In June 2007, our local news channel ran a story about a young man named Rudy, who crossed the border to Juarez, Mexico to get discount dental care. It seemed he wanted his teeth capped, and his dental benefits didn't cover cosmetic dentistry. He couldn't afford the $14,000 price tag in the U.S. to get it done.



When the story began, I thought, "Why in the world would someone cross the border to another country to get ?cosmetic' dental work done? Is he crazy or just really, really desperate?" Then I looked up at the screen to see a "before" picture of Rudy. His teeth (if they could be called that) were so tiny and broken and crooked and discolored they looked like they belonged to a vicious little Chihuahua rather than to this nice young man named Rudy. The Rudy who was now smiling back at me with a full set of nicely capped, white teeth, didn't look like he regretted his decision at all. He paid $3000 for a mouthful of neatly sculpted caps-a fraction of what the dentist wanted in the U.S.

The news reporter on the story interviewed an American dentist to get a professional opinion about Rudy and others who cross into Mexico to get discount dental care, and it was this. ?There are risks when you go to another country, whose standards are not as high as ours, to get discount dental care,' she said. ?When you go outside of the US in search of cheap dental work, you're likely to get what you pay for.' But she offered no viable choice for Rudy to get quality care inside the U.S.

I wondered why neither of them had ever heard of Consumer-Driven Discount Dental Plans. CDD dental plans just make good sense. They offer dental care without restrictions at an affordable price, with the same quality care as the $14K dentist, and they are backed by the American Dental Association, as well. With an average discount dental program, Rudy's total payment would have been 56% below his dentist's standard rates-and without the added cost of airfare, hotel stay, car, bus or taxi service, and other travel expenses. Without dealing with passports or birth certificates (or whatever legal documents are tendered on your way to Juarez). No missed work. And, should there be a problem with Rudy's dental work under the a US Consumer-Driven discount dental program, Rudy simply drives up the street to get the problem fixed rather than having to book a flight and deal with all the aforementioned details needed for travel to Mexico.

For Rudy, the story appears to have had a happy ending. His teeth look 100 percent better than before his trip to Juarez. But the warnings from the American dentist in his story are partly true. You do need to think carefully when you go to another country for discount dental work. The question of whether the dentists in Juarez (or anywhere outside the US) are as skilled as those inside the US is perhaps a question for another news reporter. But the cost in time, money, risk and convenience is much too high for me.

Good luck, Rudy. I wish you the best.