Medical tourism, including dental tourism, is a dangerous bargain that people promote as a double value. Supporters say: not only do you get a vacation, you get a medical procedure at a lower cost.
While we certainly believe it’s reasonable for people to vacation in Mexico, we feel it is our duty to point out the potential risks of getting dental implants in Mexico among other common complications. While dental implants in Mexico cost less, their risks might be higher. Just because dental implants won’t set off metal detectors, doesn’t justify getting them on vacation.
Cost Savings Usually Come from Safety
Remember: cost always comes from somewhere. You don’t pass through a magic portal at the border that instantly makes the same things cheaper for no reason. The truth is that all dental implant cost reductions come from somewhere. For dental implants, the cost reductions come from hundreds of decisions about how to perform the procedure. Very few of these decisions are actually made inside the dentist’s office.
The dentist may believe they are conducting a very safe procedure because they are following the regulations. But the regulations often set a much different standard not only for the dentist but for all the materials and tools used by the dentist that the procedures ending up being radically different.
A dramatic illustration of how big the difference can be is provided by this crash test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in which the cheapest car available in the US goes head-to-head with the lowest cost car available in Mexico . The difference shows that the Mexican car would likely kill its driver in such a crash, while the US-sold car would protect its driver.
The situation for dental implants is analogous, but it would play out over months rather than seconds. While getting a low cost dental implant in Mexico is unlikely to kill you, it might be more likely to cause implant failure.
Read before You Buy
There is another factor to consider as well. Although dentists advertising from Mexico often boast about their expertise and their fluency in English, having looked at a few of their websites, we find reason to doubt both.
Many of these websites are flashy and look great. They seem professional and compelling. The sales pitch is good. But we strongly encourage you to take the time to read the content in detail. Fluency errors as well as serious technical problems riddle the sites.
The fluency errors we might be willing to forgive. The people may be reasonable speakers, even if they can’t write English clearly. But technical errors must give us pause. They show that the dentist either doesn’t know that these are wrong or that they don’t take the time to check the website. This shows that the dentist views patients brought in by the website as nothing more than a profit source. The goal is to put up a slick-looking website that can fool some people into getting a procedure at the clinic. You’re not worth the time it would take to proofread.
Don’t Forget Follow-Up
A procedure like dental implants benefits from good follow-up care. Who is going to provide that care for your dental implants from Mexico? Are you going to travel back to Mexico for all your follow-up visits? This would be best, because that dentist has the best information about the implant and what type of care is needed. But most likely, the dentist from Mexico will leave much of the follow-up care for your implants to other implant dentists, performing only the high-profit parts of the procedure.
Dental Implants Are Worth the Investment
When you are considering the procedure, focus on the value of dental implants , not on the cost. Dental implants are likely to be lifetime restorations , lasting 20, 30, even 50 years when performed properly. When you consider the cost over that period of time and factor in the risks of a cheaply done procedure, you see that it’s worth it to pay for an implant procedure done right.
If you want to learn more about the value and cost of dental implants in Orange County, please call (949) 551-5902 today for an appointment with an implant dentist at Rice Dentistry in Irvine.
