Dental
Tourism: The Price Of Saving A Tooth
17 September 2010By Jane Stillwater
Recently I've been having lots of trouble with my
upper right-hand bicuspid -- but it's been years since
I've been to a dentist and I'm not all that familiar
with the price of having one's tooth fixed. But I
figured that it might cost me perhaps a hundred
dollars, possibly two. "'How much will this cost?" I
naively asked my dentist.
"Hmmm. I would say around $3,000." $3,000 for one
tooth? Yikes! The cost of dentistry has truly gone up.
At this rate, a full decent smile is gonna cost me
approximately $100,000 -- if all of my teeth start
acting up. But my dentist is a wonderful person and
really does try to help. "Perhaps you could have the
work done over at the UCSF school of dentistry," she
suggested. That sounds like a good idea. The the last
time that UCSF worked on one of my teeth, it cost me
about $25.
So I scooted on over to UCSF on the N-Judah trolley
and had them look at my tooth. "We could do the
necessary work for approximately $1,400," they said.
Crap on a cracker! Even the dental schools have been
hit by stagflation. Good grief.
And I can't see any help coming from any kind of
single-payer dental care health plan here any time
soon either, so it looks like America's teeth are
gonna have to be in big trouble. Plus with all those
greedy right-wingers doing everything that they
possibly can -- both in Washington and locally -- to
insure a steady stream of cheap labor here as well as
abroad, Americans are not going to be able to afford
very much quality dental care on their own any more --
and so, if current trends continue, we're all gonna
become a nation with no teeth fairly soon. Literally.
Everyone in America will be toothless by the age of
forty at this rate. Eeuuww.
And only the Tooth Fairy is going to benefit from
this.
But my right upper bicuspid was still aching, so I
wrote to some friends who live in Mexico about the
possible costs of dental tourism. I figured that I
could take a Greyhound bus to Tijuana, then hop on a
Flecha Amarilla down to Puerto Vallarta and not only
get my teeth worked on for cheap but also be able to
buy lemon meringue pie from the pie girls on the beach
in Yelapa.
"I go to a clinic in Puerto Vallarta called 'Just
Smiles' -- located on Basillo Badillo in old town,"
wrote back my friend Robert. "The new crown they gave
me cost me just $300 (USD)." That's do-able. Sort of.
And here's some input from my friend J.R., who knows
Vallarta like the back of his hand: "I've been going
to my dentist here for about 28 years but he's not the
cheapest: Dr Fernando Peñalva, Clinica Dental Plaza
Marina, 21-0165. His website is at http://clinicadentalplazamarina.com.
And also check out http://vallartainfo.com/puerto_vallarta_health.html
for more information on dentists." Okay.
I know that my friend Stewart goes to a dentist in
Nuevo Laredo, but he hasn't yet answered the e-mail I
sent him asking for details. I guess Stewart's still
miffed at me for taking a stand on the
Israel-Palestine issue. It seems like nobody can take
a stand in favor of Palestinians these days without
getting yelled at.
And then my friend Sterling wrote, "Don't forget San
Miguel de Allende. I forget the name of my dentist
there, but she was good! Also a friend of mine from
college met a Mexican dentist at a fat farm in Arizona
and married her. They now live in Mexico City and both
look really skinny in their wedding pix -- but I've
lost track of them too." Leave it to Sterling to throw
in a little hot gossip.
Then I heard back from my step-brother Sam, who is a
frequent visitor to Mazatlan. "Here's a link to go to
for information on dentists in Maz: http://www.mexicandentalvacation.com."
And the site even comes with a video and links for
free price estimates. "I love Mazatlan," said my
step-brother Sam.
So I went to the site and here's what they said: "Need
a Dental Implant, including an abutment and crown?
Cost in USA: $4,400. Cost in Mazatlan, Mexico: $1,845
-- An insane 59% savings! And what if you have all of
your teeth missing, on the top or bottom? You may be
considering: MDI Upper Arch, based on 6 Mini Implants
(Denture secured by mini-implants). Cost in USA:
$17,000. Cost In Mazatlan, Mexico: $4,200. A huge 74%
Savings for These Dental Implants! Let’s see the
difference with dental crowns: Procedure: Crown or
Veneer, Metal-Free Porcelain on Zirconium. Cost in
USA: $1,500. Cost In Mazatlan, Mexico: $500. A 66%
Savings For Affordable Dental Work in Mexico! And
here’s yet another dental work comparison: Bridge,
3-Unit Porcelain on Gold. Cost in USA: $3,800. Cost In
Mazatlan, Mexico:$1,500."
I need a bridge! But is it the Brooklyn Bridge that
somebody is trying to sell me here? Sam says not.
So. All I have to do now is win the lottery, wait
until the weather here turns really cold, dig out my
swimsuit and go off to Mexico for new teeth. Or else I
could win the lottery big-time and have my teeth done
right here at home by my own wonderful dentist. Or
else Congress could enact a law that would give all
the rest of us the same wonderful single-payer dental
plan that Congressmen now hog all to themselves.
PS: Someone just recommended Poland and Budapest.
"They'll even pick you up at the airport."
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