# Anybody have any experience with traveling overseas for dental work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321 "2019-08-07T22:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/21 "2019-08-08T21:59:34Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > . . . She got pregnant on the first visit down there. That has been known to happen. ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/22 "2019-08-08T22:24:13Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > 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. OK, as much as I enjoyed the times I was in Taipei to work, that’s a non starter!!! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/23 "2019-08-09T03:49:32Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > @Nava – The idea of sticking with an independent dentist sounds good but sounds like it would add a level of complexity to the process. What level of complexity? You go to Google Maps, search for “dentista” in the area and discard any names which repeat. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/24 "2019-08-09T10:47:23Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > 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. Well, that doesn’t seem suspicious at all! Does the kid look at all like the ‘fertility doctor’ by any chance? 🙂 Or if this is a joke, well played. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/25 "2019-08-09T13:10:16Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I have zero firsthand experience with this, but to me it sounds like one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. Probably because you have zero experience with it. > [@Heracles](#): > > 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. Yeah–Places like San Diego-Tijuana, El Paso-Juarez, etc., are in fact single economic-cultural zones. There are children who live in Tijuana and go to school in San Ysidro/Otay, parts of San Diego. (They’re U.S. citizens who happen to live on the other side.) There are business people in San Diego who regularly buy supplies in Tijuana. And there is a school of dentistry in Mexico (University De La Salle Bajío) which is accredited by the Dental Board of California. And people, like my mother, whose dentist happens to be on the other side of the border. It’s no big deal, so long as you plan your appointments in a way that doesn’t get you stuck in long lines crossing back. It’s no different than going to a dentist who happens to be on the other side of town. At one time, when I didn’t have insurance, I regularly went to my mother’s dentist in Tijuana–planning it to coincide with my visits to San Diego. In fact, there are some dentists there who somehow are able to take U.S. insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/26 "2019-08-09T18:43:30Z")
Sort of related but interesting is [this article](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/business/medical-tourism-mexico.html) about a program by an American health insurance company that paid for an American woman to travel to Cancun for a knee replacement at a hospital there. She had to pay no co-pays or deductibles. In fact they paid her $5,000. And they even flew an American orthopedic surgeon down there to perform the operation. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/27 "2019-08-12T16:02:10Z")
My ex-wife is a dentist trained in Mexico. Her principal university instructor is now the president of the ADM executive committee (like the American ADA), and was a very good friend leading to lots of very good dentist friends in Mexico, and a lot of knowledge about dentistry in Mexico. I know I’ve posted more in depth in the past, but the salient points are: [ul] [li]Watch where you go, depending the on the service. Want a cleaning? You’re probably okay at any random, border dentist.[/li][li]Expect the dentist to do most of the work performed here by the hygienist. The concept is, better familiarity with your mouth, and more time spent with the patient.[/li][li]Make sure the dentist is from a university that actually grants degrees in dentistry.[/li][li]Find an affiliate from the [ADM website](https://www.adm.org.mx).[/li][li]Try to find a dentist affiliated with a private hospital.[/li][/ul] Now keep in mind that not everything is identical quality. My wife needed lots of crowns and a couple of implants during our marriage, and she hated the American dental insurance system, and tended to favor her friends, who would work for free plus materials. The implants, in particular, came from California, USA, at California, USA prices, meaning that even with the free labor, the out of pocket cost was still substantial. The dentist said he didn’t like Mexican implants because they were inferior quality, and refused to use them with any patients. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/28 "2019-09-02T07:16:46Z")
I did not travel to Thailand for dental work but had some major work done while I lived there. One bridge cost me about $500 in 1996. Then in 2016, before returning to the US, I had a combination implant/bridge for $3000, minus 10% as a long-term patient, so $2700. That last one took several visits over several months and work by two doctors. My regular dentist was fantastic, was US-trained, but had a mainly local practice. There are dental clinics targeting tourists, and they cost more, but still less than in the West. My dentist here in Hawaii is much impressed with my Thai dental work. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/29 "2019-09-02T07:32:04Z")
An alternative would be a U.S. dental college. Students do the work and are supervised by faculty dentists. They are slow but the cost savings are very substantial (basically the students provide free labor but the rest of clinic costs are paid for by the patients). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/30 "2019-09-02T23:10:05Z")
What about Canada? Are Canadian dentists cheaper? Available? I soon may be travelling to Canada to purchase my insulin (at 1/10th the price). Could I get dental work done at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/31 "2019-09-03T17:07:55Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > What about Canada? Are Canadian dentists cheaper? Available? > > I soon may be travelling to Canada to purchase my insulin (at 1/10th the price). Could I get dental work done at the same time? Dental work in Canada isn’t covered by their single payer system, so presumably they’d have the same types of issues and costs that we have there in the States. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/32 "2019-09-03T17:34:29Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > 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… Well, just buy insurance. Delta will sell it for $30 a month or so. That brings the cost way down. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/33 "2019-09-03T21:11:42Z")
I did it and it worked out great for me. Very good work and I probably saved about $15K. But I had certain advantages that not everyone has in regards to this. The country I went to is one where I’ve lived in the past and still have relatives there, and I can speak the local language. I was able to get a good recommendation for an American-educated (and born) dentist in that country (the recommendation was from my MIL’s long-term dentist, a very high quality guy in his own right, and he knew this guy personally). If I were going “blind” based on the types of general rules being advocated here, I would be much much more cautious. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/34 "2019-09-03T21:33:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, just buy insurance. > > Delta will sell it for $30 a month or so. > > That brings the cost way down. Depending on where you live, how old you are and what your income is, many dental plans in the marketplace have a 12 month waiting period before covering major dental work (anything past fillings and extractions). ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/35 "2019-09-03T21:46:50Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Depending on where you live, how old you are and what your income is, many dental plans in the marketplace have a 12 month waiting period before covering major dental work (anything past fillings and extractions). More significant than that, most dental insurance plans have annual maximum benefits which are in the range of $1,500-$2,500. If you need a bunch of implants or crowns, you are going exceed that by several multiples. And insurance will pay for coverage out of the country too, so the savings goes directly to you. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/36 "2019-09-04T06:29:48Z")
As always, check the dentist’s credentials. A lot of the dentists in Juarez have Texas licenses, and a lot of dentists in Palomas have New Mexico licenses. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/37 "2019-09-04T11:19:06Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Dental work in Canada isn’t covered by their single payer system, so presumably they’d have the same types of issues and costs that we have there in the States. Not necessarily. Dental isn’t part of Spain’s UHC and when I got dental work done in France I didn’t even remember to look for my private insurance card, but the prices in both countries are much lower than in the US. Part of it is general cost of life, part is the completely different mindsets, part is that even going through private insurance the paperwork is five minutes vs a nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/38 "2019-09-04T13:14:55Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > An alternative would be a U.S. dental college. Students do the work and are supervised by faculty dentists. They are slow but the cost savings are very substantial (basically the students provide free labor but the rest of clinic costs are paid for by the patients). This is what I can in to mention. My wife had some dental work done at a local college. The student was actually a qualified dentist immigrated from somewhere who was being re-certified, or whatever the correct term is. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and it went fine and the work survives to this day. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/39 "2019-09-04T16:31:11Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > More significant than that, most dental insurance plans have annual maximum benefits which are in the range of $1,500-$2,500. If you need a bunch of implants or crowns, you are going exceed that by several multiples. And insurance will pay for coverage out of the country too, so the savings goes directly to you. For me to find an insurance plan to cover even a bone graft I had to give up coverage in any other state, much less country. It has not been worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321/40 "2019-09-05T00:43:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This is what I can in to mention. My wife had some dental work done at a local college. The student was actually a qualified dentist immigrated from somewhere who was being re-certified, or whatever the correct term is. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, and it went fine and the work survives to this day. Or a dental college in Mexico! I’m not kidding; they were always complaining about not having patients and having to bring in their own family members. This was LaSalle, Leon, GTO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-have-any-experience-with-traveling-overseas-for-dental-work/838321.md?page=1)