we built it
It started with a bad experience of our own. Dr. Noorthoek once needed shoulder surgery. The practice told him they looked after out-of-state patients all the time, then handed him a printed list of nearby hotels. That was all the help on offer.
Afterward he thought about how differently it could have gone, and how many people travel to us.
If you've never flown
A lot of our patients take their first flight ever to come to us. If that's you, tell us, and we'll start from the beginning.
What a REAL ID is and whether you need one. How you get your boarding pass onto your phone. What happens at security. How to find your bags. Which door to wait at when you land.
None of those are odd questions here. You're about to do something far braver than getting on a plane.
Start with a free conversation.
Where you'll land
Most patients fly into Fort Lauderdale, about half an hour from our Boca Raton office. Palm Beach International is about the same distance. Miami works too if the flights are better.
Our concierge will help you choose, based on what flies from where you live and how long a layover you're willing to sit through.
The hotel is about half a mile from the practice, close enough to walk.
I traveled from Pittsburgh & will gladly travel to Boca in order to continue receiving care from this wonderful crew of people!
What people do with the week
Some patients rest in the hotel all week, which is perfectly sensible after surgery. Others make a trip of it, with the beach, a stroll down Atlantic Avenue in Delray, a fishing charter or good restaurants. Plenty of seafood works on a soft diet after the first few days.
Your concierge is happy to suggest places, and nobody minds if you'd rather stay in.
One gentle warning. People often feel better sooner than they expect and overdo it. Rest is part of the plan.
If your travel plans go wrong
Flights get canceled. It's part of travel, and we plan for it.
In years of doing this, patients have had to stay longer than planned only a handful of times. The lab works overnight and the schedule has room built in, because getting you home on time with your final teeth is the whole point.
If your flight is delayed until three in the morning, someone here has your number and will still be at the airport.
Coming back
Many travel patients come back, at 90 days and then once a year for their check-up. By then it's a different kind of trip. Same hotel, same walk to the office, and they know everybody.
Some turn it into a vacation and bring the family. We didn't plan for that, and it's one of our favorite things about it.
Quick answers
Do I have to fly home and come back?
No. It's one trip. Surgery first, fittings through the week, and your final teeth before you leave.
Can someone come with me?
Yes, and we'd encourage it. The travel package covers flights and hotel for you and one companion.
What if my flight is canceled or my finals run late?
It's happened only a handful of times in years of doing this. The week has room built in, so a delay almost never means going home without your teeth.
What does the travel package cost?
It's optional and priced separately from your treatment. Ask us and we'll give you the current price.
Hear it on the podcast
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