Burkhard Bilger reports for The New Yorker that each morning, more than 1,000 Americans walk, bike or drive, passport in hand, across the US border to Mexico in order to get the dental care they need. Seeking affordable dental care, Los Algodones is their destination.
Los Algodones sits directly across from border control in Mexico, so it’s easy to make a day trip. More than one million Americans make that trip each year. Today, there are more than 1,000 dentists in Los Algodones, the highest per capita number of dentists in any city in the world. No wonder it’s nickname is Molar City.
Americans, mostly retirees, visit Molar City for everything from having cavities filled to getting root canals or a new set of teeth. One man explained that his new set of teeth was costing him $17,000 in Los Algodones. In the states, it generally costs more than $70,000.
More than 70 million Americans lack dental insurance. And, even when they have it, dental insurance usually only covers the bare minimum–teeth cleaning and cavity filling. Medicare does not cover dental care. Some Medicare Advantage plans claim to offer dental benefits, but these benefits tend to be extremely limited. It’s no wonder, Americans flock to Los Algodones.
Dental care in Molar City often comes with free accommodations. If you visit Molar City for a procedure that costs $1,000 or more, la Hacienda, a big villa just outside of town, will offer you a free night’s stay. If the procedure costs more than $2,000, you can stay two nights free.
Molar City also offers low-cost prescription drugs, inexpensive massages, dermatologists and hair transplant specialists. And, it offers stem-cell transfusions to treat Parkinson’s symptoms.
Burkhard Bilger could have benefited from 28 crowns and one implant, according to the dentist he visited in Los Alogodones and the dentist to the stars he visited in Beverly Hills. In Los Algodones, at Sani Dental, the cost was $14,000. In Beverly Hills, the cost was $119,000.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- How to get free or low-cost dental care
- Free and low-cost ways to address hearing loss
- Protect your eyesight: Free and low-cost vision care
- 2025: Programs that lower your costs if you have Medicare
- Extra benefits in Medicare Advantage: Truth or Fiction?
