Dental Tourism Lures Patients with Vacation Promises

Last week, we started talking about dental tourism to Mexico.

We received some interesting comments from dentists on the subject, and we’re still curious to hear more about what you dentists think of Americans who head south of the border to save money on dental care.

These were some of the key points dentists raised:

You get what you pay for. Overseas dental work might save money — or it might cost extra to fix the teeth after a hack dentist ruins them.
The patients who choose to visit other countries for low-cost dental work are more likely to be "difficult" patients, so maybe you’re just as well to be rid of them.

This week, I’m going to examine it from a patient’s perspective. Let’s say my dentist just told me I’m going to need thousands of dollars of dental treatment. What will I find if I go online looking for lower-cost options?

Shopping for Low-Cost Dental Care Online

It doesn’t take long to find Mexican Dental Vacation. Though they’ve done an excellent job of positioning their dental website on Google, they’re far from the only game in town. But they’re an excellent example of the dental competitor you may not have known you had: Canadian owner, American dentist, Mexican location, and a slick English-language website geared to the US dental tourist.

"With Mexican Dental Vacation you can save up to 75%! Crowns, bridges, veneers, dental implants, now you can have the smile you only dreamed of, all done within your 1 to 2 week vacation, right on the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico! You will love your dental vacation!"

The website shows beautiful pictures of a waiting room overlooking the ocean sands.It’s hard to compete for dollars with the Mazatlan beach!

"We have streamlined our clinic to the point where we can do your dental implants in 1 week."

Dental implants in one week? You know patients will think that sounds like a great idea.

What Do Patients Have to Say?

Next it was time to dig for some dirt! What did people have to say about this organization?

Most of the online reviews were positive. Patients knew they had saved a lot of money, and most felt they had gotten good care. One patient described how his extractions were unexpectedly difficult, so the dentist sent him out to a local oral surgeon.

One woman who got her teeth whitened said they were not careful applying the bleaching gel, leaving her with painful memories of her 5-day Mexico vacation. A man said that language difficulties left him getting only root canals instead of the crowns he had also been expecting.

Some patients reported that, after paying up-front, they had little recourse if not satisfied with the results; the Internet houses a number of former patients who stay they are still awaiting refunds promised to them by Nick Konev, the company’s founder.

But What Does It Cost?!?

Curious about the dental fees they charge? Well, they’ve posted their price list online.

Mexican Dental Vacation: Dental Fees
Procedure	US Prices	Our Prices	Lab Fees	Total Savings
Bleaching, Chemical, per Arch	$400	$80	$0	80%
Bleaching, Laser	$1,100	$300	$0	73%
Bone Graft, Synthetic Material	$900	$500	$80	46%
Bridge, 3-Unit Porcelain on Base Metal	$3,000	$1200	$160	55%
Bridge, 3-Unit Porcelain on Gold	$3,800	$1,200	$400	68%
Cleaning	$120	$60	$0	50%
Crown, Porcelain on Base Metal	$1100	$395	$56	59%
Crown or Veneer, Metal-Free Porcelain on Zirconium	$1500	$395	$105	66%
Crown, Porcelain on Gold	$1,400	$380	$120	65%
Temporary Denture, per Arch	$900	$400	$180	46%
Partial Denture, per Arch	$1,400	$600	$120	50%
Denture, Upper or Lower	$1,800	$900	$180	40%

Some patient comments suggest that the prices charged by Mexican Dental Vacations are higher than at other Mexican dentists, though of course they’re still rock-bottom by American standards.

Lynn

Hi- I just happened upon your editorial while looking at some other services in Mazatlan. I have had extensive dental work done there, and have worked with the Mexican Dental Vacation outfit, along with three other dentists. (I may have been the person you read about that was not so happy with MDV’s services.) It has been two years since I had my work done, and yes, still waiting for my promised refund from MDV money paid up front. I did have the prep work for my bridges done by them, but decided to get a second opinion from an outside specialist concerning a root canal. –He informed, and educated me on why the prep work they had done was not good, and referred me to an unrelated third party for proper prep work before he could make a final determination. Long story a bit shorter, I ended up seeing an oral surgeon for an extraction, an endentologist (spl?) for the root canal, and then a super dentist that made and fit the three bridges. I was amazed at the work of all three of these doctors. So although I did not have a good experience during, or post relationship with Mexican Dental Vacation, I did find other professionals that far exceeded my expectations in professionalism and skill. -Again, just speaking from a patient perspective, but I have had root canals, bridges, crowns, and the surgical extraction of an old root canal also done here in the states. I admit to having some hesitation, but these Mexican dentist did their jobs well and yep, for at least a quarter of the price.
(Skip the folks at Mexican Dental Vacation though… they have had other patient problems, not to mention some serious operational problems in general. I think there might be something said for Doctors and dentist that own their own practice as well as their own reputation.)
http://www.lasvegassedationdental.com Dr. Kevin Moore DDS

I used to practice in Yuma Az, across the border from Los Algodones, Mexico. I was born and raised in Yuma and am very familiar with Mexico dentistry. It was about 45% of our business redoing their work, correcting misdiagnosis, and retreating surgical errors. It was very easy to treat the patients when they came in because each of them said the same thing “I was trying to save some money”.
Here is the biggest issue though: Infection rates. You owe it to your “survey” people to mention that Mexico caries one of the highest seroprevalence rates of Hepatitis, not to mention other communicable diseases. There is a reason we require what we do here in the U.S.A. for sterilization, cross contamination, and general health codes. It’s for OUR protection. These patients come back to the U.S.A. with no knowledge of what they may have contracted across our borders, and then blindly share their infectious processes with the rest of us!
Lastly, what constitutes a consumer’s expertise when they state “he/she was excellent” or “he/she was terrible”? Nothing but a personal opinion. Nothing to do with the quality of the procedure, the materials, or protecting the patient from diseases! Which in my opinion ARE the things that DO matter, is why I was trained here in the USA and why I only see professionals who are trained here, and (this is most important) PRACTICE here. We are #1 by DESIGN!
Lilli

Good job on this article. People who live here don’t use this place, because as another poster pointed out, there are plenty of well-reputed local dentists and they don’t charge as much. This guy gets unsuspecting customers from the internet or the tourist who just happens to stumble across his premise. He is a Canadian guy making a tidy profit off the Mexican dentists who work with him. I don’t believe he is a dentist himself. MDV is in a new location in town, and has been for some time, so if he is still claiming his waiting room faces the ocean, well, it just isn’t so.

For those still waiting for a refund from this guy, contact the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency, PROFECO. You can file your complaint online and it will be looked into. In fact, probably the mention of filing will speed up your refund. Good luck.

Before I go, I just say that Dr. Kevin Moore’s comments appear to be self-serving. To say nothing of extremely arrogant. Believe it or not, we do survive quite nicely in Mexico, using both competent doctors and dentists. In fact, some of the professionals here are far superior to those north of the border, and they care about their patients. So far so good, not dead yet!
http://enjoychinatraveltours.com/ Austin

Just submit your post to my facebook, cant wait to share this.Think all of my folks will see this…Thanks.
Dixie Lee

I have been researching going to Mexico for major dental work. Basically, I need a complete reconstruction including many root canls, several extractions and 24 crowns. After reading many of the blogs-I would like some feed of tried and true dentist in Mexico. I would consider other locations as well. I need to start my treatment in the next 2 weeks.
Thank you!!
http://www.insightsfordentists.com Dental Marketing Options

So, Dental vacations, good or bad?
Ridwan

Hi, my family is from Germany but I was born and grew up in Mexico.
I would generally not recommend to people to just go to Mexico to get dental work done, specially not in small towns or along the border.
Don’t get me wrong, there are excellent dentists in Mexico an well as excellent clinics with state of the art equipment, but you need to be at least a bit acquainted with the country to know how to choose a good one.
Most highly trained and reliable dentists would be in major cities, like Mexico City or Guadalajara. You need to remember that Mexico is a country with huge differences in economic development and social structure, so you can pretty much find the most modern infrastructure as well as something completely inadequate.
For the years I lived in Mexico, in the city of Cuernavaca, I went to a clinic led by a Swiss technician and a German dentist, which I can only say was great. Both of my parents and some friends had extensive work done with them, always with impeccable results, including bridges, crowns, veneers and implants. They had their on-site lab and worked mainly with materials from Ivoclar, which I guess all of you know. Pricing was fair and adequate for Mexico, but still meaning that for someone coming from Europe or the US you would probably spend half or a third of what you would in your home country, simply because of the exchange rate and the local cost of labor and real estate.
So in conclusion, there are excellent dentists in Mexico, but it is not like you can simply take a flight and get your teeth done anywhere, you need to really get your homework done. At least I would…
hope this is useful to you all, take care
Ilecaj

Hello Ridwan
I would like to go to the same clinic, do they have a web site? If I call them can I speak English with them?
thank you
ilir