Every week, we receive hundreds of emails from patients seeking affordable dental care. They often ask about which country is the cheapest.
Anytime a patient starts by asking which destination offers the lowest priced care, I get nervous. I would never refer my family or friends to the lowest priced dentist, without first verifying the quality of the care. Over the years, we have built a global network of some of the best dental providers in the world. We’ve had a chance to compare quality and pricing to help our patients make the best decision.
Recently, a patient from Florida contacted us with dental estimates from Cartagena Colombia and the popular Bangkok International Dental Center (BIDC) in Bangkok Thailand. We reviewed the estimates with our team of dentists, dental surgeons and lab technicians and were able to provide the patient with a competitive quote. Spoiler Alert: Costa Rica remains the best destination for high quality, low cost, high value dental care.
Please see the comparisons below:
Patient Case:
- Six Dental Implants: Titanium Straumann or Nobel Biocare (Teeth #13,14,16,25,36,37)
- Two Dental Implants: (Supporting a 3-unit bridge for teeth #45-x-47)
- Bone Grafts (Teeth #16,26)
- Temporary Crowns (Teeth #17,15,12-24,26,35-44) (While waiting for the implants to heal and integrate to the jaw bone)
- Final Crowns (Teeth #17,15,12-24,26,35-44) Final Stage Crowns
The cost for this care quoted from the Bangkok International Dental Center in Bangkok was $28,750-35,600 USD.
The same care from a leading clinic in Cartagena, Colombia was $31,650 USD
In an “apples to apples” comparison, using leading dental implant brands and top quality crowns, three leading dental clinics in Costa Rica provided similar quotes for approximately $22,290 USD.
When you add in lower costs for air travel (flights to Costa Rica are much less expensive than flights to Colombia and Thailand), the patient would save nearly 35% by choosing Costa Rica over Thailand or Colombia.
Treatment Time:
In Thailand, the length of time complete crowns is at least 7 days requiring about 2 to 3 visits; each visit is 2 to 3 days apart. The full mouth treatment would require patients to be in Thailand for 12 to 14 days and most dental labs are closed over the weekends. The patient would need to return to Thailand in 4-6 months to complete the treatment, adding tremendous amounts of additional expense to the treatment.
In Costa Rica, the same treatment can be completed in less than 12 days. The return visit to Costa Rica in 4-6 months is the same as Thailand…but the distance is much closer, and the travel costs are 70% less!
Specialists:
In Costa Rica and Thailand, the specialists are high quality, recognized dental implantologists. We were unable to ascertain the quality of the dental specialist at the Cartagena Colombia clinic. All specialists had extensive experience with major implant cases for international patients including full mouth rehabilitations and bone grafting cases. In Costa Rica and Thailand, most dental specialists speak English. In Colombia, few dentists and doctors speak English. This is a concern for patients that require English-language communications.
Costa Rica remains the best choice for patients seeking the best prices for high-quality, affordable dental implants from English-speaking dentists.
If you would like to receive competitive quotes from the leading dental clinics in Costa Rica, please fill out the form on this page to begin the conversation with one of our dental specialists.