Mixing dentistry and pleasure in Costa Rica
- by crv.staff
- 27.07.09
- 6:56 PM UTC
- Filed in Costa Rica
Source: Gulf Breeze News
Author Name : LISA NEWELL
When Jim Cunningham got word that he needed extensive dental work, his wife Margaret leapt into action, calling around for the best price.
The two bridges and two crowns he needed were priced at between $9,500 and $10,000 from two different dentists.
“When I found out how much work he needed, I went to the internet,” Margaret recalled. “I checked out four clinics in Costa Rica that I’d heard about through the grapevine.”
Soon, she and Jim were jetting down to Central America on an adventure that was part vacation, part medical tour.
They settled on a dental clinic in San Jose, which is located in the middle of Costa Rica.
“It was first class all the way,” Margaret said, with the clinic offering to pick up patients at the airport, take them to their hotels, appointments and back to the airport. The Cunninghams declined this offer, preferring to explore on their own.
The clinic itself was modern with large windows overlooking the Costa Rican jungle.
The couple planned to spend five days allow for the dental work and any adjusting that might need to be done.
Jim had the two bridges, two crowns plus an extraction and two fillings in the Costa Rican dental clinic. Margaret decided to whiten her teeth and she got the two whitening trays. Jim said the work was perfect, and that he didn’t need the pain pills that were prescribed nor did he need any tweaking on the work which fit right from the start.
The dentist, a Costa Rica native, was educated at University of California in Los Angeles, and the waiting room was full of Americans, Margaret said, who were there for dental implants or a new kind of false teeth that snap into place.
Cost for all the work on both patients was just over $4,000. With the airfare paid for with frequent flier miles and an $81 per night hotel room, the pair got a vacation in an exotic locale for less than the dental work estimate they got from a U.S. doctor.
“It more than paid for our vacation,” Margaret said, and she wants to pass along the information to anyone considering dental work.
There are a few precautions to take before embarking on a medical tour to another country, however. Local dentist Nicole Barrineau says U.S. dentists must adhere to strict regulations that might not be followed abroad.
“Before I had any dental work in a foreign country, I would confirm that the dentist has equivalent training and see how well they follow the universal precautions” of sterilization and infection control, Dr. Barrineau said.
Another precaution is to ensure that the lab makes dental appliances to the U.S. standards.
“In dentistry, it’s not just the dentist. Sometimes there is a lab involved, and there are standards on what the U.S. will allow you to use, and it may be different stuff,” she added. If the porcelain comes off after a year, it may not be such a great value after all.
But the Cunninghams are happy with their result, and the opportunity to visit a beautiful jungle to boot.
“It was just fabulous,” Margaret said.
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I can’t believe how this article fell in my lap. I was recently wondering about seeing a dentist while in Costa Rica. Is it possible to get the dentists contact info? Thank you so much!
Costa Rica dentistry is among the most popular in dental tourism. Patients should choose their dentist carefully. I think even if you have your dental cafe in the US, you still have to choose your dentist carefully.
What’s good in dental tourism is that you can avail an excellent dental care at a very low cost plus you get to mix pleasure with it.