Anyone Else Seeing Dental Commercials For Mexico? (insurance, student loans)

[jimj]

So I'm watching ABC and a commercial comes on for a dentist in Los Algodones Mexico. Kind of surprising all things considered. I've never,ever seen a foreign country advertise medical treatment here in the U.S. before.
I've been to a couple of dentist offices in Algodones and looked into a lot more and none of them looked as sparkling clean and wonderfully up to date as this commercial showed.

I also noticed that there was of course no mention of the risks of leaving the country for healthcare and I didn't notice if they actually mentioned "Mexico" at all. Maybe I missed that part?

[Bondurant]

I went to Sani dental once. It was just like going to the dentist here only much cheaper. The office was clean but sparse. My only criticism was the hygienist spoke little English but it was a standard cleaning so no big deal.

[Ponderosa]

It's hard to believe they need to advertise. The snowbirds are like flies at a picnic there in winter time. I get all my dental done there, but only go when the bulk of the tourists have gone home.

[gemstone1]

Upon closer investigation, you'll find a good portion of those Dentists in LA have been trained in the US.

Regards
Gemstone1

[JGMotorsport64]

I’ve only had good experiences down there. Not sure what unsafe or dirty outfits you’re visiting?

[yukon]

I have friends in NM who get almost all their dental work, and some of their medical care, in Mexico. They usually just go across at El Paso.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

Upon closer investigation, you'll find a good portion of those Dentists in LA have been trained in the US.

Regards
Gemstone1

True enough but with none of the regulations or safeguards for the patients.

[gemstone1]

"but with none of the regulations or safeguards for the patients"....just like every other consumer service/product, it's buyer beware. There are tens of thousands of consumers who annually head to MX for dental/eye/prescription care....no doubt some are not happy with what they received...but in the end, no one forced them to go. I was happy with my care and cost.

Regards
Gemstone1

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by jimj

True enough but with none of the regulations or safeguards for the patients.

My dentist in Mexico doesn’t need a computer for appointments and records, doesn’t have an “office manager” or a “coder” to fight the insurance companies. Doesn’t have a receptionist, massive student loans , or massive insurance premiums. It’s only natural that he’s also way less expensive than an American dentist.

The one thing I don’t get in these conversations about health & dental care in other countries is the perception that you’re “at risk” for health problems because you’ve crossed a border. People in other countries have figured out how to properly do medical and dental procedures, including sterilization. Your average US dentist in a strip-mall next to a pizza-hut isn’t endowed with magical anti-infectious knowledge or tools. Dentists and healthcare workers around the world are all using the same cheap Chinese supplies, and the risk for complications like infection is all based on the conscientiousness of the practitioner, not the flag they work under.

Indeed, especially in the dental field, which has largely been taken over by mega-corps, I’d be more afraid of a bean-counter in Idaho picking cheap/shoddy materials for 500 locations to make a bonus based on profit, vs a small business person in Mexico that I could actually yell at in person if they used bad materials, techniques, or supplies that caused a later problem.

[Voebe]

No, haven't seen them, but it's pretty funny.