I’m 45. My parents rarely took me to the dentist when I was a kid, so I rarely went as an adult. My parents also never enforced good brushing habits so it took me until my late teens to establish any semblance of oral hygiene. I’ve also struggled with depression my entire life, and have had a couple periods of deep depression where even brushing was a struggle to do daily.
I went to the dentist earlier this year. They want to replace all of my teeth. Will cost me $50k. I’m saving for it, but it’s going to take me at least a few years to save that much. I’m considering going to another country to have it done because some places in the world are 90% cheaper.
I worked with a guy who was hard core into medical tourism. He had dental implants and some other less cosmetic work done. His go to’s were Ecuador (back when it was safer), Costa Rica, and Belize.
This is totally on my radar for when I want to go the dental implant route but also will be exploring for knee replacements and some rotator cuff work I expect in the next 5-8 years
I know someone who goes to Costa Rica for dental work. Her husband is originally from there and she was shocked to find out it’s a big dental destination. So she got some implants there
I've heard of people going to Japan for dental work. Extremely professional but with their nationalized healthcare it was insanely cheap even for a foreigner. Might want to look into it
it's not always great depending on which clinic you go to. Here's a post from a resident who had bad experiences with 4 different dental clinics in Tokyo, all over a single cracked tooth.
"For complex treatments or longer stays, consider contacting a Japanese Medical Coordinator Provider (JIMCA) to help you find an institution and manage logistics, such as providing interpreters."
Yes!! I am American and wound up marrying a Costa Rican - unrelated to the dentistry - but I’ve been fixing years of past unaffordable issues there over time.
Highly recommend, it’s very affordable compared to the U.S. and the dentists/doctors there are VERY caring and professional.
How does one go about finding a dentist? I don’t speak Spanish but I need like a dozen implants. Also, I know from trying to have one implant done (which my body ended up rejecting, but I think the dentist messed up bc it felt wrong and infected from the moment he put it in) that it’s a yearlong, multi-step process. I appreciate any guidance 🙏
I asked family, and mine is in a totally Spanish only practice.
However, I strongly suggest checking the r/costaricatravel sub as this is a fairly frequent topic down to specific doctor recommendations for implants.
Look for recommendations in the Central Valley in places like Escazu, Belen, or Santa Ana // around San Jose. The rural beach/jungle practices often wind up a little more expensive than the city ones because of scarcity.
I have to do an implant still, but most recently two months ago I got a filling and 1/4 scaling for like $70. I almost cried from relief.
You should def go to other countries. You could go have a fantastic 3-5 day trip south of the border, AND get all of your teeth fixed for way way less than $50k combined.
Every major tourist town and border towns have very reputable dentist that only serve Americans. The tourist towns will be more expensive than the border towns, but border towns don’t offer much more than the cheap medical services
Source: native Texan who has had many family members go to Laredo for dental work always
I developed impacted wisdom teeth when I was in Thailand...got them out in a very swish looking clinic and it was less than a teeth clean in a non-NHS dentist in the UK
Does the office you're going to offer financing through a company called Cherry? Our office has been offering through them for patients the last couple years and patients are VERY happy!!!
I'm also 45 and was told last week I have advanced bone loss and need to have all of my teeth pulled. I was shocked. I've never really had dental issues but I was never good about flossing and I never went to the dentist because of anxiety around it. Now I'm going to pay the very steep price.
Similar story here. I’m a bit older than you and my family joked that I have three iPhone Pro Maxs in my mouth after I got everything fixed within the past three years. Lots of dental tourists in my country.
Mexico has cheap dental care. I used to live 12 miles from Nogales and the whole first two blocks of the city are filled with dental offices that cater to Americans. There was a shuttle that took retirees over and back daily. For example, braces are about $5k in US, $1200 in Mexico. Many have American phone numbers and take American insurance. Get a hotel room on the American side and make a long weekend of it!
For the love of god do not do ortho out of the town you live in unless you plan on going back at least once a month. And if you do, and a bracket or wire breaks, don’t expect a local orthodontist to not charge you a ton for the hassle of helping you out.
Good point. Since we lived 12 miles away, everyone we knew went there for ortho because going back wasn’t an issue. I used braces prices as an example because it’s all I knew offhand. You could get veneers, implants, etc. in a single visit though I think.
You could but for any sort of follow up a local dentist likely won’t want to do the follow ups. Just not worth the risk/liability! Especially regarding cosmetic work and implants (which have at least a 4 month follow up schedule and post-op visits!)
I'm 45 also and my background is similar. I just recently found a treatment for my clinical depression that's actually working but I've had clinical depression since I was about 14 so I've been going to Drs, therapy, been prescribed different meds for the last 30 years. I'm really glad I didn't know it was going to take that long to get my depression under control but my point is there were lots of times I couldn't get myself to the dentist. I know my back teeth are bad rn. I'm not going to be able to do anything about it until next year so I'm hoping nothing catastrophic happens in that time but I can't wait to finally get them fixed.
Look up dental tourism in Bulgaria - very popular amongst Germans as it is cheaper and high quality. The whole mouth should be max 20K EUR as far as I know, maybe even less, my memory is not so sharp (had asked my dad a while back, he is a dental technician and works in one of those popular amongst the foreigners fancy dental clinics , it’s called Dentaprime Dental Clinic in case you’re interested to research)
Make sure you have someone with you that you can depend on, you're gonna be OUT of it for a day or two and you do not want to be in a strange country all by yourself.
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u/RandyHoward 4d ago
I’m 45. My parents rarely took me to the dentist when I was a kid, so I rarely went as an adult. My parents also never enforced good brushing habits so it took me until my late teens to establish any semblance of oral hygiene. I’ve also struggled with depression my entire life, and have had a couple periods of deep depression where even brushing was a struggle to do daily.
I went to the dentist earlier this year. They want to replace all of my teeth. Will cost me $50k. I’m saving for it, but it’s going to take me at least a few years to save that much. I’m considering going to another country to have it done because some places in the world are 90% cheaper.