Heading south for dental work can save you thousands of dollars even when you factor in travel costs, but are the risks worth it?
Two B.C. patients had their dental vacation in Mexico turn into a nightmare.
“He actually filed down 10 of my teeth to small pegs for crowns,” explains Julia Mohammed, “which I didn’t even need in the first place.”
Robin Atchison didn’t get proper freezing when a dentist did his work, “I almost put holes in the armrest, it hurt so much.”
As the dental tourism industry grows, Alberta dentists say they’re hearing more complaints and fixing shoddy work.
“I do know that an overwhelming number of the people that I’ve seen that have come back from Mexico,” says Dr. Randall Croutze, an Edmonton dentist, “are worst off dentally than they were when they went there.”
Croutze warns what may seem like a good deal can cost you in the end.
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“Certainly the follow-up costs can be much higher than the original,” says Croutze, “not just in terms of finances, but in terms of the dental health, because now they’ve violated the tooth and there’s no way of replacing that natural tooth structure.”
Of course, there are competent dentists in Mexico and a new service out of St. Albert is hoping to help.
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Daren Frick is not a dentist, but says he’s done his homework on the Mexican dental industry. Frick started researching infection control after a subpar experience of his own in Puerto Vallarta.
He has gone as far as evaluating dentists in person.
“You have to know what to look for,” Frick tells Global News, “but in addition to that, you also have to gain access. They have to be willing to allow you to look around their practice, look at their records, go back into their sterilization area.”
Frick’s referral service, Holiday Dental, promises to match clients with only top trained, English speaking dentists.
Judith Daniels used Frick’s service and was pleased with the result – getting her bridge replaced for more than half less than what was quoted in Edmonton.
“I felt very comfortable with it all, and I’m extremely happy with the work and it gave me sort of a free vacation.”
Holiday Dental doesn’t charge clients, instead it collects a fee from the dentists Frick refers to.
Croutze says you can’t put a price on peace of mind though.
“I mean I’m happy for those people that have been well-treated, but from what I see, it’s a rare subset of the entire group that go down.”
Whether you use a service or do the research on your own, it’s important to find out what recourse is available if things go wrong, before you consent to the procedure.
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