Dentist in Costa Rica

Best option for dental cosmetics in Costa Rica
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Hello
I recently had a trip to Costa Rica and as per recommendation of a frien visited the clinic of Dr Seas http://www.dentistrycliniccostarica.com/ . It was a great experience. She was very nice with my wife and I and made us feel very relaxed and confortable. We will probably will return with our children to have their theet done soon.
I certanly can recommend them.

www.dentalcosmeticscr.com your best opcion in costa rica, dental and surgery treatments.

Any feedback about DentalVac Clinic in Escazu would be appreciated.

Any feedback about Dentavac Clinic in Escazu would be appreciated.

Any feedback about Cosmetic Dental Care located near Panasonic would be appreciated also. Seeing my last post about Dentavac Clinic in Escazu and this one, I have to make a decision between the two.

If you are in Escazu you should contact Dr. Anglada/ He has an office there and in San Jose.
Highly recommended from my experience with him.
Jane

dental cosmetics wrote:

www.dentalcosmeticscr.com your best opcion in costa rica, dental and surgery treatments.

Beware of that ad, and refer to my post regarding the dental clinic advertizing on this forum :http://www.topix.com/forum/wo rld/costa-rica/THGCO47LHH1FS7D R7/post240

In between, I flew to Paris, France. OK, it is more expensive, but the technology and professionalism is well worth the results.
I had a full lower restoration performed in under 3 hours. When I came out of the surgery room, I was smiling with all my teeth, with 5 implants and temporary crowns already in place > see Nobel Guide Implant surgery for info. Simply amazing. I am going back for the upper teeth in 3 months. It takes a thorough, painless preparation, so everything is prepared externally in advance in 3D. The surgery is extremely precise, the implants are inserted exactly where they should be, not one half millimeter further. The result has been life changing for me...No need to insist on what the two pro surgeons who took care of me thought of the job done in CR by the clinic advertising here above...

I'm refering to http://www.dentistrycliniccostarica.com/ which does not come up when you search dental care/cosmetic care. Someone on this blog said good things about them and I am considering them. Anyone else have any experience.

There are certainly ads interspersed in here!

I appreciate all the great advice and recommendations here in these postings. I returned last week from Costa Rica and I had two crowns, two large fillings replaced, and 11 veneers with Dr. Gadea-Ramirez in the San Pedro area of San Jose. He is actually a teacher at the University in Costa Rica, and his dental work was highly professional and well-done. He is on the young side, but at least mid-thirties I would say, and a hard worker; I know I never had a dentist in the USA working on me the entire time; they usually give the drill over to an assistant the first chance they get in the states! Not Dr. Gadea! My overbite was even nicely lessened quite a bit by the veneers and at first I was scared thinking what have I done I am an adventurer but this is really taking it too far! I know for sure the work I had done was of superior quality to probably any dental work I have had done in the states. The taxi driver he used to drive me back and forth to my appointments is one of his dental students; how cool is that? A great hotel we stayed in is the Hotel Luisiana which is a small modern hotel about $80 USD a night in Santa Ana which is actually closer to the modern hospital CIMA where dr Mora practices. There is an english-riding horse stable with grounds about a mile up the street and I took my son for a lesson on our last day even! Dr. Gadea-Ramirez was able to finish all the work in only four days/2 appointments (ask about this if you are pressed for time because some of the places will make you wait about 10 days like Pismo...by the way, I did look into them (pismo) but they were rude on the phone when I called and did not act interested in my business at all so it all worked out for the best since I see quite a few negative posts for them reading through all the notes. Now I think I will see Dr. Anglada for implants ...I need three with bone grafting as well... I see so many favorable reviews. Thank you everyone for keeping the discussion and recommendations going.

Sue wrote:

Does anyone know anything about Dentavac Costa Rica? My husband is thinking about having an implant done there. Thanks in advance

sue... how was your experience with dentavac? thanks!

If anyone is in need of implants and/or crowns go to www.aestheticdentistrycr.com After having 5 implants, 7 crowns and substantial bone graft done by Dr. Marco Munos Cavallini I recommend his clinic. Dr. Marco Munoz Cavallini Sr. is hands down the best dentist I have met in my 64 years of life in 3 different countries.

I do wish it would be possible for him to teach all the dentists to be as gentle and caring as he is. I went through a full evaluation and cost estimates in University of Florida St. Petersburg Dental Clinic prior to contacting him. They take pride of offering their services at about 70% of regular dental service costs in the USA. Same work Dr. Marco did for $5250.00 would have cost me $29,097.00 in the University of Florida St. Petersburg Dental Clinic. Including the cost of two trips to Costa Rica this amounts to 77% savings together with superior quality and best dental experience I would have imagined possible.

There are many reasons why health care in US is 5+ times more expensive than in other countries. Most can be traced back to inappropriate regulatory environment. Unfortunately, it is bound to get much worse with "reforms" and "change" currently pushed through in Washington. The only way for our insurance companies to lower premiums in this environment is to find service providers elsewhere in the world. I do hope (this is real, not the president's empty rhetoric) that our insurance companies will find Dr. Marco's clinic in Costa Rica for other Americans to be able to experience same the excellent dental care I got for substantially lower cost.

I've heard that American dentists pay a substantial amount in insurance $$$ for malpractice charges and in order for them to maintain their professional license--another reason why the high dental costs in the US are spread out to the consumers; however, I do think that the strict regulations in place are appropriate. It's called consumer protection, although we all have to bear the brunt in extreme dental care costs with this system. I'd rather have the US system anytime, and I wish it were the same in CR. Although relatively inexpensive dental care exists in CR and in other countries throughout the world (e.g., Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, India, eastern Europe, etc.), there are sadly no regulations in place to protect consumers from the abuses & malpractice of dental practitioners.

BTW, insurance companies are only interested in the bottom line at the end of the day, and could care less about the needs of everyday US citizens. This is why we need this public insurance option to spur the competition, thereby decreasing insurance costs for affordability reasons, so that everyone can be guaranteed health care because this is a basic human right!

Wish everyone here much luck!

Greetings patients or potential patients:
I started my quest for dental work in Costa Rica in June 2009 and visted Dr. Marcos and Dr. Cavallini in November 09 for three (3) implants, wisdom tooth repair, silver fillings replaced and a good cleaning. The quality of care was super and the price was more than fair as the doctors gave me quite a break on price as I kept adding procedures. My wife accompanied me with no plan to have work done but wound up having the best cleaning she has ever had, a cavity repaired and had her teeth whitened. She was one happy camper. My quotes for the 3 implants alone in the US was over $15,000 and I got all this work done for less than $3,000. And, we worked in a couple of tours to the local volcanoes, coffee plantation and beautiful gardens. I will not hesitate to return for additional work if the need arises. Thanks to Dr. Marcos and Dr. Cavallini.

I understand that this posting is mostly about medical tourism or that of people travelling to Costa Rica to have procedures performed.

However, there are many of us who live in Costa Rica and need quality dental care at a price that does not take into account your Passport's origin country.

I am writing this to warn other readers that in Jaco Costa Rica Premier Dental which has been around for the last 5 years is a "gringo trap." I tag any business that offers two prices a higher price for gringos and a lower price for the locals or ticos. This is something that is happening all over the country and most of the time you just have to live with it.

However, Premier Dental in Jaco Costa Rica which is owned by dentists Aura Nunez Gutierrez and Selena Cubero, are thieves disguised as Dentists. My wife had to have to wisdom teeth extracted, so while we were at the clinic having our son seen by a professional pediodontist from Escazu I said to her why don't you have the doctor take the teeth out. I asked the doctor how much it would cost but he said he did not know. My wife went in, had 3 wisdom planned to remove but stopped after two because she was in so much pain and the doctor had scared her by giving her over 7 shots or ampules of pain medication.

We were checking out and the office worker showed me the calculator which said to my eyes, 30K colones which is normal to me. After all, I had a wisdom extracted the previous month for 11K. I proceeded to use cash and she waited for me. I said anything else? She showed me the calculator again and I said I gave it to you, she said it was 300K colones. I said "What?" how can it be that much money? With an office filled with people and my wife being a tica is easily embarrassed by my gringo ways, I pulled out my debit card and paid the bill, vowing to discuss this with Aura.

<<Premier Dental in Jaco to be continued in another post, I do not want to make a super long post>>

<<Continued from previous post Premier Dental in Jaco Costa Rica>>

After, talking to many people in Jaco about our experience, we found that we were not alone and that many expats in Jaco have learned by experience that Premier dental charges two prices for its patients and the higher gringo price is outrageously high. Most that we talked to have started to use Vitaldent which is located in the iL Galeone building and Dr. Chaves who is located next to Ipai language school. Everyone said these dentists are great and they do not charge two prices or charge more money just because you are a gringo.

Many people said it would not cost $550 in the states to have two wisdom extracted but she is charging that here in Jaco. Not only was Premier dental charging higher prices for expats, they were prolonging visits so they could collect more money for office visits according to a neighbor I spoke with. After all of the visits to Aura at Premier Dental and with $450 USD in expenses they still were not able to find the source of his problem in his tooth. Another neighbor chimed in and said her cousin went there and had a tooth extracted and instead of removing the tooth they cracked the entire bone out on the upper wisdom. I work in tourism so when I learned that a guest was a dentist from Ohio, I asked him how much he would charge for wisdom, he said without complications $75 per tooth, if it needed a surgeon, it would cost $150 per tooth. When I told him how much I paid, he said "Wow, with those prices I could move my practice here and make more money that I would in the states"

Where was my head when I suggested to my wife to have this extraction done? I guess seeing such a nice and gentle professional working with my son, I felt that the clinic must be good. Little did I know that the pediodontist has no association with Premier Dental but rents a room each weekend to help out his patients so they do not have to travel with their kids from the beach to the valley.

I am outraged and feel violated by this system in this country and that Aura charged more money just because of my birth origin is to me even worse. I talked to her on the phone and all she said was that is this price and I said, "Aura you show me 1 tico that would pay that price to have two teeth extracted?" She would not reply.

Beware of Premier Dental in Jaco Costa Rica, they will charge you 10 times the price just for being a foreigner. Certainly, this clinic would not attract medical tourism.

If anyone has suggestions on how to get my money back, I would really appreciate it. Before anyone suggests this, I will announce it myself, "I was an idiot to pay the bill and should have waited when the office was not crowded"

@Jaco Snowbird

I need a good dentist for my son. Can you give me the name of the dentist that worked on your son. I would appreciate this very much.

Also, sorry to hear about your experience with Premier Dental. I can say, when I lived in Jaco and asked around for a dentist to fill a cavity, I was given the same suggestions you were told but interestingly I was told not to go to Premier Dental and now I am glad I did not. I asked the person why not Premier, he said if you want a pretty dentist go there if you want a professional dentist go elsewhere.

Cheers

Annie from Weymouth, MA

I'm originally from Hingham, MA, now living in Calif., so we're like 'old neighbors'. My brother and I visited Costa Rica for dental work in September/'09 and I've posted information on our experience with Dr. Anglada,#268. He's great for implants.

If you have questions, you can post me on this site, however, I only check it maybe once or twice a month. As you probably noticed, there are many posts from dentists in Costa Rica claiming to be patients; the dead give-away is their 'lack' of the command of English as well as the verbage we commonly use in the states.

Best of luck.

Barbara

To me, the successive posts #286,#287 & #288 appear to come from one individual who has a personal vendetta against the above noted dental provider. It seems a suspicious case of invalidating one dentist to validate another one. This is not good enough folks!

If you have any significant comments (good or bad) about a dentist in CR, then this is what I'd suggest so your comments can benefit the community of prospective dental patients that this forum primarily serves:

*Write concisely about your experience with dentistry in CR (e.g., procedures, services, etc.) & state factual information

*State clearly why you would recommend OR not recommend a CR dentist

*Do not make this a forum for your personal vendetta against a dentist

*Do not sell or promote the services of a dentist especially if you got the dental services for free or for a heavily discounted rate.

*Do not make any false claims that you are/were a patient when you are clearly not.

*Do not besmirch someone's reputation especially if you are a dental staff member of a competition in the area.

*Do not falsely claim that you are a prospective patient trying to get some feedback of a CR dentist who you work for.

By the way, your CR locations are suspect & have given you away.

Best of luck to the real prospective dental patients in this forum!

-Chatter1-