Dental work in Mexico

packrat44

packrat44

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
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1,142
Location
near Canadian border and near Mexican border
Have any of you had dental work done in Mexico? If yes, how was the experience (quality of work; price; hassels; transfer of dental records;etc)?

Having helped my dentist up north put all of his kids through high dollar private schools, I think it is time to give my wallet a break. I now spend almost 6 months living south of Tucson and am thinking of dropping my dental insurance and start having my dental work performed in Nogales, Sonora.
 
Around 1973 I had a cavity or two filled in Tijuana. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? It was my Mom's idea, and I can't say that there were any problems. Transfer of dental records? Records? We don't need no stinking records!
 
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I doubt if you'd find the average dentist any worse than anywhere else.
No experience with Mexico, but I had two US dentists basically throw up their hands at a problem I had many years ago, saying there was nothing they could do (and I was dealing with real pain). Went to the dentist around the corner from where I w*rked in Brazil, and he worked magic. Totally solved the problem (involved some oral surgery) and I've been grateful to him for the last quarter of a century.
 
When my grandmother was middle-aged, she had a full set of dentures made in Nuevo Laredo. About 35 years later, one of the "teeth" needed work. The dentist in Laredo said he had never seen wooden dentures before and she needed to go back where she had them made to get them fixed. The weird thing was her dentures looked like everyone else's dentures. She finally got them fixed and wore them until she passed away in her late '90s.
 
packrat44 said:
It will take a lot more than a skilled dentist to fix him.
Click to expand...
But it looks like this is not troubling him at all. I've seen a lot of better teeth, but not many better smiles. :)

Ha
 
Take your own water to the dental office so you don't get the Mexican quick step. :banghead:
 
Where do you go when you break a tooth, need a root canal in the middle of the night if all your work was done in Mexico? I want my dentist local........I pay a little more but the good news is I can afford it......I don't know what I would do if I couldn't. And, my kids go to the same private schools that the dentist's kids to to....nothing wrong with that in my opinion.
 
We winter in PV and summer in Vancouver. I have a company dental plan. They pay or work in either place. In PV they pay for all of it. The dentist is US educated and speaks English. He does a full cleaning for $50. I had a cap replaced a couple of months ago and he charged $300.

My Vancouver dentist maintains the records and understands that I am not flying home for repairs. I figure there is no difference in the quality of care but then I have heard that the price competition is so severe in the border towns that they scrimp on the caps themselves. (like ordering caps from China for 1/3 the price, enabling them to charge $150.)
 
We lived in the Lake Chapala area of Mexico for two years and plan on returning frequently in the winter. Have had plenty of dental work done there, and have also hosted friends who came down specifically for "dental vacation," having long-postponed work done and treating themselves to some sun, margaritas etc.

In any area like this with a substantial gringo retiree and tourist population you'll find lots of English-speaking, often U.S.-trained, dentists and fierce price competition. To give you an idea, we pay under $20 for a cleaning using state-of-the-art equipment, routine fillings are around $40. A very good and popular place we'll probably go to next time charges even less (figure 11 pesos to the dollar when doing your conversion) and, unlike here where finding out the real cash price for anything medical or dental is basically impossible, they post the price for the more common procedures right on their web site:

http://www.dentalexpressajijic.com/

Since our health insurance doesn't include dental we'll do our best to continue having such work done in Mexico. You can pay for quite a vacation with the money you save.
 
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You will find good dentists in the US and also in Mexico. Bad ones as well. Technical proficiency is important, but so is access, for immediate needs as well as continued long term care. There is no reason that can't all be found in Nogales. From Tucson it doesn't sound too far away.
 
When I go to Mexico and drink the local agua I oftentimes get diarrhea. If the water coming out of the dentists instruments is from the local water how do you keep from getting ill. Do you take antibiotics in advance?
 
I live in Texas and I wouldn't go to Mexico for any reason these days. I have heard about too many American deaths by ambush and other violence, even people we have known.
 
DMS said:
When I go to Mexico and drink the local agua I oftentimes get diarrhea. If the water coming out of the dentists instruments is from the local water how do you keep from getting ill. Do you take antibiotics in advance?
Click to expand...
They have inline water purifiers. It is really an advanced country if you just stop and think. We have been drinking tap water from our purifier for three years without any ill effects.

If you listen to all the "nervous nellies", you will just stay at home where you belong!
 
I'd still feel safer in Mexico than South Chicago
 
I met a woman who had seven teeth replaced with dental implants at an advanced dental facility in Costa Rica. Cost her around $2 grand for all 7 teeth. would have cost $5 to 7 thousand EACH in the US.
She was very happy with the doc, the facility and her treatment. Costa Rica is making medical tourism a worthwhile industry!
 
Many of our local churches sponsor missions to Costa Rica with dentists and physicians. Costa Ricans need help from foriegn dentists to take care of their people so that does not make sense to me. The dentists that travel thousands of miles to help the CR's oftentimes just pull teeth. They do no even do simple fillings. It is a crazy world, there must be many levels of care in Costa Rica.
What happens if one of the implants fail? Does she have to travel back to CR several times to have it pulled, replaced and then a new cap. On my implant it took several months for it to integrate into the bone and if it had not worked I would have had to go back several times to the dentist. It's total cost was $1700 plus $900 for the porcelain cap.
 
1700+900=2600 but that is besides the point. By the time you get the implant, and then go back after it integrates you pay for 2 trips, airfare, room, car rental, food, etc.. Then you have to wait for the caps so her total costs were actually much more and that is only if everything goes perfectly. If her 7 implants are good and there are no problems she probably saved some money but if it were for three or less implants to me it would not be worth all of the money and time spent on the trips. In addition, if she were to have a problem with one of the implants and she is in America do they have the parts to fix it because they may use different parts in CR. Also, if something happens do they have malpractice insurance in CR.
 
I had mine done nearby at home so I appreciate the sentiment (plus Pacific Blue Cross) however I can see that people who cannot justify having it done considering 3rd world in spite of the inconvenience.

In my case I returned to the surgeon for many post op checkups and had no problems.
 
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