MEXICO IS THE MOST POPULAR DENTAL TOURISM & VACATION DESTINATION IN THE WORLD - This article explores the best Mexican dental vacation places, procedures & prices
Photo: A Pacific Ocean sunset in popular dental vacation destination Puerto Vallarta
The vast majority of dental patients from
the USA day-trip to Mexico border towns like Tijuana or Los Algodones for quick
and affordable dentistry saving hundreds and often a couple of thousand dollars
on procedures like crowns or a dental implant.
Lets talk about Tijuana for a moment. Mexico's 2nd largest city is located downhill from 20 million Southern Californians just across the border from San Diego. Thousand of patients from the
US have visited Tijuana annually for the past 60 years or more.
There are 2nd
generation Tijuana dentists with 3rd generation dentists on the way
with up to 95% of their patients being Americans with a sprinkling of
Canadians who couldn't (or refused) to pay the extra $100 to continue flying to Cabo or Puerto Vallarta.
Patients
who have extensive dental work to be done – oral restorations, cosmetic dental
makeovers etc. which can easily take 1 to 2 weeks to complete often fly to see
dentists in Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta or Cancun where they can enjoy a
world-class dental vacation.
There are days between dental appointments which
one can enjoy doing all the fun activities these places are famous for. Like staying in fabulous hotels, great dining, golf on ocean courses, dolphin shows, sports fishing and being towed by a speedboat 600' in the air hanging on to a parachute.
The
most popular Mexican dental VACATION destinations are the aforementioned Cabo San
Lucas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Tijuana (stay and play in San Diego). The most popular dental TRAVEL destination is a toss-up between Tijuana and Los Algodones south of Yuma Arizona.
The
dusty little border town of Los Algodones across the border from Yuma is not the kind of place one would call a dental vacation
destination. But it has received a lot of media in the US press for being a
"Mecca" for low-cost dentistry – but all Mexico qualifies for that title. One
would guess the writers of never having been 50 kms. south of the border let
alone to Cabo, Cancun or Puerto Vallarta.
Photo: Los Algodones - Many dental clinics are located in what were once cantinas and brothels not too many years ago. Today men dressed in scrubs hawk dental clinics on street corners instead of happy hour in the bars.