If you’ve been looking into dental implants to replace missing teeth, you may have heard about dental tourism.
Dental tourism is a term used to describe patients getting their dental work in foreign countries while enjoying a vacation of sorts.
While it might seem like a good offer – significantly cheaper prices for the ‘same’ dental work – there are many risks that patients may not have thought about.
1. Risk of Infection
In the United States, there are standards in place to prevent infection and protect patients. There are regulating organizations that set and enforce these standards for all U.S. dental practices. These organizations require training and annual courses on the current infection control recommendations.
Many U.S. dentists, especially those working close to the Mexican border, have seen patients that received dental work in Mexico, only to come back to the U.S. with a bad infection caused by improperly sanitized equipment.
If this happens, you have no recourse or legal system to help you. Dentists south of the border will likely not refund your money and it will end up costing you more to have the infection dealt with and the dental work redone properly.
It’s a gamble that we don’t recommend you take. If you get lucky, you might save a bit of money. If you get unlucky, it can end up costing you A LOT more money than you would have paid to have a dentist do the treatment in the U.S.
2. Training of Dentists is Not Regulated
Dental training in other countries are not always as well regulated as the U.S.
All American dental schools must be federally accredited, offering the most highly skilled and technically advanced training. This is especially important to consider for dental implants. Placing an implant is complicated and requires a lot of precision and detail. This is a skill that American dentists have worked very hard and spent long hours to acquire.
3. Quality of Materials
Related to the skill of the dentists, with lower cost almost always means the use of lower quality materials. There are obviously exceptions, but in general, you get what you pay for.
We Want To Provide You With Top Quality Treatment
We know that dental implants are more expensive compared to other countries but the good news is that we offer many different ways to make them affordable. At our office, our Patient Coordinator has many years of experience in arranging funding for even the most extensive and sophisticated treatment.
For some, a long-term payment plan through Care Credit is a good option. Others forego a new car or a family vacation in lieu of a longer lasting benefit.
Finally, in many cases, a treatment program can be broken into several phases, accomplishing the more serious needs first. It is not unusual to design a plan that is delivered and paid for over a period of several years.
Questions?
Give us a call to find out more about our payment plans and options. You can call us at [phone] or email us at [email].