Purchasing equipment in Central America

I'll be going to Costa Rica for a week this month for "dental tourism". I"m bringing a disposable 2 L bag and hose set along as I'll be getting narcotic pain meds and don't want to wait a week to get moving again.

While I am in San Jose I will have time for some shopping and plan to check out pharmacies for equipment not in the stores in the States. Does anyone have any advise?

What is dental tourism?

I suspect that it is the dental equivalent of medical tourism. People go to some particular foreign country, often India, for a medical procedure, usually surgery, that is terribly, even prohibitively, expensive in this country, but affordable there.

hankb

I hope you are getting quality treatment, not just inexpensive treatment.

The unfortunate thing is you probably will not know while it is being done.

Dental tourism usually means implants. Going south of the border for any serious dental surgery is risky at best. The standards for education, training and licensure are very weak in many countries, as well as sanitation. Trying to save a few bucks sure can have an adverse impact on your long term health. I would consider eastern Europe before I would go to Mexico or Central America if the need to save money is so great. Even with the air fair to Europe it would be cheaper and less risky

Dental tourism usually means implants. Going south of the border for any serious dental surgery is risky at best. The standards for education, training and licensure are very weak in many countries, as well as sanitation. Trying to save a few bucks sure can have an adverse impact on your long term health. I would consider eastern Europe before I would go to Mexico or Central America if the need to save money is so great. Even with the air fair to Europe it would be cheaper and less risky

At family dinners (which turns some people off, but I like gory details and my businessman husband doesn't but he has become tolerant), my father-in-law who is a periodontist and mother-in-law who is an oral pathologist have told horror stories about badly done implants, surgeries restorative treatment outside the US.

According to my father-in-law, the best places outside the US for those procedures would be the "pay for service" practices in France, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Italy, not necessarily in any order.

NONE are likely to save you any money over similar good quality therapy in the US. As with most things, if you are willing to settle for less, bargains abound.

I did not expect such a negative reaction to dental tourism. I can assure you that I am going to a reputable clinic with American trained dentists. I have had several recommendations for this clinic and no negative comments. This clinic caters to international patients and would be written up in Europe if it were not high quality.

Susie, you can take Germany out of that list, it is, next to the US, the most expensive place to get dental care.

hankb, you are dead on correct about the prices charged by American practitioners of all sorts. They "accept" the amount that insurance companies pay in order to have a reasonable size practice but when someone comes along without insurance the price goes through the sky, not just the ceiling. The American health care system is out of whack but please, lets not get into that issue here on Zity.

I would try Eastern Europe if I had received some good references to a clinic, however you cannot expect the care to be high quality unless you have references.

Now folks, I am not interested in any more comments on "dental tourism" in Central America or anywhere else. My original post was a question of what kind of enema equipment might be available in Costa Rica. If you have something to say about that issue please say it but lets not get into a distracting side issue, especially a politically charged issue.

Anyone who wants to find out about the clinic I'll be visiting can pm me after the 20th of Sept. and I will be glad to give them my opinion of the clinic and the care I got.

Just a quick follow up on dental tourism in Costa Rica. The clinic was completely modern with 21st. century equipment and techniques. All the staff wire multilingual and very comfortable in English. (Some even tried to help me with German dental language and phrases.) I got care as good as or better than I would expect in an American clinic and all the staff expressed a sincere desire to do their best to help me and give me the best care they could.

Now, back to "E" equipment. Nothing in sight in pharmacies or groceries. I do not have the Spanish language ability to ask about such a private subject.