Clear Choice or Costa Rica for Dental Implants?
Question submitted by Troy
I was looking at getting dental implants but have some bone loss that I need to deal with. Clear choice said they could work around that with all on four dental implants. However, I’ve read some reviews by people that said they felt abandoned after they had the procedure done. I’m not too crazy about that idea because this is a pretty big procedure. A friend of mine is thinking about going to Costa Rica for their procedure. He’s in the same situation I’m in and did some research. Apparently, he can go to Costa Rica and get bone grafting as well as traditional implants for the same price as the Clear Choice, including the round trip and stay. Which do you think is a better plan?
Troy
Dear Troy,
Let’s start with the Costa Rica option. While dental tourism is cheaper, it is also riskier. One of the reasons that dental care is more expensive in the United States is because of regulations. We have safety standards and sanitation that dentists are required to follow. This is not the case in other countries. In fact, in many of the Central American countries dentists are not even required to sanitize the equipment between patients.
There are a lot of things which can go wrong with dental implants. There are horror stories from patients who’ve even lost part of their jaw from infection that set in the bone. Often, when problems do happen with dental implants, it happens months later. You won’t still be in Costa Rica and the chances of them taking responsibility are small. The laws are different there. If something does go wrong, then you will have no recourse. If you want to talk about being abandoned after the procedure, that is what dental tourism will do as well.
Clear choice has a habit of high pressure sales with mostly one option, and they’re big on the all-on-4 option. The dentists may be okay. That varies from clinic to clinic. Because of the advanced nature of the dental implant procedure, it is always best if you find a dentist with post doctoral experience, such as a prosthodontist. It is worth saving up to have this done right.
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