On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 01:23:47 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:

I doubt it. Comprehensive treatment (ie--the expensive stuff like full
mouth rehabilitation and dental implants) can't be completed in a day. It
requires dozens of trips to the dentist...in a period sometimes spanning
anywhere from 6 months to a year or more. The cost of travel and lodging,
and the inconvenience of multiple trips, takes away any comparative
advantage the foreign countries might offer.

Maybe you underestimate the resourcefulness of the competition.
What's to stop other's from stationing cruise ship type vessels
offshore to provide medical services?

Plus, who are you going to see for emergency care when the 14-unitb
roundhouse bridge you just had placed in Costa Rica fractures the weekend
before your daughter's wedding?

If a large part of the bread and butter dental procedures are taken
away by foreign competitors, there would be plenty of starving
(ex-right wing) dentists willing to take what ever work they could
get.

The non-comprehesive stuff (fillings and single crowns) can be completed in
a day or week...but who's going to travel to Costa Rica for treatment just
to save $500-600 dollars?

I just had a gold crown done. If I could have combined that with a
couple of weekend trips to Costa Rica and ended up breaking even, I'd
have though about it.

You may completely discount the possibility, but it could happen.
When people in less developed countries are trying to provide just the
basics for their families, the excess surrounding US medical and
dental providers have to look like a very tempting target.

bb