Medical Tourism: A $22 Dental Exam & Cleaning in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Before I quit my job, one of my concerns was how I would get regular dental cleanings and checkups. I knew that would be tricky while traveling around the world, given how the US healthcare system is set up around employment and individual states.

I was also concerned because according to my past dentists, I have bad teeth genes 🙂 . No matter what I do, I will get cavities that need to be taken care of. Yay for me 🙂 ! So I had to decide how I would deal with this moving forward into a nomadic retirement. Enter: Medical Tourism!

Medical tourism is when you go to another country for medical care. Americans do this because most other countries have cheaper healthcare and better outcomes. Another reason is that some countries that fit this criteria (such as México) are not far away from the US. So I first dipped my toe into the medical tourism when I visited México in April/May of 2022 and now that I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina I wanted to expand my exploration. Let’s see how it went!

The Booking

First I did one of my favorite things: ask for recommendations 🙂 . Sadly no one I knew had a dentist they loved in Buenos Aires and wanted to recommend, so I took to the internet! I found that the US Embassy in Argentina has a list of recommended medical professionals on their website.

The list said it was last updated in February 2020 so I didn’t know if all of these would still be available or taking new patients, but I had a starting point! Then I dove in and looked at the dentists’ credentials and how much English proficiency they had (I have no illusions to think that I can speak well about my medical history in Spanish 🙂 ).

After that, I chose a dentist and emailed the address shown on the document. Sadly, I didn’t hear a response. I told my Argentinian friend who I’m visiting that I hadn’t heard anything and she wasn’t surprised and said that I would probably have to call. To which, I said then why have an email address? 🙂 .

Anyway, I didn’t want to call because calling in a foreign language is hard mode for me, so we did it together when I got to Argentina. The number I had for them was out of date so together in a mix of English and Spanish we listened to a voicemail they had and identified a new phone number and then texted them on What’s App.

Apparently most communication with businesses is done via What’s App text in Argentina, which I was very curious about since it seems to be mostly via phone in the US. Overall, I’m all for switching to texting 🙂 .

So I texted the dentist on a Saturday when I thought they were open, and they got back to me first thing Monday morning and asked for:

Apellido: Last Name
Nombre: First Name
DNI: An identification number that Argentinians have
Prepaga: Health insurance information
Especialidad: What kind of specialist I want to see at the dentist

I gave my name and explained that I’m from the US and don’t have a DNI or Prepaga and that I would like a cleaning. If you want to look at my mediocre Spanish, this is exactly how I said it 🙂 : “Soy estadounidense y no tengo DNI ni seguro/prepaga. Creo que no necesito una especialidad, pero me gustaría que me limpien y examinen los dientes en noviembre”

They then gave me times the dentist was available and asked my preference. I gave them that information and they provided two options for an appointment in the next 7 days. I chose one and asked to confirm their address (dirección) just to make sure after the email and phone call confusion. I also asked for their pricing and said I wanted to pay in cash.

They responded that a consult is 5,000 pesos ($18 USD at the time) and the cost of a cleaning depends on how much work you need and goes from 6,000 to 12,000 pesos ($22-44 USD), but if I get a consult and cleaning together they do an 11% discount and all of it for 10,000 pesos ($37 USD).

The Preparation

So I made sure that I had the maximum amount of cash they listed as being the possible cost, and that I had my latest x-ray, which is 2 years old. Before my México dental adventure, I emailed my Seattle dentist and asked them to send me the x-rays so I could share them with my new dentist, and they did without fuss 🙂 . So with cash and digital x-rays in an email, I was ready to go!

The Visit

So I was off on my new medical adventure!

Dra. Elida Marina Stefano
Clínica Dental
Virrey Olaguer y Feliú 2462 Piso 4, Departamento B, C1426 CABA
+54 9 11 5345-5198

I arrived at the above address 5 minutes before my appointment. It’s easy to find and enter on the ground floor. When I approached, there was a man sitting at a reception desk who asked (in Spanish) where I was going. I said I was going to the dentist (Dentista 😉 ) and he directed me to Floor 4 (Piso Cuatro). I got into the elevator, it made a noise indicating the weight limit was over (rude 🙂 ), so the last person to come in got out for another elevator.

Then the elevator reached Floor 4 and I walked to the right where I saw a “Dentistry” sign and the office number (4B). To the right of the door, it said to ring the bell (Toque Timbre), so I pressed the button right next to the sign, and a bell rang out. A few seconds later, the door was opened by the receptionist before he went into the backroom.

I took a seat and waited for a little bit and then the fun began 🙂 . The receptionist came back out and started speaking to me. For some reason, I was having a hard time understanding him. He started asking me intake questions including words I had never heard before (despite filling out intake forms in México for several exams). I did my best to respond, but it felt like I was taking my oral exam at an Italian university Junior year. AKA it did not go well 🙂 .

The dentist (who speaks English) must have heard me struggling to properly answer the medical questions from the receptionist and asked if I would prefer to speak English. I said yes since I didn’t want everyone to be waiting on me all day 🙂 . The dentist then asked a guy in the waiting room who is apparently a regular patient and friend, to help. He acted as a translator and together with the receptionist, we got through my intake form verbally. Phew!

After all this, the dentist apologized and I believe said that they have other people usually who speak English to check others in, but overall, I think they might benefit from having a written intake form like I experienced at the dentist in México and in the US.

It’s way easier for someone who is working on their language and allows them time to look things up. I also assume this office sees a fair number of non-fluent Spanish speakers since they’re recommended on the US embassy website. I was able to fill out an intake form in Spanish in México when I was only a few days into my Spanish journey instead of 10 months like I am now. It was a lot smoother. Anyway, not a huge deal. We got it all sorted and I made new friends along the way 🙂 .

A heads up to anyone else, this is a summary of the questions they asked me:

Apellido: Last Name
Nombre: Name
Estado Civil: Are you married (casado/a) or single (soltero/a)?
Fecha: Your birth date (DAY-MONTH-YEAR)
Dirección: The address of where you’re staying in the area
Documento: Since I didn’t have one, they asked for my passport number, so make sure you have that (I have it on my phone in 1Password) even if you don’t have the actual document.
Preguntas: Then there are the standard medical questions you get asked at every new dentist, such as do you have allergies (alergias). All the words there were very similar to English, so I could figure them out fairly easily.

Then I waited for my appointment. I thought it was a normal wait time, but the dentist came back out and apologized profusely for the wait. I said it was no problem. Then this happened and made my life worth living:

I'm in a dentist's waiting room in Argentina🇦🇷. The #BackstreetBoys starts playing over the speakers🎶. I try my hardest to not start singing along. Then a super buff tall guy in the waiting room starts singing. I start singing. We all start singing. BEST DAY EVER🤣🤣🤣. pic.twitter.com/UtRYa1WgNu

— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 3, 2022

The Exam

A few minutes later the dentist called me back to the exam room. Along the way, another dentist said “Morning!” (in English) which I didn’t realize until later was strange since I’m in Argentina 🙂 and used to hearing “¡Hola!” and “Buenos días” in passing.

Anyway, I got settled into the exam room, which was lovely. It had lots of windows that looked out at local buildings and the beautiful blue spring sky.

The dentist confirmed what I had come in for (an exam and cleaning) and got to work. First she asked me to rinse with a solution for 30 seconds. After I spit that out, she asked about my cleaning routine and gave suggestions, examined my teeth, and told me places to watch out for and how I can improve my cleaning routine. Overall, I was really happy to hear that my teeth and gums are still healthy 🙂 .

The Cleaning

Then the cleaning began and it was performed by my dentist, which is new for me. In my experiences in the US and México, I had a hygienist instead, but I’m all for bringing out the big dogs! She gave me vaseline to put on my lips and then put in a mouth prop/bite block, which was a first for me. However, I found it really helpful since I don’t have to do as much work keeping my mouth fully open. Laziness for the win 😉 .

She did a standard cleaning and gave me a flouride coating, which I appreciated since I remembered getting it one time in the US while I was still working only to discover later that insurance doesn’t cover it and I had to pay an extra $80 ughghghg. Anyway, it’s nice to be given helpful medical things without a surprising bill at the end 🙂 .

Then before I knew it, the cleaning was over. We talked a little more about my care, she gave me her recommended toothpaste (a regional version of Colgate with fluoride in it), asked if I had any more questions and then sent me on my way! Overall I was out of the office in about an hour.

The Cost

Then came payment! I spoke to the receptionist again and it turns out that the estimate I was given was over the actual cost (which I appreciate compared to the opposite since I was paying in cash and wanted to make sure I had enough). All of the work I had done cost 6,000 pesos or $22. I was shocked 🙂 .

Conclusion

And that was my experience getting dental care in Buenos Aires, Argentina! I absolutely loved the dentist and the staff – they were all very kind, informative and efficient. I’ll definitely be visiting again when I’m back in the area.

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Have you ever used dental care outside your home country?