Dental Tourism- Where is best?

February 5, 2013 2:51 PM

Can anyone give me a recommendation for a specific dental office you have experience with in another country? Thailand, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic are all good options I have found but I'd love to use a proven office someone liked a lot. If not the exact office, maybe just some advice and/or cautionary tales? I have a couple crowns to do and instead of going broke and being mad I figured: Free Vacation. Happy to fly anywhere since the ticket price is saved in the cheaper dental cost.
posted by kturner to health & fitness (8 answers total)

Have you seen this?
posted by jfricke at 3:09 PM on February 5

Yes, thanks. I was hoping for some more personal references/ recent experiences.
posted by kturner at 3:14 PM on February 5

I have a recommendation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. MeFi mail me if you're interested.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:48 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]

I live in Los Angeles and a lot of people here go to Tiajuana or elsewhere in Mexico for affordable dental work. What I've been told is that there are many dentists in MX who went to school in the US and are members of the ADA. You might pick a university or two that have good dental schools and then check out their alumni list for any who are south of the border.

Sorry that I don't have any specific recs though.
posted by vignettist at 7:07 PM on February 5

You don't have to go that far, you know. I live in Boston and just by driving 3 hours west into the Berkshires, the price of dentistry drops maybe 80%. It's all about finding smaller communities where the average income is lower. If your heart is set on travelling abroad that's one thing, but travelling just for the dentistry seems counterproductive. Just FYI.
posted by wolfdreams01 at 9:13 PM on February 5

This site has lots of reviews of international dentists. This article, written by expats, has specific recommendations in Merida, Mexico. I'm in a similar situation, interested in dental tourism but not sure how to find a reliable good one (do you trust reviews of random strangers?) and concerned about lack of recourse if anything goes wrong. My advice is to be very cautious wherever you end up going.
posted by btkuhn at 10:17 PM on February 5

I agree. My experience though, is that dentists here don't offer much for "recourse" or "assurance" either, so what's to lose? A crown is pretty simple. And all the research I am doing shows happy people, rather than cautionary tales. I feel pretty good about it.
I have to say though, that I like the idea of trusting an insured dentist in Tiajuana rather than a totally inaccessible one in Thailand. (Although I'd rather be going there.)

Thanks for sharing the thoughts.
posted by kturner at 10:34 PM on February 5

I can't speak from personal experience as a client, but Puerto Vallarta's well worth checking out. The tourist-catering dentists advertise heavily around the airport, and it's a good-sized modern city with a substantial semi-permanent expat community, so I'd expect there's plenty of reliable info on trustworthy clinics etc. Flights are plentiful and it's a lovely part of the world to spend time in.
posted by gompa at 12:32 AM on February 6