Former Bend couple gets cheaper dental work abroad

An estimated 800,000 Americans travel abroad for dental work every year, and there’s a couple from Bend who recently did just that — and got a lot of reaction to sharing their experience online.

Former Bend resident Patti Van Kirk posted on Facebook that she and her husband moved to Mexico and saved thousands of dollars on dental work there.

Numerous people responded negatively to their post. Many were upset and worried that dental work done abroad, while it might save you a buck, could be done poorly — and could be deadly.

Despite the backlash, Van Kirk said at least two people responded, interested to hear more about her experience. She said making sure a dentist is reputable is much easier than it used to be.

“I did the research and found, through TripAdvisor, there are so many different options to research dentists, options that never used to exist,” Van Kirk said Tuesday of the estimates in the U.S.

The biggest draw for people looking to get dental work done abroad is the cost savings.

“During that time, the dental quote estimates went up, looking at the amounts, they were just not possible,” Van Kirk said.

She said her husband only paid $1,600 for the $18,000 worth of dental work that he needed.

Despite that, Eric Cadwell, a dentist at PureCare Dental in Bend, said it’s hard to be certain about dental work abroad.

“Yeah, we don’t know. That’s the biggest question mark,” Cadwell said. “I’ve certainly seen some good work being done. I’ve seen some work that’s not very good. And it’s just difficult to be able to tell. Especially as the client or the patient, it can be really difficult for you to figure that out.”

If the dental work is done incorrectly, the cost to fix it could cost you even more.

“If there is work that is done that ends up being not good quality, usually the cost to get that fixed correctly is going to be higher than if we had done it correctly the first time,” Cadwell said.

The reason dental work is so much cheaper abroad is partly due to the lower cost of living. Also, as more tourists head overseas for dental work, businesses work hard to keep their costs low and their quality high.

Mexico, Hungary and Costa Rica are considered three of the cheapest places to have dental work done.

Our KTVZ.COM Poll for Tuesday asks: Would you go to a foreign country for dental or medical procedures to save money? Find our poll halfway down the right side of our home page.