Dental Tourism

[YitzyS]

Israel can also be attractive as a destination.

I know people who flew to Israel with the mindset that the dental work and tickets would be about the same as the dental work in America, so may as well get a vacation in for the same price.

I don't think it's as cheap as some farther flung countries, but probably a lot safer.

[AsherO]

I know people who flew to Israel with the mindset that the dental work and tickets would be about the same as the dental work in America, so may as well get a vacation in for the same price.

I don't think it's as cheap as some farther flung countries, but probably a lot safer.

Maybe that makes Israel a good balance.

[Yehuda57]

Maybe that makes Israel a good balance.

Like my South Africa example above. No one is flying 16 hours to get dental work, but if you are already going, you may as well throw in dental work. Paging @ExGingi on the legalities/ethics of doing it under travel insurance :-)

[gsquared]

from what i recall in speaking with the patients in Costa Rica was that these clinics are set up for US dental tourism. They dont serve the local population. Its all high end, english speaking, US Trained. There are tons of reviews.  I have found that overseas when you pay top dollar for care it will be cheaper and better than care in the US.

[ExGingi]

I know people who flew to Israel with the mindset that the dental work and tickets would be about the same as the dental work in America, so may as well get a vacation in for the same price.

I don't think it's as cheap as some farther flung countries, but probably a lot safer.

While Israelis go to Turkey for dental tourism (or some brave ones go to the PA).

I've heard of people going to Mexico and Brazil from the US.

[ExGingi]

Like my South Africa example above. No one is flying 16 hours to get dental work, but if you are already going, you may as well throw in dental work. Paging @ExGingi on the legalities/ethics of doing it under travel insurance :-)

Travel insurance at best would cover up to $200-$300 of EMERGENCY dental work to alleviate pair or to repair sound teeth in case of an accident. Medical/Dental tourism is usually explicitly excluded.

[JM]

You can get significantly cheaper dental work done at a Dental Schools/Residencies clinic. The student clinic would have dental faculty (a periodontist in your case) supervising the work (maybe even doing the majority of the work) but there are faculty practices that the faculty periodontist does all of the work and it's still significantly cheaper.   

[yitzgar]

from what i recall in speaking with the patients in Costa Rica was that these clinics are set up for US dental tourism. They dont serve the local population. Its all high end, english speaking, US Trained. There are tons of reviews.  I have found that overseas when you pay top dollar for care it will be cheaper and better than care in the US.

Why would they do it for pennies there if they could do it for a lot more money in the US? Lack of malpractice insurance, no need to be properly licensed, etc....

[Saulius]

Why would they do it for pennies there if they could do it for a lot more money in the US? Lack of malpractice insurance, no need to be properly licensed, etc....

The average dental student graduates with $300k in tuition debt in the USA. In Costa Rica, tuition is free for their citizens. Plastic surgery is also very cheap in Costa Rica, few of the surgeons are members of the tribe and are highly recommended. On a 4 night trip, I did both crowns and plastic surgery.
Note, lots of the dental clinics that are geared only to tourists are owned by business man / marketing professionals, not by dentists themselves. The one I went to, I saw both locals and foreigners using it and it came highly recommended from friends in Miami.

There are also lots of other countries where dental tourism is popular, ie Columbia, Thailand, etc. Europeans tend to go to Eastern European countries for dental work. Not to mention, the dental schools / universities in Eastern Europe are filled with Israeli students.

[AsherO]

The average dental student graduates with $300k in tuition debt in the USA. In Costa Rica, tuition is free for their citizens. Plastic surgery is also very cheap in Costa Rica, few of the surgeons are members of the tribe and are highly recommended. On a 4 night trip, I did both crowns and plastic surgery.
Note, lots of the dental clinics that are geared only to tourists are owned by business man / marketing professionals, not by dentists themselves. The one I went to, I saw both locals and foreigners using it and it came highly recommended from friends in Miami.

There are also lots of other countries where dental tourism is popular, ie Columbia, Thailand, etc. Europeans tend to go to Eastern European countries for dental work. Not to mention, the dental schools / universities in Eastern Europe are filled with Israeli students.

Tuition is a non-factor if @gsquared is talking about US-trained doctors.

Not sure if the fact that these clinics are owned by businessmen is a good thing or a bad thing. I can think of arguments in either direction.

[aygart]

Cost of living, office space, staff, equipment, supplies and more can be much less in the places

[AsherO]

Cost of living, office space, staff, equipment, supplies and more can be much less in the places

Lots of equipment and supplies in US medical establishments has to be FDA approved (or some other regulatory equivalent). Some consider it a racket, others consider it a safeguard.

[Something Fishy]

Some consider it a racket, others consider it a safeguard.

Likely started as the latter and morphed into the former.

[thaber]

Not at all uncommon for people in LA, especially 2nd generation Latinx, to go to Tijuana for dental work.

[Saulius]

Not at all uncommon for people in LA, especially 2nd generation Latinx, to go to Tijuana for dental work.

Tijuana is very popular among those who reside in San Diego / Southern California. They drive to the border, leave their cars there, and then get picked up by the dental clinics/taxis after they cross.  Tijuana, and Mexico as a whole has a reputation of high crime rates, drug cartels, etc. Costa Rica is considered the safest country in Central America.

One has to extensive research, tripadvisor, reddit have lots of threads on this subject. ie
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g291982-i813-k5348124-Dental_Tourism_in_Costa_Rica-Costa_Rica.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g150776-i761-k8716420-Tijuana_Dentists_Anyone_have_any_experiences_good_or_bad-Tijuana_Baja_California.html