Forget Mexico: Get Dental Work Done Here

Mexico isn’t the only place where dental work costs less. Here’s where to get high-quality, lower-priced work done locally.

SPENDING SMARTER | With the high cost of specialty dental work in North America, it’s no wonder Canadians, especially those without dental insurance, flock to Mexico when they need multiple crowns or bridges. Whole communities like Los Algodones, which is minutes over the Arizona border and boasts 350 dentists, have grown up all along the U.S.-Mexico divide to churn out crowns priced as low as $150 to $350 (in Vancouver a metal-ceramic crown costs on average between $900 and $1,000).

The price differential is shocking—and that makes Mexico enticing. I know of people who are happy with the work they’ve had done there, and I have heard and read about plenty of others who aren’t, like the man who wrote to the Vancouver Sun recently to say he’d spent $4,000 U.S. to have dental work done in Mexico and another $14,000 in Canada to clean up the mess.

Where To Fix A Mouthful Of Trouble

So is there anywhere you can go to fix a mouthful of trouble that’s less expensive than standard Canadian rates yet doesn’t require foreign travel? One of my good friends opted for the dental school clinic at UBC when she needed to replace three ancient crowns she got in Europe and substitute three dental implants for teeth severely damaged in an accident.

At the clinic, a metal-and-ceramic crown is around $700 to $800 depending on the circumstances, and a single tooth implant and crown can be between $2,700 and $3,200 (in private practice, this would be more like $4,000 to $5,000). These are not Mexico prices, but then the work isn’t being done in Mexico, and for my friend that was worth plenty.

Specialty work at the dental school—including crowns, bridges, root canals, implants, braces, etc.—is done by graduate dentists who are already general dentists but are completing a specialist degree. They work under the watchful eye of seasoned, practising specialists who are ready to step in if necessary, though my friend says that never happened for any of the work she had done. — Ruth Rainey

To find out how to become a patient at the dental clinic at UBC, visit www.dentistry.ubc.ca. Generally speaking, graduate clinic prices average 20 percent less than general private practice fees and 50 percent less than specialist fees. Fees for work by undergrads (second-, third- and fourth-year students, some of whom are long-practising dentists from other countries seeking certification in Canada) are generally 40 percent less than private practice fees.

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