We thank our advertisers who help fund this site.
Dr. Hall,
I am debating on going to Costa Rica to get my 12 crowns replaced. I have 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom. In Costa Rica they do everything in a lab and it takes two weeks ( So I have to stay 2 weeks, which isn’t a bad thing except the time I can go it will be raining). I am just curious what my options are here in Arizona since I just moved here. I am looking for natural-looking teeth and would like a dentist that doesn’t make my teeth look like they came from a cookie cutter so to speak. In Costa Rica I can get all of my teeth done for around $6000. Not including the travel and hotels etc. Is there anything comparable to that here in Arizona that you know of?
– Tanya from Arizona
Tanya,
I have a question for you before you go to Costa Rica to have your crowns done. Do you think there is any possibility that anything could go wrong in the process of getting twelve crowns?
I’ll give you the answer to that question–yes, there are any number of things that could go wrong. Let me list some of them for you, off the top of my head:
- A tooth could break off.
- You could lose that tooth.
- The dentist could over-drill and a tooth could become sensitive.
- You could end up needing root canals.
- The crowns you get could look pasty and fake.
- They could be the wrong color.
- When you get home, the crowns could fall off.
- The porcelain in the crowns could start to chip away.
- The dentist could use a material to which you are allergic.
- The crowns could throw your bite off and you could end up with TMJ disorder.
- The crowns could affect your speech.
- The teeth could become hypersensitive and hurt all the time.
These are the first twelve things that came to mind, of problems I have either seen or patients have told me about when they had multiple crowns done. It isn’t an exhaustive list.
And then here is a link to an earlier blog post I wrote about dentistry in Costa Rica. A woman wrote to me about crown and porcelain veneer work she had done there. She ended up having four of these things on the list go wrong, and some things that aren’t on my list. Another dentist told her that what was done to her by this Costa Rica dentist was criminal negligence. But when she tried to get satisfaction, SHE ended up being the person in legal trouble, because of the corrupt legal system in Costa Rica. She has an estimate of $35,000 to fix the damage this dentist caused.
Even with excellent dental care, with that many crowns there is often something that will go wrong during the treatment. It appears that if that happens to you in Costa Rica, you’ll end up stuck.
If you want to save some money and you’re in Arizona, one option could be to go to Dr. Isaías Íñiguez. He is actually AACD accredited and has a practice in Los Algodones, Mexico, just across the border from Yuma, Arizona. He charges Mexican fees for what I believe is high quality cosmetic dentistry. Check him out.
– Dr. Hall
Do you have a comment or a question or anything else to add? We’d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below.
Click here to ask Dr. Hall a question of your own.
About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
Jaren says
Wow, that really is a long list of very significant reasons to think about getting the work done closer to home. I could see how it very well could end up being a nightmare if something did go wrong.
Annmarie says
I think I’d be too afraid of getting medical care in Costa Rica. Do you know if they have the same requirements we do in the US for keeping instruments disinfected to protect patients from cross infection? I know they don’t in Mexico.
Reply by Dr. Hall – I’m not familiar with the exact standards in different countries, but I do know that they are different and I’m confident that in almost any other country the infection control standards would be more lax.