International Perspectives on Dentistry

[Dr.BadVibes]

Throughout my travels I have discovered two interesting things about dentistry I would like to share with you all:

1. Apparently in Costa Rica, dental work is very very cheap when compared to the US. So Ive been told that in the US, there exists actual "dental vacations" where people buy travel packages to Costa Rica based on their need for dental care.....Anyone else heard of this? I know such a thing exists for plastic surgery, but never heard of anything dental related.

2. Aside from the US and Canada, dentistry is really not considered a prestigous career and really lags behind our medical counterparts I have found both in Latin America and Europe. I dont understand why this is the case. I know that in these countries, students enter dentistry right after high school, but its the same for medicine, right? And dentistry is basically a medical specialty....so I am always curious to understand why dentists are basically considered of a lower class outside North America?

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[aah_289]

Throughout my travels I have discovered two interesting things I would like to share with you all:

1. Apparently in Costa Rica, dental work is very very cheap when compared to the US. So Ive been told that in the US, there exists actual "dental vacations" where people buy travel packages to Costa Rica based on their need for dental care.....Anyone else heard of this? I know such a thing exists for plastic surgery, but never heard of anything dental related.

2. Aside from the US and Canada, dentistry is really not considered a prestigous career and really lags behind our medical counterparts I have found both in Latin America and Europe. I dont understand why this is the case. I know that in these countries, students enter dentistry right after high school, but its the same for medicine, right? And dentistry is basically a medical specialty....so I am always curious to understand why dentists are basically considered of a lower class outside North America?

I can see how #1 makes sense. Although I hadn't heard of "dental vacations" before, a dentist's time and effort in the U.S. is really expensive. I do wonder about the quality of care in these package deals though. Wonder where these people graduated from.

From my experience, I totally agree with #2. Coming from a South Asian background, people always overlook dentistry and all the talk is about medicine. Works for me though; as long as the supply of dentists is relatively small, we can continue to enjoy our high salaries and fewer hours.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

I can see how #1 makes sense. Although I hadn't heard of "dental vacations" before, a dentist's time and effort in the U.S. is really expensive. I do wonder about the quality of care in these package deals though. Wonder where these people graduated from.

Ok, but Im not $hitting you when I say this....but the two dentists around where I live at my hotel, one was from Columbia and one was from NYU....no jokes..

Whats with me and having all these NYC experiences?

 

[Mithridates]

I'm sure I'm not the first one to mention this; but I'm pretty sure that dentistry is a specialty of medicine in poland. People first get their MD, and then go to study dentistry. So, maybe not all european countries have little respect for dentists. Overall, dentistry isn't that prestigious of a career. And I think the respect that it gets is respect for how much money dentists generally make in Canada/US (more than doctors in a lot of instances)!

 

[aah_289]

Ok, but Im not $hitting you when I say this....but the two dentists around where I live at my hotel, one was from Columbia and one was from NYU....no jokes..

Whats with me and having all these NYC experiences?

I'm not doubting you but it seems odd for these dentists to eek out a living in Costa Rica after spending so much money on their education. Maybe they are trying to run away from the U.S. banks they owe money to.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

I'm not doubting you but it seems odd for these dentists to eek out a living in Costa Rica after spending so much money on their education. Maybe they are trying to run away from the U.S. banks they owe money to.

I had the exact same thoughts and was tempted in walking into the office and asking them, but thought it would disrespectful for an idiot kid to come out of nowhere and ask how the hell they can afford to practice in Costa Rica...