Medical Tourism. Have you ever?

[andthen]

For me my decision to not travel for dental work boiled down to lack of time. I changed jobs a few months back and took a couple of days off which realisitically would have been a good opportunity to travel and get these things done. But I didn't plan well enough to get the logistics sorted out to do this.

I did unexpectedly have a dental issue a few years back while traveling in Japan. Granted it wasn't quite medical tourism, the dentist I saw was Japanese but she did her dental school training in the US and spoke excellent English and the treatment was cheaper than what I would have paid with my insurance here in the US and I thankfully didn't have any problems afterwards.

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

I know a lot of people who live within driving distance to Mexico that have gone to get dental work and lasik. Typically they weren't insured or their insurance didn't cover what they needed plus the whole trip only took a day at most. I can't see any benefit of traveling all the way to Asia just to get dental work..a trip to Tijuana or Juarez would be a hell of a lot cheaper.

Originally Posted by ComradesTrue

Serious, not snarky, question.

Are you comfortable sharing why you are considering this? For something like dental work I would think that you could get excellent care stateside for much, much less money than paying for the travel.

What benefit does Thailand have over experienced dentists in your area? Again, I don't mean that as a snarky question. I have just never heard of doing this. Experimental medical treatments? Sure. But never for anything routine.

I'd actually go to Mexico since I'm in San Francisco. Why? No insurance. The services here, including clinics designed for low income, are too expensive. UOP, UCSF are the area dental schools I looked into. State aid covers children only. The "free" services are only for people who are living on the street or shelters. When I was working full time, I had a great dentist until I had no insurance. The cost of me driving to Mexico, getting the treatment would cost less than some of the dental work I already have.