Dentally challenged: Americans are flocking into Mexico to get their teeth fixed

Mark Bolzern traveled 5,900km to go to the dentist. The 56-year-old Anchorage, Alaska, native left home this spring, made a pit stop in Las Vegas to pick up a friend, and kept driving south, all the way to Los Algodones, Mexico, a small border town teeming with dental offices.

About 60 per cent of Americans have dental insurance coverage, the highest it has been in decades. But even so, the nation’s older population has been largely left behind. Nearly 70 per cent of seniors are not insured, according to a study compiled by Oral Health America.

A major reason is because dental care is not covered by Medicare and many employers no longer offer post-retirement health benefits. What’s more, the Affordable Care Act allows enrollees to get dental coverage only if they purchase general health coverage first, which many seniors don’t need. At the same time, seniors often require the most costly dental work, like crowns, implants and false teeth.

As a result, many are seeking cheaper care in places like Los Algodones, where Mexican dentists who speak English and sometimes accept US insurance offer rock-bottom prices for everything from a cleaning to implants. Dentists in Los Algodones say a large portion of their clients are seniors.

In the desert outpost near the border of California and Arizona, men in white shirts stand outside of offices with signs advertising root canals and teeth cleanings. Other signs advertise prescription drugs like muscle relaxers at low rates — no prescription needed.

For Bolzern, seeing a dentist in Los Algodones meant huge savings - up to US$62,000. He was told the extensive dental work he needed — his teeth needed to be raised and he needed a crown on every molar — would cost US$65,000 at a private dentist. He looked for lower rates, finding a dental school where the work was less expensive because it was performed by students. But it still cost US$35,000.