Dental Tourism Getting Oriented on Costa Rica

Costa Rica is already known for its medical tourism and now it has become a destination for dental tourism as well. Dental patients from all over Europe and North America go to the country to receive services such as general dentistry, implants, cosmetic procedures, oral surgery, and more. According to a research made by the Department of Geography at the University of Kansas, the most common procedures sought by health tourists in Costa Rica are dental implants and dentistry.

It was in the 1970s when Peace Corps volunteers and backpackers discovered Costa Rica’s quality dental care. A person suffering from acute toothache while traveling is a very unpleasant experience. It may be due to the change in altitude and air pressure or more serious health conditions such as infection or abscess that are required to be treated right away.

After they received quality dental care in Costa Rica, the early dental tourists have asked for other work to be done. This spread through word of mouth, which is amazing considering there were no social networks during that time. The low costs appealed to more people and soon people get their dental cleaning done in Costa Rica while they are on vacation.

The first dental tourists also found out that Costa Rica dentists knew more than one language and have studied or practiced overseas before deciding to practice in their country. This remained the norm even at present.

Costa Rica has become the top dental tourism destination the Americas because the prices for services are a fraction of what they cost in the United States. Patients have nothing but positive comments about the quality of care before and after their surgery. This was also true with Costa Rica’s health care industry. Doctors spend more time with their patients than American doctors.

Photo by Golbez. [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 undefined CC-BY-2.5], undefined