the boomer live

  In 2008 a group of Vicki’s friends decided to get face lifts, but did they go to a local surgeon oh no, that would be to easy!   They instead took a “facelift vacation” to Peru.   Naturally they did their research and decided on a doctor that some other local friends had used previously.   The outcome was some happy ladies, who enjoyed a vacation in Peru, had their facelifts and saved a considerable amount of money.

Why am I telling you this?

Vicki needs 4 crowns on her front teeth, and I need 2 crowns.  So after some thought and doing quite a lot of  research we decided to put together a dental vacation!   We have selected a dentist in Merida, Mexico to do our crowns. 

We will be taking a 9 day vacation in Merida.   The actual dental part of the vacation will be two mornings.  The dentist needs 4-5 days between the first appointment and the final appointment to get the crowns made.  We allowed a couple of extra days just incase the bite needs correcting.

Will we save a some money?  A little.  Our out of pocket cost with our local dentist would be $3375 after insurance.   Our out of pocket cost with the dentist we have selected in Merida, $900!  That’s a saving of $2450,  less the expected total cost of  the vacation (hotel, airfare and spending) $2000,  puts us ahead by about $450 plus we get a vacation!

Why Merida? Where is Merida?  Merida is the capital city of the Yucatan and has a population of about 800,000.  It also has a large expat community.  People travel to Merida from all over the World , but especially from Central America to get dental and medical services.   Merida also has one of the most prestigious medical schools  in Mexico (UADY).  Proximity to American cities like Houston allow local doctors to cross train and practice in both countries making Mérida one of the best cities in Mexico in terms of health services availability.

We will write follow  up posts detailing our experience!