As I’ve mentioned, I’m in the ACA Marketplace and have dental insurance in the US. However, the fact that US medical care can be straight up garbage continues to lead me to often using medical tourism and paying out of pocket instead. Here’s my latest adventure wading through medical care.
In the US, I found a dental office near me that claimed on their website to take my insurance. I then made an appointment 6 months in advance. The day before my appointment they called and emailed me multiple times despite me calling them back and emailing them back immediately to confirm my insurance information. They said I was good to go.
I then got up early, drove an hour, and arrived at my appointment only for them to say “Actually – never mind. We don’t take your insurance AND we also can’t see you today even if you pay cash.” Uh…and you couldn’t have mentioned that in one of the many communications we had yesterday? Or over the last 6 months perhaps? Garbage.
So my adventures in medical tourism continue! After enjoying my experiences with dentists in Italy, Argentina, México, and Perú, I tried dental care in a different Mexican city.
If you’re curious about my previous experiences, reviews of those are below, but the TL;DR is that I’m having way better medical experiences abroad than I have had in the US and the cherry on top is that they’re way less expensive while being the same caliber of care if not better.
- Medical Tourism: A $68 Dental Cleaning In Lima, Perú
- Medical Tourism: Dental Cleaning And Cavity Fillings In Bologna, Italy
- Medical Tourism: A $22 Dental Exam & Cleaning in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Medical Tourism: A $32 Dental Cleaning in Mérida, México
- Medical Tourism: A $38 Dental Cleaning In Puerto Vallarta, México
The Research
As I have with all of my previous medical tourism adventures, I started with research! I started looking around online to find dentists that are both highly rated and (ideally) English speaking.
I do love practicing my Spanish but have found that in medical situations, it’s better to make sure I’m not missing anything by speaking my native language.
So after googling around, I discovered that the website I used in Italy to find and choose an amazing dentist also has a website in México! In México it’s called Doctoralia and it has all the information I needed to choose a great dentist.
The site has lots of reviews and also usually includes other important information, such as the languages the dentist speaks, what each treatment costs and even if their office accepts credit cards. I looked through the options in La Paz and found Dr. Viviana Paz Soldan at the dental office Crearte . She has all 5 star reviews and speaks English.
The Booking
The Crearte page on Doctoralia listed prices for several items, but not for a dental cleaning (limpieza dental), so I found their non-landline phone number on Crearte’s Facebook Page and texted it in Spanish via WhatsApp. They responded to my question about the price of a cleaning less than an hour later and said it would be 1200 pesos ($69.21 USD).
That’s not bad at all! It’s less than half of what I’ve been quoted without insurance in the US. So I told them when I would be in town and that I was available any time for an appointment and they got back to me immediately confirming a date and time. Perfection!
Then a little bit later, I actually got a WhatsApp message from Doctoralia despite booking directly through the dentists’ office. I guess they still use Doctoralia to book appointments and send reminders, which works for me. The message was in Spanish and asked me to go to a link and confirm my appointment date and time, which I did. I was good to go!
Pre-Appointment
About two weeks before my appointment, I got a text from Crearte asking if they could move my appointment to another day I had mentioned I was free because the dentist was going to a conference on the original appointment date. I said sure – no problem (in Spanish 😉 ) and right after that, I got a confirmation text from Docturalia as well.
However, a scheduling conflict then came up that I mentioned in my latest Monthly Recap – and the only day we could go on a tour to swim with Whale Sharks (the reason we went to La Paz) was the same day as my new dental appointment. Uh oh.
So I texted Crearte asking if I could actually come in for a cleaning in less than 24 hours (on a weekend) so we could still go on this tour – and they said it was no problem! This was such a different experience than the 6+ month waits for appointments in the US, and I was wildly impressed. So I got ready to go to my appointment the next day!
The Visit
When my appointment time came around, I set off on my next medical adventure! I took a ride share to the dental office location:
Crearte
Dr.Viviana Paz Soldan
Paseo Álvaro Obregón 460, Zona Comercial, La Paz
I arrived 20 minutes early just in case I needed to fill out any paperwork. So I walked down a boardwalk next to La Paz’s beachfront and straight into the office – it’s a gorgeous location 🙂 .
I entered the office and was greeted by the staff who asked me to wait in the waiting room. I did and then an employee came over with a medical form for me to fill out.
I had been speaking to them in Spanish and they handed me a form in Spanish, but then they asked if I would prefer a form in English. I said yes I would prefer the English version and they gave it to me. I filled out the form quickly and handed it back to an employee at the front desk.
As I mentioned, I err on the side of my native tongue for medical documents if possible. However, I have filled out these forms in Spanish previously by using Google Translate’s camera feature to make sure I understood everything on the form without having to type it all out in the app.
A few minutes later the dentist came over to introduce herself and bring me to the dentist’s chair. All the staff were very kind and welcoming and my appointment started on time 🙂 .
The Cleaning
The dentist then asked me if I would prefer to speak Spanish or English and I said English. From then on she spoke to me in perfect English.
She then asked why I was there. I said for a cleaning and that I wanted to check if I had any cavities (like the dentist I went to in Lima claimed I did).
She started the cleaning and it was all standard stuff. I didn’t bring my usual wireless earbuds to listen to a podcast during the cleaning and I was glad I didn’t because instead I got to look out the window onto the beach. This dental office definitely has the best view I’ve ever seen 🙂 . The cleaning didn’t hurt and I was done in 30 minutes.
The Consultation
After the cleaning, the dentist checked my teeth for signs of cavities and confirmed what I suspected: I didn’t have any cavities.
Unfortunately that means that my gut was correct and my dentist in Perú was trying to unnecessarily upsell me as I mentioned in my blog post about that experience. That was the first time I had any medical care done in Perú and I clocked the upsell right away and didn’t fall for it so I’m glad I listened to my instincts there.
I think I’ll be leaning towards medical care in México from now on as a result. I’ve only had fantastic experiences in the now 3 Mexican cities I’ve had dental care in. Anyway, the dentist then asked me how I had found them and I mentioned Doctoralia. After that she led me back to the reception area.
The Payment
The receptionist then told me it would be 1200 pesos ($69.21 USD) and I said I would pay with a credit card. I did so, they gave me a receipt and I walked back onto the beach to soak up some sun.
A $52 México City Aside
After we left La Paz and arrived in México City, my Partner used my Doctoralia research to find a nearby dentist that was available just a few days later. I was curious about his experience so I went to his appointment with him and I was very impressed!
He ended up getting a dental cleaning and a consultation that resulted in a prescription for a total of 900 pesos ($51.76 USD), which was even cheaper than my dental cleaning. He also had a beautiful view and a very helpful English speaking dentist. Sensational 🙂 .
Conclusion
So despite paying for dental insurance in the US, I’ve continued my medical tourism adventures and this time my Partner joined me. We both had lovely and affordable dental cleanings during our time in México and I now know great dentists I would love to visit again in La Paz and México City. Honestly the next time I need something done, I might just fly down here – it’s a much nicer experience.
It will never cease to amaze me that health care is so cheap and easy in every other country and somehow America still can’t sort it out.
It’s just bonus incompetence that the American dentist dropped the ball on your appointment and then told you they couldn’t take you even if you paid out of pocket! Would you have paid cash if you could have?
Cheaper, easier AND has better outcomes. Madness. Yeah I would have paid cash since I was already there and instead wasted two hours driving for no reason. So dumb. Our country really needs to change this for-profit healthcare idiocy.
I SO appreciate these medical tourism reviews! Medical tourism is something that makes me hesitate just bc it’s so unknown, but your reviews are honest and thorough and makes it all seem so do-able! Thanks 😊
(Sorry if this comment posts twice, the website was being weird at me when I hit the button the first time 🤷♀️)
I’m so glad you appreciate them! I found similar reviews other people wrote helpful before I started trying it so I’m happy to hear I’m paying it forward.
And what was the website doing? If you let me know what weirdness was happening I can look into it and hopefully fix it 🙂 .
Sooo I think it was my phone not the website 🙃 you can disregard haha sorry – i only mentioned it in case my button mashing made the comment appear four times or something lol. But looks like it all turned out fine!
Ok – no worries! And yeah I only saw your comment come through once.
What a view for a cleaning!! Also how many cleanings do you try to get per year this way and do you just skip cleanings in the states entirely? Plans here should include 2/year.
Yeah it was lovely 🙂 . I get a cleaning 2x a year and none have been doing it outside the US since retirement because of fiascos like the one I mentioned at the beginning of this post. My current US insurance does include cleanings 2x a year…if I can get one lol.