Costa Rica Dentist - Dental Tourism in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Dentist - Dental Tourism in Costa Rica

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Going to the dentist in Costa Rica, well not all  that different from what you might experience in   your home country. However, there are quite a few  cultural differences with visiting a dentist in   Costa Rica and if you're coming down here to  live you're eventually going to have to see   a dentist. I've seen a few and it's important  that you can understand a little bit about   your experience while you're here.  Now, what about medical tourism and   dental tourism is there such a thing why in the  world would anybody spend thousands of dollars   to come all the way to Costa Rica, stay for a  week, get their teeth worked on dental implants   and other things? Why? We'll find out all that  and more but hey let's go to the dentist. The first time I went to visit a dentist in  Costa Rica was a bit of a shocker and but that   was because I had gone to see this dentist in  this little bitty town and I imagine it's the   same no matter where you are in the world. You  go to a smaller town it's not nearly as nice  

and you know I don't know how long this dentist  was in business but it wasn't professional   at all. Matter of fact it was a one-man show  he was there by himself wasn't anybody there   he was actually talking to a guy on a horse  outside when I arrived. But I had a cavity   and it was hurting and I needed it fixed. And we  went in there he fixed it right then and there.   It wasn't much I can't remember how much he  charged but he fixed it. Now, I've traveled all  

over since 2013 and I've seen several different  dentists and my most favorite dentist is located   in Perez Celedon or San Isidro. Now, Dr Patricia  is an amazing dentist and like any dentist well   once you find a dentist you're comfortable with  then you kind of start the same procedure as   you would in the United States. Right she asked me  did I have any dental records you know what about   x-rays and of course being here I didn't keep any  of that stuff you know for her to do a good job   she obviously needs to look into that so when I  first came to see her to get my teeth cleaned you   know she took care of it took care of a few minor  cavities but then said hey if I'm gonna do this   right I need to get some x-rays and she sent me  just down the street just like any dentist would   and got some x-rays and pictures everything that  was needed and they sent them to her office. Those  

x-rays surprisingly were not expensive at all and  of course you know in my mind I figured it was   going to be you know some astronomical price  but it wasn't okay so it's nothing like what   you might experience in the United States in that  regard when we're talking about dollars and cents.   I can't remember exactly how much that was but I  do remember that when I went to go get a cleaning   if I remember correctly it was about 25,000 colones  now don't quote the prices obviously prices do   change. I go and see Dr Patricia once a month now  because she recommended I have braces. Now that's   where you come into some of these cultural  differences because I'm thinking well I'm   going to have to go see this orthodontist in some  other place that I don't know and in Costa Rica   that's where things are different okay, it's a  big cultural difference there's a lot of people   in Costa Rica don't have vehicles and when  they go to a dentist they want to be able to   take get everything take care of in one place.  For most dentists they have arrangements with   other dental professionals and they come  to that office and take care of everything.   For instance, for braces that dentist comes and  uses her office for a couple of days and sees   all of her clients that have braces. Now let's talk  about braces for just a moment but before I do let   me kind of back up a little bit because I remember  when I went to go see Dr Patricia the price   for a cleaning I think was like 25 000 colones so  a cavity field was about 25 000 colones and if you   want to compare well what is that in United States  dollars well the colones rate is always going up   and down. In the last five years we can see how the  colones value has dropped from 550 to the dollar  

to 663 at the time of this recording. The more the  colones is dropped the more affordable it is to live   in Costa Rica for Xbox from the United States. If  you'll go to google.com and you could just enter   in the search bar Costa Rica colones to USD and  you can see the conversion rate you can put in   whatever country you're from and that way you'll  know how much it cost for you and then when I go   get my braces done every month hey I guess you can  say the setup or whatever it was 75 000 colones for the first three months and then it's 26 000  colones for the life of my braces. So if I have   braces for two years or three years I can expect  to pay 26 to 27 000 colones until those braces come   off okay. So it was very very professional,  very very clean and you're going to notice   that you know when you first come to Costa Rica  it's like you see fences and barbed wire and   constantino wire and gates all over the place and  you immediately think the crime must be awful, well   petty theft is pretty awful you can't leave  anything out if you leave it out it's going   to get picked up. You go into almost any business  a furniture store or a dentist's office there's  

usually some sort of a security guard they have  to actually buzz the button to allow you to come   in so there's are those cultural differences that  you know take a little getting used to it's not   like the United States. Now, is it not safe no  it's very very safe I can almost bet you the   dentist's office in the in the furniture stores  probably never been robbed but they have all of   these extra security precautions in place. Now  some people might be concerned that hey well if   Costa Rica is such a small country and we've heard  you say that you know Costa Rica is kind of like   it feels like you're 40 years behind the times  and while it's true that there are a lot of things   you know maybe the infrastructure the roads the  highways yeah there are some things that seem like   they're 40 or 50 years behind. Now keep in mind  Costa Rica has a social medical deal where you   know everybody pays what's called Kaha that's  their health insurance and you can go to the   social health care where everybody practically  gets free healthcare because they're all paying   this tiny bit of Kaha. There's nothing wrong  with that but it's not nearly going to be as   nice as private medical care so I've been to both  I've been to the social medical where I've gone   and I wasn't paying Kaha, I just had to pay out of  pocket because you don't pay Kaha until you are a   resident but the same doctors that work in the  social medicine are the same doctors that have   private practices. It's a whole lot better just  to go see a private doctor and when you compare   the cost really paying for a private doctor to  take care of you is nowhere near what it might   cost you in the United States or in your home  country. So they really have some talented doctors  

and dentists and some state-of-the-art equipment  in Costa Rica. So let's talk about dental tourism   why is dental tourism such a humongous thing  I mean it's so big that you can actually pay   agencies and different people to set you up  for a whole dental tourism or medical tourism   package well why is that that's because  depending on what you're having done depending   on where you have your teeth fixed your medical  procedure done it can be anywhere from a third   to a half less than what you would normally pay in  the United States. So that's why people are willing   to spend you know a thousand dollars for a plane  ticket come down here for a whole week and get   lots of work done on their teeth maybe they're  having you know four or five dental implants a   crown cavities and things fixed up you're going to  have to pay up front and they're not going to take   insurance. I'll talk a little bit more about that  later when we have an interview with Dr Patricia.   So there are a lot of people who come to Costa  Rica for a whole week and spend lots of money   and when they come down here if they pay for a  package then usually they'll set them up in a   hotel that's nearby to where they can have  their dental procedure go back and recover   come back the next day for some more work go back  and recover and all of that is in one big package.   In my opinion, I think you don't need to pay for  some sort of a package like that and you'll save   thousands of dollars by make arrangements with  that dentist prior to coming make all of your   appointments and then make arrangements for an  Airbnb stay in that Airbnb while you go back   and forth to have everything taken care of and  I'm sure you'll save thousands upon thousands   of dollars instead of paying somebody to do  all that for you. So at this point why don't   we go to the dentist together but first let me  tell you about a free vacation I'm giving away.  

I am giving away a three-day Costa Rican  adventure. Just for watching videos on my channel   and learning about Costa Rica and the  off-grid homestead. Subscribe now, hit that   notification bell so you don't miss out and  watch till the end and I'll explain how you   can qualify to win. That is going to be one heck of  a vacation. We're going to have a whole lot of fun  

and hey who knows maybe you'll decide  to book your dental tourism vacation   take that three-day vacation first and then have  your teeth fixed while you're here. We're going   to interview Dr Patricia and see exactly what  it's like to go to the dentist in Costa Rica. Hello Burt, hello Dr Patricia how  are you? Great, are you? Very good.  

Okay, I am ready for my training, I know. So  I have a couple of questions for you. Yes.   Okay you know in Costa Rica it's a it's a  beautiful country and it's well known more and   more that a lot of people are coming to Costa Rica  not just for vacation but something called medical   tourism. Yes. Which is also dental tourism as  well can you tell me about that? Well, now it's   really normal because in Costa Rica we have a  beautiful places but you have beautiful clinics   and really great prices and but the work is  still really awesome so it's normal to come   to dentistry or just normal medical like I don't  know hospitals or clinics or even even aesthetic   is really normal. We work with a great kind of  laboratories. Actually, some are in Costa Rican   and other from Europe or United States but it's  in Costa Rica so it's easy for us to work with   all kind of materials and implants or something  like that. And I have traveled all over Costa Rica   and there's been a few times that I've needed to  go to the dentist and one of the things that I   really enjoy about here in San Isidro is that of  course not every foreigner knows Spanish and this   has been the first clinic for me that your english  is very good it's easy to understand. Kind of. So  

it's nice to be able to talk to my dentist ask  questions and understand what's going on. Yes. Now   you know it's very popular in Costa Rica. Everybody  knows about Tico time. Yeah. But not your planning.   I don't think I have ever had to wait your  clinic is very punctual you make appointments   and you're I don't think I've ever had to wait.  Well we try, we try, because for me our time is   important. Your time, my time so it's easy to have  schedules and talk to you sometimes it's not work   but most of the time is like that because it's  better for example today we finish our clinic   our appointment and then maybe you have lunch or  me have another patient so we try. And y'all do a   very good job because one thing you guys do is  that you make my appointment and it might be a   month out but always one or two days ahead of time  you will send a message on WhatsApp. Yes. Asking me  

to confirm my appointment. Yeah. And in that way  if something changes we easily can make changes.   Exactly we can reschedule or if you don't have  WhatsApp we can send by email or another phone   call for example. Fantastic, because you know for  me even today we had to change our time frame   you know something for school or something for  work you got finished early and your secretary   sent me a message saying hey if you're available  Dr Patricia is ready for you. Exactly. Was able   to come right over. Exactly. So that's very nice  now there's something that is very different about   dentistry here in Costa Rica. You checked me out  and you recommended that I have braces. Well in  

America if you have braces you have to go to the  orthodontist's office but not in Costa Rica. Well   because we are a tiny country, normally that  is new like 10 years maybe I go we try every   clinic but not every but we try to have a more  integrity in our work so we have great specialist,   dentistry or maybe why not physiotherapy or root  canal treatments orthodontics to work together in   one place because it's easy for the patient to  come and if you need for example I don't know   wisdom tooth surgery you can come in here that  is your place. You have confidence in us you know   the place you have parking so you come in here  and you will find your specialist work    for you. That's really nice I really like that  and I have found that as far as the prices go   it's not expensive and you know in the United  States now here's a very interesting question   I get a lot from our subscribers what about  insurance. Does anywhere in Costa Rica actually   take insurance? Yeah sometimes. Really? Yeah  sometimes I have a patient from United States or  

Europe like Germany for example or french  to come and I just they sent me by email   like a paper so I put everything on record  like what I do, why, how much, how expensive   will be or what do you need at the future and  I sent and they have the insurance file. Okay   so the important thing is the patient always  pays first you may help out with the paperwork   and then the patient "exactly" paperwork  to their insurance company and then they   can receive the money that they've already  paid. Is that correct? Normally yes sometimes   actually in Costa Rica from with some insurance  Costa Rican insurance they have different kind of.   They send us like like a build but will be like  just in case so I make all the work and they pay   for me but it's not so common. That's not so common.  Yes. Usually, the patient pays first "yes" but in some   cases if it's a Costa Rican insurance it's not  common but sometimes "yeah" the insurance pays you.  

Exactly. Okay great when you come to Costa Rica  especially if you're in the San Isidro area you   want to make sure to check out Dr Patricia. We're  going to make sure to put all of her information   in the description below but now it's time  for me to get my teeth clean. Are you ready? Yes. Dr Patricia's office is always very clean and  comfortable. What I really like is when I'm   laying there I always have visual entertainment  that I can watch above and there's always yes   some beautiful pictures and scenes to keep me busy  while she's working. Are you ready? I'm ready. She's  

always talking to me and letting me know what  she's doing while she's working so I'm not sitting   there wondering what's going on. Dr Patricia  english has always been very understandable,   her staff has always been very friendly and very  accommodating. Okay don't forget there are four   things you need to do in order to qualify to  win that Costa Rican vacation. First, subscribe   and hit that notification bell this way you will  not miss out on future videos. Second, click the   like button literally, it only takes two seconds.  Do it right now. These two simple tasks sends a  

signal to YouTube's algorithm that you like these  videos and they'll begin to show these videos with   other people so I can help them learn too. Third,  comment let me know if you've learned something.   What else you would like to learn? I read every  single comment and I try to reply to as many as   possible. And fourth, share this video just below  the video is a share button and you never know who   you will be helping or whose life you'll change  for the better because you took a few seconds   to share it on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest  heck, share it on all your social media profiles.

2022-04-10 08:13

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