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The phenomenon of 'dental tourism'
People crossing borders, oceans seeking low-cost care sometimes get more than they bargained for

Google the term "dental tourism" and the vaunted Internet search engine serves up nearly 9.4 million listings, most of them links to other Web sites that offer a dizzying array of options for dental patients willing to cross borders or even oceans in pursuit of cut-rate dental care. Promising low cost and high quality, dental service outlets in Mexico, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, India, Australia, the Philippines and uncounted points in between are pitching their services to relatively affluent, yet cost-conscious health care consumers in Western Europe and the United States. Go to full story.

Is 'offshoring' jobs really a threat?
Some say yes, others have their doubts

Twenty years ago, nearly all examination gloves used by health care providers were manufactured in the United States. Today, most are produced overseas—in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The exportation or "offshoring" of virtually the entire glove industry may be viewed as either a positive or a negative—or equal parts of both, depending on your point of view. Go to full story.

Does your lab outsource offshore?

Made in China. Made in Mexico. Made in India. Labels indicating foreign manufacture are on Americans' clothes, furniture, even souvenirs from a Florida vacation. Some don't care where a product is manufactured, as long as quality isn't sacrificed and the price is right. Still others will choose a product with the "Made in America" label over competing products every time, regardless of price. Go to full story.

Globalization and its implications for dentistry

Curtis P. Hamann, M.D., knows that busy practitioners are unlikely to sit still for an academic discussion of the global economy unless they hear something that hits home. And that's why, with her permission, Dr. Hamann talks about his wife. Twenty-five years ago, Beth Rhode Hamann, D.D.S., had a thriving general dental practice in Rialto, Calif., east of Los Angeles. The area's major employer—and a primary source of Dr. Hamann's dental patients—was the Kaiser Steel mill in nearby Fontana. Go to full story.

'The World is Flat'
Tom Friedman lists 10 factors he calls global 'flatteners'

In his national bestseller, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century," New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman describes events and developments that he says have come together to "flatten" worldwide competition in the modern era. Mr. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, identifies 10 such flatteners. Go to full story.