Anybody have any experience with traveling overseas for dental work?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have to get some implants and crowns to repair the damage my last dentist did over the past several years. No insurance so the $ is straight out of my pocket; $2000 for each crown and $4000 for each implant. I’ve been doing a little reading and find prices can be MUCH lower in places like Mexico, Costa Rica, and Hungary. I see many claims that the work can be first class, too, with many offices having American trained dentists.

It looks like tourist dentistry is a booming business with many offices in many countries specializing in the tourist trade. A cheap flight to San Diego and a walk across the border to one of many clinics across the bridge to Tijuana could keep thousands of dollars in my pocket. Even a more expensive flight to an adventure in Hungary would save thousands.

I’m just starting to look into this and wonder if any dopers have had any experiences with it.

2

Quite probably not what you’re looking for. I had to have a crown put in while posted to Uganda. It wasn’t set properly, so I have a permanent high spot in my bite. The dentist who did the work was Ugandan, but was trained in the U.S. Buyer beware.

3

I have friends who regularly combine a holiday to Thailand with getting expensive (in Aus) dental work done. None have ever had any problems with the work, citing it as equal to if not better than dental work they’ve had done in Australia.

4

A friend’s sister routinely travels to Costa Rica to get her dental work done. No complaints that I’m aware of. I don’t know if it makes a difference that she owns land there.

5

I have zero firsthand experience with this, but to me it sounds like one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard.
mmm

6

I’m an American who just got back from a dental visit to Spain. The clinic was excellent, with care that was patient-centered in a way I’ve never had in the US. After this experience, I think I’m going to go abroad for as much of my dental care as possible.

The prices were very affordable. It might not be as cheap as going to Mexico or Costa Rica, but the fees were much less than you’d pay in the US. The timelines are much shorter, too, for procedures like implants. PM me if you’d like the contact info for the clinic.

7

I have a friend who lives in Southern California. He’s a freelancer with no insurance, and he always crosses the border into Mexico for his dental work, including a crown in 2015. He seems satisfied.

8

There are clinical trials for dental work as well as non-dental; I’ve looked into them recently b/c I have to have an implant too. While the site is run by a US group the trials are all over the world. There’s none within 5 states of me; if they paid for travel I’d do it in a heartbeat but free treatment’s not worth it for a single implant (to me).

9

Avoid chains and stick to independent dentists if possible, though. Small practices will really have you seen by the same doctor or, if they’re on vacation, by someone who’s taken time to look at your file; if you have an emergency, they’ll get you in without needing to butcher the receptionist. Chains on the other hand make me want to butcher the receptionist, the anesthesiologist, the hygienist, the assistant… and often have people on a part-time basis, so they change often and without warning; they’re also quite likely to send people who need complicated work done to the UHC system, which I’m sure isn’t what a medical tourist would be wanting. I can recommend a dentist in Barcelona if anybody is interested (family practice).

I had a job in Costa Rica; a couple of us had to go to the doctor and one to the dentist for different reasons and the work was very good. My doc was trained in Puebla (founded 1578*), which in general has a very good reputation through Latin America.

  • The university I mean, not the city. The city is from 1531.
10

Several months ago, I responded to an identical question by a poster called “Scribble” if you want to search for it.

If not, to make a long story not quite as long, Poland (and Hungary, I understand) has a huge industry of providing high quality, extremely low-cost dental care to UK and EU residents, because of the vast abundance of highly trained dentists here and the unbelievably affordable prices.

I personally had work done by a dentist who spoke excellent English (he did his residency in New York) and charged me $400 for what would have easily run $3500-4000 back in Salt Lake. As one of my local pubs is actually the lobby bar/cafe/art gallery of my friend Monica’s tiny boutique hotel, I have met dozens of Brits, Danes, Swedes or other EU people who fly to Krakow, stay for a week or two during which time they have 3 or 4 appointments and then fly home, and even with the cost of airfare, food, drink, sightseeing, nightlife and hotel, tell me that they have saved 1000’s of Euros over having the work done at home in London, Oslo or Stockholm.

Even if I still lived in the USA, knowing what I do now, if I needed any significant work done that would cost over $5000 there, I would absolutely fly here, have a nice vacation, and still come out way ahead in the end.

(Just for a point of reference, a 4 star, independent hotel in the heart of Old Town Krakow runs under $50 per night in the off peak months. A nice sit down meal, with a couple of drinks is under $10. A bottle of wonderful Italian, Portugese, Spanish, Austrian or Hungarian wine in a supermarket is around 3 bucks, while a beer in a bar is $1.50)

11

Because…

12

…all them foreigners have never seen teeth?
:dubious:
Yeah, curious too.

13

I have sent a PM to Scribble regarding his experience in Spain.

@Nava – The idea of sticking with an independent dentist sounds good but sounds like it would add a level of complexity to the process.

@Royal Nonesutch – Poland, hmmm. Definitely makes my list.

Most likely I’m going to end up in Mexico or Costa Rica because of the travel cost but I’m just beginning the process of looking into this and the idea of an ‘exotic vacation with benefits’ is very appealing.

I’m glad to hear there are people with good results and this idea of ‘dental toursism’ isn’t just a total scam.

14

Just for the record, I have spent time in Hungary (Budapest) a few different timnes in the past 4 years, and without a doubt it is one of the most lovely cities on Earth, safe, affordable, architecturally stunning with wonderful food and a rich cultural history, but as far as communication goes, Hungarians, even those who work in the Hospitality Industry, are far less likely to be fluent in English than Poles are, and the Hungarian language is, well, it’s not something that is quickly picked up, although as far as dentists go, if you do your research it wouldn’t be a problem, but grocery stores, restaurants, bars can be tricky to navigate.

Of course not all Poles are fluent in English, not by a long shot, but almost everyone here in Krakow under 25 years-old, especially anyone who works in or around the Old Town or in a tourist-related job will speak English better than most University of Wisconsin sophmores after 10pm on a random Thursday night.

(If I remember correctly, Poland has more dentists per capita than any other country on Earth, but that was a few years back when I first moved here. I remember that Hungary was also right up there, along with Czech Republic)

15

Well for starters, if there is a failure the one who is responsible for it is thousands of miles away.
mmm

16

It doesn’t, actually. Getting contact information for independent dentists is pretty easy, if you get a personal recommendation or go through a dental tourism specialist/dental broker. I found my clinic through Dental Departures, but I’m sure there are others you could use.

DD did a great job of setting me up with a dentist. They did a lousy job of estimating how much time the work would need, though. I strongly recommend working with the broker and sending them whatever they need to match you to a good dentist. Once you get the dentist’s contact info, get in touch with them directly and get their estimate of how long the work will take and how much it will cost.

It’s not a great idea to just go to another country and ask around about the dentists there. That’s a good way to end up with a lousy dentist. Instead, decide on your practitioner and schedule your appointments before you ever buy your plane ticket.

17

I had dental work done in Taiwan; I would guesstimate that you can have all the stuff that you describe in the OP being done for under a thousand dollars in total; maybe no more than $1,200 in all, tops, despite your lack of Taiwanese insurance. However, because Taiwanese dentists are compensated on a per-visit basis under the single-payer healthcare system (as I understand it,) you’ll probably end up with a dentist who tries to milk your process out over many visits over a course of several weeks instead of one or a few days. See if you can nag him into bunching the appointments together. And you’d still need to find a place to stay. If they see that you’re a foreigner who can’t be in Taiwan for long, they may be more accommodating. Oh, but also make sure that your crowns are mercury-free; that’s bad stuff.

If you are a U.S. citizen, you can stay in Taiwan for 90 days at a time without needing a visa. Just bring the US passport, you’ll get through immigration just fine.
Edit: For crowns and implants you might get local anesthesia, but for things like drilling out cavities, many Taiwanese dentists don’t bother injecting you up for something like that, so you’ll have to bear the pain.

18

I had my remaining wisdom teeth removed in Thailand during a country-hopping trip through that part of the world. The procedure went fine and was much cheaper than it would have been back home.

19

I know it’s very common in the vandweller/full-time RV community to go to Mexico (Los Algodones is the most common, I think.) I’ve never heard a bad story.

20

I don’t know about dentistry, but I had a friend whose cousin was having fertility problems and they were looking for artificial insemination procedures on the cheap. They found a clinic in Mexico. He and his wife flew down there. They wouldn’t let my friend’s cousin go back to the procedure room. But his wife said she was given a sedative and fell asleep during the procedure. It only cost them $150 for 5 treatments over 5 days. She got pregnant on the first visit down there.