Americans Saving Money By Getting Dental Work In Mexico
Americans already save money by purchasing prescription drugs from Canada and getting plastic surgery in South America. Now they're crossing over to Mexican border towns for high-quality dentistry, which can cost over 60% less than comparable work in the U.S. Reuters notes that "a dental crown in the United States costs upward of $600 per tooth, compared to $190 or less in Mexico."
"We've gone from a handful of patients when we started 2-1/2 years ago to 150 new patients a month," said Joe Andel, an American who owns the Rio Dental clinic in Ciudad Juarez with his Mexican dentist wife, Jessica.Rio Dental, which uses U.S. labs to make its crowns, picks patients up at the airport in El Paso, Texas, across the border and has treated people from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.
"The Internet makes this possible. It allows patients to find us and research us and shows we can do dental work of equal or superior quality to the United States," Andel said.
"Americans go to Mexico for a cheaper perfect smile" [Reuters]
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Comments:
"Rio Dental, which uses U.S. labs to make its crowns"...
So the crowns are actually made in the US and imported into Mexico... and they still cost less than 1/3 of the US price?
This is more a result of the Dentist getting the MAX that they can out of an insurance company than an actual cost of materials or services.
American insurance is breaking the US.
My friend swears by this. He even gets his teeth cleaning down there which seems like a ridiculous stretch to me. I'm assuming all these dentists are certified by some Mexican health board? I'd hate to think what happens if they botch something though.
@axiomatic: Agreed.
The dentist, along side thethe Veterinarians, is the biggest crook in the world.
And after you're done, you can get a pack of Chiclets.
If your in San Diego go here. They do good work and are just a few minutes from the border in Tijuana.
kp
And, when you're done, you can get a pack of chiclets.
WTF is wrong with this country.. If this doesn't make you mad than you are not paying attention.. PEOPLE ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY TO FIND AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE!!! WTF is wrong with this country... I'm moving back to Norway.. Screw this place!!!!
I'm sure a certified dental professional is just as good in Mexico as any other industrialized nation, but I'd be more worried about the probable lack of legal recourse in case something did go wrong (as it can anywhere).
It's not just for dental care. As has been well-publicized, Americans are going to Thailand, India, and the Philippines for more major surgeries as well. A lot of cosmetic procedures, but also stuff like hip replacements. The doctors are top-notch and the facilities are better than US hospitals, some are luxury-hotel level. Private rooms, personal nurses, etc.
And the best part is it's all out of pocket. No messy insurance battles. The global economy at work.
@Spamwich: You're talking to one, Einstein. So before you open your bigoted mouth again, you might want to come down here, live in Texas for a while, & see these 'dentists' that people are going to.
Dental insurance is a joke. My dentist told me that I had to paid up $600 for extractions; that's with Insurance. How much would I pay if I went to Mexico?
I have had my teeth done in Argentina and they did an excellent job at at least 1/3 the price in the US at the time. If I ever want medical treatment not covered by my health insurance I will have no quams to make a trip to South East Asia.
However I have seen a lot of coupons for dentists around my area offering some great deals for frist time clients.
@Franklin Comes Alive!: Somewhere in that brain of his/hers, the first thing they think of in connection to Mexicans is migrant labor.
BTW, we don't grow it, we pick it.
not sure about Mexico, but an Indian friend needed dental work that would cost about $2500 in the US. He waited and got it done in India for $150.
Cut the insurance that medical institutions and doctors have to pay in order to practice and America will retain its medical staff. Or we could go to a universal health system so that everyone will bring their business to Mexico, including the providers. If America wants to climb back up the healthcare rankings, we need to cut frivolous lawsuits.
@Chris Walters: writing "X% less than" makes baby jebus cry. Seriously. Recommended alternatives would be:
- Procedures in Mexico cost as little as 30% the price of the same procedure in the US
- Procedures in the US are as much as 300% the cost of the same procedure in Mexico
- Procedures in the US are as much as three times the cost of the same procedure in Mexico
All, in my opinion, much clearer than "60% less than"....
/end_pedantry
Here's a consumerist move.
Find a mexican dentist doing high quality work in Mexico and getting his crowns from a US lab. With an attractive price schedule. He needs to be located in some place in Mexico you actually want to go to, like Cozumel. Then, figure your cost savings, and bookend a trip around your procedure (molding and later crowning) using TravelZoo or some other nice vacation deal site. If you do this for all of your major dental needs, you will never hate having to get dental work again.
Now, if there were only top quality, cheap dentists in Aruba!
Its the miserable insurance companies that's the problem. My dentist's receptionist told me that it was like pulling teeth to get the insurance companies to pay. Often times they have to submit & then resubmit over & over again to get even the simplest things paid for by the dental insurance companies.
IF I lived near the Mex border.... I wouldnt hesitate to get my teeth fixed there.
im getting a $1500 ($500 cost to me) route canal on Friday morning. Maybe instead i should buy a plane ticket to Mexico!
Welcome to the Commuting States of America. Americans will travel extensive distances to go to work. They'll also travel extensive distances to get basic needs taken care of.
Frankly, I thought people leaving the country to get quality health care was a not-so-quiet secret.
Face it, health care in the US isn't worth it. It's all profits and lawsuit motivated. You know it's a major problem when doctors cannot do the "right thing" because of fear of lawsuits. You know it's a major problem when people have to decide between insolvency and healthcare, especially with the capabilities that America collectively has. They may not have a good "de jure" safeguards, but at least through reputation and other de facto factors, other countries have simply gotten those parts down better.
My dad got his bridge replaced while they were down in TX for the winter visiting friends. He said it was a nice clinic, the dentist knew what she was doing and it cost them pocket change. If the place had been scary or sketchy my mom would still be complaining about it years later. They stopped and picked up some of their prescriptions for about 1/10th of what they normally cost. If you want the scoop on where to go ask a bunch of senior citizens or cruise some of the seniors sights. I found a bunch of people that live in retirement places in AZ & TX pointing out the nice and reliable places over the border to get meds and dental services.
I would seriously consider going to India if I needed something really expensive done surgery wise. The plane ticket would probably cost less than an MRI.
@arch05: My wife is a Dentist from Mexico. (Now that she lives with me in the USA, she doesn't practice, though.) There are state regulations and Dental Associations and certifications just as there are in US states.
@Spamwich: Lawsuits in Mexican courts. Language may be a barrier, though. My wife was sued once, but by an ex-employee, not a patient ;).
She (my wife) is actually an alumnus from the only Mexican dental school that's automatically accepted in the United States (California) as credible for certification without craploads of extra courses. We're also friends with some not-unimportant people in the Mexican Dental Association. As such, references for good dentists are never a problem for us, and it's often someone she knows.
@parad0x360: I hear a lot of people are doing that for surgeries, and since you're not recommended to fly after some surgeries, they use the money they save to help them recoup at a nice resort for a while :)
@forgottenpassword: I'll apologize in advance ... but, if getting payment is like pulling teeth, it should be a breeze for a dentist's office!!
Again, I am so sorry.
@azntg: It's interesting that the opposite happens too. Wait times for some (actually most non-emergency) surgeries are pretty lousy in Canada so people who can afford it will fly down to the US to pay out of pocket. It's looked at unfavourably by some because it undermines the basic workings of universal health care, but I can't say I blame anyone who needs treatment for doing what they have to in order to get it.
I was just thinking about how this is probably driving up the cost of medical care in Mexico, and making it harder for poor Mexicans to get the care they need. Ah well, I guess they'll sneak across the border and earn some higher wages here.
@Spamwich: Well, at least in Canada the people have a choice to have it free or pay out the yin-yang. That would be nice. Here in the U.S. we just pay out the yin-yang.
@arch05: Hrm... lets see here standard definition and... a picture with the caption arch05... ah yes the picture really emphasizes the definition
:P
Yeah. I'm sure Mexican dentists have microscopes, apex finders (to make sure the canals are properly cleaned), and the state of the art pharmaceuticals or lasers to ensure the bacteria is killed.
On second thought, so what if the root canal is done with decades-old methodology? Heck, it's cheaper.
There are plenty of Texas dentists who make lots and lots of money fixing what Mexican dentists have caused or exacerbated. And it's always more expensive trying to fix someone else's work than to do it right in the first place.
And for those who says their dental work done outside the U.S. was fine, what criteria are you using to decide if the work was quality or not? Unless you know what to look for and have access to loupes and/or an x-ray, you really can't judge.
@timmus: True, I will take the Canadian system over the American any day, but the Canadian system is far from perfect. Micheal Moore pissed off a lot of Canadians with his movie Sicko by portraying Canada as some sort of health care utopia.
The Canadian system of healthcare will never fly in The U.S. as American don't have the stomach to ration healthcare. IMHO.
I've heard some horror stories from people I know that went across the border in Arizona to get dentistry work done. It's definitely a good idea to check into who you are seeing before you go and make sure that it's all legit and that you'll get good work for your money. You'd hate to come back across with dentures that don't fit but still cost you a bunch of money (albeit, 1/2 less than you'd have paid), right?
I used to work with a Chinese guy who would actually fly back to China for dental work. He said the dentists were better - everything was done with lasers, so there was no pain from drilling, and it was cheaper for him to fly there and get the work done than to just have any kind of major stuff done in the US.
Yeah, like Id go to a 3rd world country for healthcare. Its just like anything else, you get what you pay for. You can pay more for a nice sterilized room with a quality dentist or you can go sit on a steel chair and have some guy who learned dentistry by reading a book in a library with a pair of pliers pull your teeth for a lot less money
@balthisar: Of course there are regulations in some parts. But the majority of Mexico is a backwards, lawless, disgusting place. Fun for spring break. For healthcare? Not so much.
Ugh. I hate dental work no matter which country it's done in.