Sri Vijaya Puram: Sri Vijaya Puram – It’s not just scuba diving or pristine beaches bringing Germans to the Andaman Islands. Increasingly, it’s root canals.
At a discreet, tech-laden dental clinic tucked away in Sri Vijaya Puram, Dr Selvaraj Gandhi is treating a new kind of patient: international tourists combining tropical holidays with dental procedures. Some arrive with advance bookings; others walk in after a casual “dentist near me” search, and are surprised by what they find.
Equipped with semi-robotic technology, one of only five such setups in India, Dr Selvaraj’s clinic is becoming an unexpected stop on the health tourism map, particularly for patients from Germany and Spain. The draw? Precision care, global hygiene standards, and pricing that dramatically undercuts European dental rates.
Dr Selvaraj Gandhi didn’t anticipate this turn. “People trust good care when they find it, even if it’s in the middle of the Bay of Bengal,” he reflects.
From Island Boy to International Training
Born into a modest middle-class family in the Andamans, Dr Selvaraj followed a trajectory familiar to many islanders with ambition: he left. After earning a Bachelor of Dental Surgery in Aurangabad, he returned home to volunteer at G B Pant and Dhanwantri hospitals. It was a move few expected.
Back then, it was uncommon, if not controversial, for a BDS graduate to be seen in an operating theatre, a space many believed was strictly the domain of MBBS doctors. But Selvaraj didn’t wait for permission. He was there to learn, and he did.
His path next took him to Georgia and Spain, where he specialised in advanced dental techniques, training on equipment rarely found in India. He could have stayed abroad. Instead, he returned with a clear mission: to bring world-class dental care to the islands.
Island Challenges, Global Standards
The return wasn’t smooth. Infrastructure was only part of the challenge. In the islands, where betel nut and tobacco use are widespread, oral hygiene is often not a priority. Rather than preach, Selvaraj focused on building trust.
Some of his most loyal patients came from communities often stereotyped as uninformed, such as the Bengali and Ranchi populations. With time, word-of-mouth, and education, they became some of the clinic’s strongest advocates.
“Attitudes changed patient by patient,” he notes. “Sometimes all it takes is explaining pain not as a one-off, but as a symptom of something bigger.”
At the core of his clinic’s approach is a philosophy of care: comprehensive complete digital dental care and diagnosis before treatment, and prevention as a long-term goal. It’s not a spa, but it is clean, competent, and calm, exactly what a tourist needs when a molar flares up halfway through a snorkeling trip.
The Rise of Health Tourism
Today, the clinic takes bookings weeks in advance, from islanders, certainly, but increasingly from abroad. European visitors now plan dental work to coincide with vacations, preferring a tropical setting over steep prices back home.
This isn’t medical tourism in the conventional sense. It’s quieter, humbler, and shaped by consistency rather than disruption. In a region where skilled professionals often leave, Dr Selvaraj came back. And in a place where dental care was once an afterthought, he built something quietly world-class.
The result? A new kind of reputation for the islands, one where health tourism coexists with hammocks and high tide. Turns out, if you pair a tropical holiday with a pain-free root canal, people will come. Even from Hamburg.
