Mexico’s Dental Tourism Mecca

---

---

Forbes Magazine’s New Plastic Surgery Study

According to Forbes magazine, the US has seen a 48% jump in plastic surgery and noninvasive procedures since 2000.  Americans are spending more money and time on enhancing their looks with cosmetic dentistry or cosmetic surgery.   

The study also tried to determine where plastic surgery spending in the US was the most popular.  Unsurprisingly, cities like Miami and Los Angeles made the list, but the city that ranked first was shocking:  Salt Lake City.  Salt Lake City boasts a total of six cosmetic surgeons per 100,000 people.  With cities on the list like Louisville, KY, and Nashville, TN, Forbes illustrates how cosmetic surgery has gone mainstream.   

If plastic surgery was more affordable, its universality would become even more apparent.  But unfortunately, elective surgery of this type is not normally covered under most insurance plans.  However, many patients have begun exploring medical tourism to save on the cost of everything from dental bonding to face lifts. 

Los Algodones, Mexico:  Dental Tourism Mecca

Star magazine in Canada reports that one Mexican medical tourism destination is very popular with retirees summering in Arizona for the winter.  Just 10 minutes across the border from Yuma, Arizona, home for many warm-weather seekers during the winter, is the Mexican city of Los Algodones.  Los Algodones is making a name for itself as an affordable location for those seeking dental work, as well as things like new glasses or low priced prescription drugs.  Retirees, as well as younger patients, come to Los Algodones to take advantage of the low cost of procedures like dental bonding, dental caps, or laser teeth whitening. 

Medical Tourism Saves Woman’s Retirement Fund

Lucille Flintoff from New Westminster, British Colombia, lost her dental insurance when she retired.  Soon after she quit her job, she went to her dentist for a check up and came back with an estimate for $10,000 worth of dental work.  "I couldn't believe it," she told the Star, "I thought, 'There goes all our retirement money.’"  The Flintoffs saved themselves a lot of financial woes by following the advice of a friend and combining a winter in Arizona with a medical tourism trip to Mexico.  Lucille's husband says she is so happy with the results of her procedures that she is going to take a thank you card to the Los Algodones clinic where she was treated before they head back to Canada.