Archive for the Dental News category
Folks from the U.S. and elsewhere who have come to Prisma for dental work and care are always struck by the friendly atmosphere and the flexibility of the dentists and the staff, even on the busiest of days. Drs. Telma and Josef know that their patients are juggling their own schedules and home lives and do everything they can to accommodate that, including fitting in walk-ins.
But patients who need major work — dental implants, oral surgery, crowns, veneers, etc. — generally must schedule their appointments a month in advance. Prisma’s overseas patient coordinator, Tiffany, who does an incredible job of handling patient e-mail and phone calls and also helping with accommodations and travel, advises that April is just about booked up for major dental work.
“I have great May and June dates still, but April is just too tight,” she said today. “Some things can’t be rushed, and great dental work is one of those things.” Read the rest of this entry »
The media in the U.K. recently has been full of stories about the inadequacy of dental care under the National Health System there, as we pointed out on Feb. 28 here. Today, there’s a report about waiting lists from The Scotsman.
“WHEN Caroline Dollemore-Hunt urgently needed a dentist to treat a painful problem with her teeth, she thought the NHS would provide one.
But after being told she is 6,836th on the waiting list merely to be registered with an NHS dentist, she has become resigned to her teeth crumbling and falling out before she can get help …”
Read the rest of this entry »
The Sun-News of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has an article today about people traveling abroad for medical care. The paper notes that:
“But with hefty medical costs in the United States, more Grand Strand residents and others across the country are taking advantage of cost-saving health care opportunities abroad.”
… and goes on to give an example of a patient who went to Costa Rica and saved approximately $30,000 on dental implants. Dental care abroad tends to cost roughly 60 to 80 percent less than care in the U.S., said David Boucher, S.C. Blue Cross Blue Shield senior vice president for health care services. Prisma Dental is in partnership with Companion Global Healthcare, a subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield South Carolina (as this blog has previously noted.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Among the compelling reasons that patients come to us in Costa Rica for dental crowns and prostheses is that we run our own dental lab, which means we control the quality. We make our own crowns and bridges right at Prisma.
Not many dentists have that kind of control. A report in The Columbus Dispatch of Ohio today (link to story) that also aired on TV station WBNS (link to video) said that dangerous levels of lead has been found in dental crowns coming from a lab in China, “the source of a growing number of dental implants used by U.S. dentists.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Daily Express of London, in an article today, is reporting, well, just what the subject line says, in big capital letters.
11 MILLION CAN’T AFFORD DENTIST
By Victoria Fletcher, Health Editor
MORE than 11 million British adults have not seen a dentist in the last two years – because even a check-up is too expensive.
And more than half the adult population now have teeth missing.
Almost eight million patients admit they have not had recommended dental work in the last five years because of the cost.
See the full story here.)
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Editor’s Note: This is a story with which we are all too familiar. Prisma Dental sees many patients annually from the U.K. It is not a difficult flight from London airports, and U.K. patients are delighted by the climate and the Costa Rican culture as well. We offer implants, crowns and veneers and have tremendous experience with affordable whole mouth reconstruction.
