Most people take vacation to enjoy a relaxing week on the beach or a ski trip to the high altitude powder.
But there are a growing number of travelers crossing borders in order to have expensive dental procedures completed for massive discounts.
According to AreaDentist, there has been a major spike in people needing a specific dental procedure traveling to Mexico in order to enjoy prices sometimes 25% that of the U.S. costs.
For those less familiar with dental tourism, it basically refers to when someone needs a major dental procedure, but when insurance doesn’t cover the costs, the patient will find a highly qualified dentist just across the border, in the US’s case in Mexico, where fully trained dentists will do the same procedure for pennies on the dollar.
“This is a growing trend, we expect it to continue to increase, too, as dental procedures get more expensive without insurance,” said Sam Patricks, one of the editors at AreaDentist.
Data suggests that dental tourism is skyrocketing in recent years, and has created an entirely new line of businesses, some of which act like travel agents for your teeth, ensuring that you find the perfect certified match in Mexico. These programs also tend to offer reliability, in that they will guarantee the service you receive if you book through them. These programs typically find the most reliable dentists abroad, and make sure to only refer customers to those dentists.
Most people have been asking if dental tourism is safe, and the answer to that question is largely “Yes.” But there are plenty of things to do before signing up for a procedure with any random dentist across the border. It’s important to ask questions about their training and certifications, address what will happen if you aren’t completely satisfied with their service, and also ask about how payment works.
There are scams out there, so make sure to read plenty of reviews as well. It’s very important to make sure the reviews seem legitimate as well, seeing as it can be easy to fake a high count of positive reviews in order to increase perceived legitimacy.
Arizona ABC affiliate ABC15 wrote a handy guide on what you need to know before going abroad to get those teeth looked at. They make it seem fairly straightforward but also seem to recommend going through a third party service that will take care of all the details for you. Thi s is a good way to ensure reliable dental care.
Have you thought about traveling to receive dental care? What questions or concerns do you have? Ask them below in the comments and we’ll find the answers for you!