is the southern Berlin Wall to be built to protect big pharma and the medical business or just for ethnic purity?

[Guest guest]

Americans go to Mexico for a cheaper perfect smile

By Robin Emmott Fri Feb 1, 1:43 PM ET

 

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - It was fear of the hefty bill as much as fear

of the drill that kept American musician Don Clay away from U.S. dental clinics

for 30 years.

 

When a sorely infected tooth eventually drove him to the dentist last month, it

was to a clinic in a Mexican border city better known for violent crime and drug

cartels.

Shrugging off concerns about hygiene and Mexico's brutal drug war, thousands of

Americans are heading to Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican border cities for cheap

dental treatment.

 

" I had to get my teeth fixed. I need a perfect smile to make a successful career

in music. Treatment in the United States is so pricey, " said Clay, a Texan

trying to get a record deal as a hip-hop artist.

 

U.S. dental treatment costs up to four times as much as in Mexico, making it

tough for uninsured Americans to treat common problems such as abscessed teeth

or pay for dentures.

 

A dental crown in the United States costs upward of $600 per tooth, compared to

$190 or less in Mexico.

 

Aspiring Mexican dentists are moving to border cities in droves and are luring

American patients away from farther flung discount destinations such as Hungary

and Thailand.

 

Americans have long crossed the border for cheap medicines, flu vaccines, eye

surgery or specialist doctors, but dentists are now in highest demand.

 

Dental clinics are on almost every block in central Ciudad Juarez, ranging from

dingy dives to clinics that look more like posh hair salons. Getting there

involves dodging prostitutes, drug pushers and cowboy-boot sellers.

 

BARGAIN-HUNTING

 

" We've gone from a handful of patients when we started 2-1/2 years ago to 150

new patients a month, " said Joe Andel, an American who owns the Rio Dental

clinic in Ciudad Juarez with his Mexican dentist wife, Jessica.

 

Rio Dental, which uses U.S. labs to make its crowns, picks patients up at the

airport in El Paso, Texas, across the border and has treated people from as far

away as Alaska and Hawaii.

 

" The Internet makes this possible. It allows patients to find us and research us

and shows we can do dental work of equal or superior quality to the United

States, " Andel said.

 

Internet bloggers swap stories and compare notes about Mexican dentists, but it

always comes down to money.

 

Dentistry in the United States has become prohibitively expensive for some

patients, with bills that can run to tens of thousands of dollars. Malpractice

insurance premiums, operating costs that are much higher than in Mexico and

dentists seeking to claw back the rising cost of their tuition all weigh.

 

Even among Americans who have medical insurance, many find they are not covered

for treatment other than the basics, and paying on credit means high interest

payments.

 

" I did $4,000 of dental work in the United States and put it on my credit card.

Because of the interest, I only paid off $400 in three years, " said a U.S.

teacher from New Mexico getting treatment in Ciudad Juarez who gave his name as

Bill.

 

Cosmetic dentistry, which insurers do not cover and which can be paid in dollars

in many Mexican border clinics, is also popular, Ciudad Juarez dentist Luis

Garza said.

 

" If you want a perfect smile, you have to pay for it, and we can do it cheaper,

that's all, " he grinned.

 

(Editing by Catherine Bremer and Eric Beech)