According to a recent report from CBS News, part of its “Other America” series, more than one hundred million Americans do not have dental insurance. The lack of coverage is leading to problems such as school absence, unemployment and even death.
Prisma Dental has worked with North American patients for two decades, providing top quality dental prices that people can afford. If you need major dental care, we urge you not to put it off.
(The video is direct from CBS News; There’s a short advertising lead-in.)
Among the lost posts of this summer of 2008 have been a few worth resurrecting from the emails out of which they sprang. Here’s the before and after smile of a patient who was quite happy with his results. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
When I first considered going to Costa Rica for dental work, I had dozens of questions. I was comparing and contrasting my options; I was nervous about going outside of the United States for major dental work; and after all, I was contemplating spending what was, for me, still a lot of money (though many thousands less than the same work would have cost in the U.S.)
It was the spring of 2004, and Dr. Telma Rubinstein had answers for all of my questions. Thank goodness for e-mail, though we also spoke on the phone several times. I remember noticing that I would sometimes get e-mail from Telma at odd hours — midnight and later. When I got to Costa Rica, I found out that those late night hours were pretty much the only ones she had for corresponding with possible patients. Prisma Dental often stays open into the evening to accommodate patients; and Telma and Josef reasonably liked to have at least a few hours to have dinner with their two terrific kids … so the e-mail box waited, until the very end of the day. It was a crazy life, and I wondered how she did it.
So did Telma.
So I was glad of Prisma’s decision, in 2005, to hire an overseas patient coordinator, Tiffany Kofroth. Now it is Tiffany who handles most of the e-mail and phone calls, in consultation with Telma and Josef — freeing them to spend more time with patients (and to get a little more sleep.)
Tiffany lived in Reading until she was 21 and then moved to Houston, Texas, for three years. She’s a certified and licensed pharmacy technician in the U.S., where she worked for doctors’ offices and in hospitals. (Click on the photo to view larger size.)
“I have been at Prisma almost three years now and I love working here,” she says. She has been married “to the most wonderful husband in the world” for about three years as well. Read the rest of this entry »
The Baltimore Sun, in a story today, quotes experts as saying that dental care for seniors is a major issue — one that will only become more acute as the population ages. Many lack insurance coverage, money and specialists, the headline warns.
Many of Prisma’s patients have been older Americans in exactly the situations described by the newspaper article, coming to Costa Rica for high quality dental work they cannot afford at home.
“… About 12 years ago, Carrie Lemon started losing teeth. One by one, to curb pain, Lemon had most of her teeth extracted.
“Today, at 72, she has only six left. Eating has become a daily chore, and Lemon wants desperately to be fitted for a set of dentures. ‘I’ve just been going from one dentist to another, but all of them tell me that our medical system doesn’t cover it,” Lemon said. “I don’t have the money to get them.’ “
According to Dr. Richard H. Price, a spokesman for the American Dental Association, “Twenty-five million adults forgo dental care because they can’t afford it. A goodly amount are seniors.” Read the rest of this entry »
Companion Global Dental of Columbia, South Carolina — a company that has chosen Prisma Dental in launching its option of overseas dental care for Americans — has now affiliated with a tour company to provide “one stop access” to scenic attractions in Costa Rica.
U.S. patients who travel to Costa Rica for care now have a convenient way to see Costa Rica’s volcanoes, national parks, coffee farms, biological reserves and other breathtaking scenery while awaiting their dental appointments, according to Phil Midden, Companion Global Dental’s manager of operations. Companion Global Dental, a division of Columbia, S.C.-based Companion Global Healthcare Inc., has affiliated with Tropical Expeditions of Costa Rica to provide its clients with day or overnight tours of popular attractions. Clients may schedule tours for before or after completion of dental work, or between appointments if multiple visits are required over several days.
“At Prisma Dental, we have had a happy association with Tropical Expeditions and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” said Dr. Telma Rubinstein. “We often have patients from abroad for full mouth reconstruction, crowns and implants who spend a week or two in Costa Rica, and they want to see some of our beautiful country. Providing that there is no medical risk, we are happy to help them do so.”
Tropical Expeditions specializes in tours for medical patients. Tours, including white-water rafting, waterfall excursions, rain forest tours and more, are led by English-speaking guides certified in first aid and CPR. Read the rest of this entry »
... to Prisma Dental in San Jose, Costa Rica, where we have been privileged to deliver world-class dental care to literally thousands of patients from around the world for the past 16 years. We specialize in whole-mouth reconstruction, cosmetic and holistic general dentistry and oral surgery.
