Mexico Offers Affordable Dental Care and a Vacation

In the spring of 2009 I chipped a tooth. At the time, I temporarily lived in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. Since I planned a trip back to Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, where I lived for over twenty years and where I knew a dentist, I left the chipped tooth for a few months. My Winnipeg dentist replaced the filling, but told me that he would normally have capped the tooth. He didn't do so because I was leaving the city the next day.  He said the filling would not last long.

Vacation dental care - a growing market
Photo Credit - Xenia Antunes

Last year, a tiny piece of that filling broke off. I went to a Mexican dentist here in Oaxaca. She was trained in California. I told her the tooth like needed a cap. "Oh, that's nothing, " she said. "The filling is fine," and proceeded to smooth off the small chip. She cleaned my teeth, examined them, didn't bother with an x-rays and charged me less than it cost to get my hair cut and colored.

The first dentist I went to here in Oaxaca offered a half cap on another tooth. Let me explain, I was born with bad teeth. Although cavities are a thing of the past, my teeth are soft and break easily, having been weakened by an abundance of fillings. As the years go by, caps and bridgework save me from dentures. Even though I'm a highly experienced dental patient, I never heard of a partial cap, until it was suggested in Mexico. I opted for the more expensive full crown.

I would learn that half-crowns are common and work well, and are less expensive. The Mexican dentists crown has worked out just fine. Although his equipment was old and his method seemed a little shoddy, other foreigners think he's a great dentist.

Until I retired I was never without dental insurance. Although 40 percent of a cap would come out of pocket, my dental plan covered most dental work. Now, everything is out of pocket, but everything is very affordable.

Canadians and Americans take dental vacations to Mexico. In fact, there are dental vacation businesses set-up in both countries. If you are without dental insurance, you may want to look into a dental vacation. There are excellent, inexpensive, highly trained dentists thought out Mexico.

For more information:

Dental Tourism Continues to Thrive in Mexico, Global TV Calgary, April 9, 2012

Affordable Dental Tourism Mexico, World Dental, November 9, 2011

Dentistry in Mexico May be Cheap, But Not Alway Cheerful, British Columbia Dental Association, October 13, 2011