Traveling for Less Expensive Dental Care

Recently Americans have been looking elsewhere for dental care, like the country of Mexico. Similar to buying Canadian prescriptions or traveling to other countries for medical care, this practice has started because it may be less expensive to find dental care in Mexico.

The phenomenon has come to be known as “Mexican dental tourism” where people even plan vacations to go with their dental procedures while they’re in a country with plenty of sun and things to do. It’s been estimated by many participants in Mexican dental vacations that they have saved thousands of dollars compared to what they would have spent in the U.S. The question that needs to be considered though is the difference in quality of care.

The low cost of Mexican dental care is due to a variety of factors. One of the leading factors is that dental school is subsidized in Mexico, unlike the United States or Canada. The result is dentists in Mexico can afford to charge less because they are not dealing with debt from school. Additionally, rent is far cheaper in Mexico, meaning that dentists do not have to charge more to cover fees associated with renting their building.

One of the biggest factors in the cost difference is the price of materials. Using FDA-approved materials in the U.S. greatly increases the cost. For example, the total cost of an implant in Mexico is less than what it costs the dentist just for the parts in the U.S. But there is no guarantee of quality control with the foreign implant. Many people who have traveled to Mexico for dental care say it is very similar to treatment in the U.S. in terms of quality of care. And many dentist offices in Mexico have English-speaking dentists, in part, to accommodate their visitors.

So are there downsides to combining a Mexican vacation with your dental care? The biggest one is if something goes wrong. That can happen no matter where you go to the dentist. But if you combined dental care with a vacation in Mexico, and something does go wrong after you return, making another visit may not be practical. Traveling to another country for any type of medical care is something that should be done with extreme caution and extensive research. But by staying in the United States for your next dental procedure with Lake City Dental, you allow yourself the opportunity to heal in the comfort of your own home. You can take ease knowing that if any follow-up visits are required, or if you have any concerns, we are only a short drive away.