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 Health & Beauty | February 2007 
Patients Flock To Mexican Medical Mecca
 nbcsandiego.com
| | This town of about 14,000 people is located near the four corners of Arizona, California, Sonora and Baja California. |
Each day thousands of Americans, mostly retirees, are crossing into a small Mexican town just outside Yuma, Arizona. And they are saving big money by going to Mexico. NBC reporter Chuck Henry investigated what is drawing so many to the medical mecca.
The following is a verbatim script from the on-air report:
HENRY: They come from all over the United States. An annual pilgrimage to the middle of no where. Their destination? Los Algodones, Mexico.
And it's a place many people consider the best kept secret in the South West.
Shelly Shelton travels here several times of year from her home in Orange County.
SHELLY SHELTON: I don't want a lot of people to know about this place. It's like my secret hideaway that I come to.
HENRY: But word about her secret oasis is slowly getting out.
Each day thousands of Americans flock to Los Algodones, Mexico, a border town near Yuma Arizona.
While in many Mexican towns, tourists bring smiles in Los Algodones, it's smiles that bring tourists.
HENRY (TALKING TO PERSON CROSSING THE BORDER): Why are you crossing the border?
JERRY SWINNEY/WASHINGTON STATE: I'm going to get some dental work done.
HENRY: In this town of roughly 14,000 people there are dental offices everywhere you look.
More than 350 dentists work here and 90 percent of their business comes from north of the border.
Dr. Gabriella Bastidas is one of those dentists profiting from this cross border dental boom.
HENRY: Why do Americans come to this small town to get their dental work done?
BASTIDAS: First of all because the price here in Algodones . It's cheaper than in the US.
HENRY: Compared to the U.S. prices here are rock bottom
To get your teeth cleaned in Mexico, it'll cost you around $30.
In the U.S. it could run you upwards of $200.
Fillings are $30 in Mexico and in the U.S. $100.
A root canal is $100 Mexico and in the U.S. it's up to $2,000.
Dentists keep their prices low because it's a cash only business. They do not accept insurance or credit cards.
The dentists have years of school and training, just like American dentists. And their offices are equipped with the latest dental technology.
So is the quality compared to a dentists across the border in the U.S. any difference?
BASTIDAS: No. No difference Just the price.
DR. IRVING LEBOVICS, PRES. OF LA DENTAL SOCIETY: You don't always know what regulations they are following. What standards they are following. If there are standards that are being followed.
HENRY: Dr. Irving Lebovics, president of the Los Angeles Dental Society, says Dentists in the U.S. are regulated and have malpractice insurance and that protects patients.
And he says when you seek medical care outside the U.S. You are rolling the dice.
LEBOVICS: When you cross the border, when you go to other countries a lot of those types of issues don't exist. And that potentially could be a problem when something goes wrong and it's sort of buyer beware.
HENRY: But that doesn't bother David Ryan who came here from Minnesota looking for a bargain.
DAVID RYAN/MINNESOTA: My wife and I came down here to get our teeth cleaned. On top of that two crowns and I saved about somewhere between $1,300 to $1,400.
HENRY: But what did you sacrifice?
RYAN: I didn't sacrifice one thing. It was actually a very pleasant experience.
HENRY: But the experience isn't always that pleasant.
With an influx of tourists crossing the border comes those trying to cash in.
They are called hustlers who stand around at the border and take unsuspecting visitors as they come across to specific dental offices. Some of the dentists see it as a growing problem of what would otherwise be a dental mecca.
These hustlers pounce on Americans as they walk into Mexico.
MEXICO DIGITAL CAMERA SHOWS A MAN BY THE NAME OF JOSE ASKING A MAN: You work for the dentist? The guy answers yes.
HENRY: They then take them to certain dental offices and strong arm the dentists into giving them a percentage of their profits.
BASTIDAS: Why do I have to pay a guy to bring me patients? At 20 percent of my personal work? Why? Why?
HENRY: Another obstacle in getting dental work done in Algodones is the wait at the border. During the winter so many people go there, it can take up to two to four hours to cross back into Arizona. |
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