Where have all the dentist's gone?
In Florida it would cost me $620 (so, approx £500), to pull a tooth and pack the empty joint with 'animal bone', a kind of prep for when you're ready for an implant, or so I've been told by many dental preppers. The dental practises in Florida are weird, nothing at all like ones the UK. After checking in at reception, I found myself in a room that quickly filled with uniformed personnel, like vultures, flocking all around me,
Looking back, I think it was the dental equivalent of a car wash, you could pick from the 'options' on the sheet; bronze, silver, gold, embossed gold (made the last one up ..). After being sent through by the receptionist, I was met by a 'meet and greet' person, who took me to the chair, the third assisted with the CT scan, the fourth was the dentist, who insisted on being called Dr, and not by his name (all dentists are immune to first name requests, ever noticed that?).
I was then quoted a whopping $2,800 (£2,150) to pull out the tooth, pack the bone and stabilise the socket, then have the post inserted into the jaw, and finally the replacement tooth. This was offered as a no interest $136 a month for two years deal. I wasn't too sure, I paid off the visit fee of $122 and quickly departed.
The odd part was that the difference between an implant and a bridge piece was only $100. L&R 6 are your main 'chomping' down molars, so I am definitely getting them 'welded in' when the time arises.
The real surprise? Well, as amazingly well-valued price-wise as the UK dentists are, they are about £700 per tooth implant more than in the USA. I think that is because the infrastructure and market competition for this kind of work has dropped the price somewhat in USA, you also have to shop around for great dental plans and I think that's why general dental work in the USA is so expensive (as I have found out much to my horror).
The tip with US dental plans is to use them only for the ct and x-rays. If you're a Brit you can get a walk-in appointment for ct scan and x-rays for $95, but you have to shop around and it depends on what state you're in (no tax in Florida).
Costa Rica is cheap
for implants, but Mexico, Poland and Hungary too.