The true cost of 'cheap' dental work

The term 'dental tourism' or 'dental holiday' has become commonplace. It refers to a person travelling outside of their country to receive dental care while also enjoying a vacation. Patients often travel to Mexico, Costa Rica or even India and China to have dental treatment done, usually at a fraction of the cost. Thus far in my career I have seen both excellent and horrible dental work in patients returning from these holidays. It is important not to generalize in these situations, but it is also important to understand that "you get what you pay for".

This patient recently came to our office on an emergency basis. I had previously seen her and we discussed a couple of different options for replacement of her lower front teeth. After seeking a couple of different opinions, she decided to have her treatment done abroad. She returned to our office in a significant amount of pain. The below radiograph confirms the presence of infection and a few other shocking findings. The dental implants are far too close together and also too close to adjacent teeth. One of them appears to have been placed into the root of a natural tooth. 3 of the implants could be moved back and forth with my fingers. I was saddened to see this poor level of care on the treating dentist part and had the difficult task of telling the patient that these 4 implants needed to be removed and she would most likely also lose, at least, the 2 natural teeth on either side of the implants.

Simply removing the infected and unsalvageable work and providing a temporary denture will easily cost more than double the amount the patient initially spent on these poorly placed implants.

Bargains are great for shoes or electronics, but prices that are 50-70% off when dealing with your health care should set off alarm bells. There are many dental clinics performing a high quality of work in the aforementioned countries. There are also some dental clinics in Canada performing less than quality work; so again, we cannot generalize, but please tell your family and friends to exercise caution and the appropriate amount of due diligence before signing up to receive the best deal in town (or out of town).

Implants gone wrong