Our Veterans and Mexican Dentistry

Frustrations with the VA have led to a South of the Border dentistry boom 
by Rocky Stone

Under current VA Regulations a veteran can not get dental care at a VA facility unless that veteran is either 100% Service Connected, a former Prisoner of War (POW) or has sustained a dental injury, which must be noted in the veteran’s military medical records, while in service. This regulation causes thousands of veterans each year to go without needed dental care unless they have private insurance that covers their dental needs or they go to one of the many Mexican dental clinics which offer cut rate prices for dental work. 

In a recent article by Robin Emmett, published in Reuters and MSNBC News stories, Feb. 1 2008, the author speaks about the thousands of Americans who seek dental care across the border in dental clinics, many of which are located in areas of high crime created by the drug wars. These clinics are, also, noted to have poor hygiene; yet, due to the high cost of dental treatment in the U.S. many Americans forego the risk of becoming victims of crime, a disease or infection to seek dental treatment that is affordable in Mexico. Sadly, many of these Americans are retired military veterans who can not, due to regulation, receive dental care at the VA dental clinics located within the VA hospitals across the nation…

One such veteran is 62 year old Al Undiemi, a retired Sergeant First Class with 21 ½ years service in the U.S. Army. Al, a veteran of the Vietnam War, who was one of six survivors from his platoon, along with this writer, from the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Battle for Hill 875 in 1967, retired from the Army in 1988. Upon his retirement, Al was never advised by the military that he could seek medical attention from the VA. Recently, Al has been plagued with various medical problems, including a tooth ache, the inability to breathe, swallow, and properly digest his food, constant heart burn and other problems; therefore, acting upon my advice, Al sought assistance from the VA Medical Center located in Temple Texas. 

“I told the doctors what my symptoms were the first time I went to the VA”, Al states, “and the doctor told me that it might be my tooth causing my problems.” The doctor informed Al that he might go to a civilian dentist and get his tooth pulled. “I told the doctor that I could not afford to go to a civilian dentist as my only income was my military retirement and social security and that I had no insurance. The doctor told me I could go to Mexico and have my tooth pulled,” Al states.

Al once again returns to the VA after having been given antibiotics on his first trip in an attempt to clear up the infected tooth but to no avail. Still suffering from multiple symptoms and the throbbing tooth ache Al relates, “I went back to the VA the 2nd time and was once again told by the VA staff to go to Mexico and get my tooth pulled. I was given more antibiotics, which were not doing me any good and which I was paying for under the Tri-Care program for retired veterans. The medications were costing me money each month but I was getting no help for my problem, my tooth.”

In Jan. 2008 Al, once again returns to the VA Medical Center in Temple Texas still suffering from the pain and symptoms caused by his infected tooth. Once again when Al sees the doctor and nurse he had seen previously Al was given the same medical advice. “Once again the doctor tells me to go to Mexico and get my tooth pulled,” relates Al. “The doctor told me that I needed to get my tooth pulled as soon as possible or my health would get worse and that I could even die from my infected tooth, but they could not help me at the VA due to regulations, that I had to be 100% disabled or a former POW to get dental treatment at the VA.”

One of the nurses, who had seen Al at the VA Medical Center, told him of her husband who was a retired Air Force veteran who had to go to Mexico for his dental work due to not being able to get it done at the VA in which she worked. Another nurse at the VA told Al of her daughter who she took to Mexico to get dental work done. This nurse related to Al that her daughter received work that would have cost approximately $4000 in the U.S. for $1400 in Mexico. All of these VA employees suggested that Al go to Mexico for his dental needs.

The cost of dental care in the U.S. is on the rise due to the cost of operation, insurance and supplies. The cost is come prohibited to more and more Americans daily. Dentist in Mexico are flocking to the border towns where Americans are crossing the border daily for dental care. The cost of dental care in the U.S. can be four times that in Mexico.

The dental care in Mexico does not come without risks. Many of the hundreds of dental clinics, ranging from dingy dives to posh parlor like establishments, popping up in border towns such as Ciudad Juarez, El Paso, Del Rio and Laredo, just to name a few are located in areas that requires patrons to travel through areas infested with prostitutes, drug dealers, gang members and petty thieves. It stands to reason that these types will haunt the areas where dental clinics are located as they realize that Americans with money in their pockets will be traveling across the border to seek dental care. 

Then there is, also, the risk of infection caused by unsanitary conditions noted in some of these clinics. Health standards are not like those required in the U.S. and many of these fly-by-night clinics are not, perhaps, even run by certified dentist with the appropriate training. There is no way for the unsuspecting American to know just who it is that is working on their teeth. 

This brings us to legal consideration, who is legally responsible if something goes wrong? The Mexican dentists are not required to be covered by the insurance dentist in the U.S. are required so if something goes wrong U.S. citizens will probably have no legal recourse. There are American dentist in Mexico conducting business but I doubt they carry any insurance either. One such dentist is Joe Andel and his wife Jessica. “We’ve gone from a handful of patients when we started 2 ½ years ago to 150 new patients a month”, said Joe in his interview with the author of the Reuters article. Joe and his wife own the Rio Dental clinic in Ciuded Juarez which uses U.S. labs to make the crowns used in their practice. Joe states that he will even pick up his patients at the El Paso airport to get their business. Joe states that he has treated people from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.

The fact that American citizens are going to Mexico is due to our economic situation here in the U.S. and there is little that can be done about that, although it is a shame that the richest country in the world has it’s people going to a foreign county for health care services, and not just dental. However, in this writer’s opinion, who is a Vietnam veteran himself, it is a crime that our American veterans are forced by our economic situation to resort to such action. Our veterans who have served this country with honor should be taken care of when they need medical and/or dental care but that is simply not happening. Our retired veterans, all with over 20 years of service to our nation, are left out when it comes to receiving dental care from the Veterans Administration. They can not even go to the VA Dental Clinics and pay for dental care, they must seek it elsewhere, even, it appears, in Mexico. 

Our nation should insist that our veterans are cared for. It is to our veterans and active duty military personnel that we owe our freedom. Do we care so little for their contributions to our nation’s security that we send them into a foreign land to seek dental health care? Do we care so little about our veterans that we as a nation will stand by and watch them forced, due to their economic situation, into the alley ways and crime infested streets of a foreign land to get the care they should be provided in U.S. VA hospitals? It appears that is the case. Fellow citizens this says to us, the veterans of this country that our nation does not care once our active service is over. 

Those individuals who aspire to join the military and serve their nation are watching what is happening to our veterans. These young citizens may decide that they do not wish to be treated the way our veterans are treated when they become veterans, thus, may chose not to serve. What happens to our nation when no one joins the military? Do we go back to the draft? Do we go to mandatory service in the military for a specific number of years? This is already being talked about in Congress. A Bill has already been introduced making it mandatory to serve in the military and covers everyone from the ages of 18 to 42.

It is time for our nation’s leaders to wake up; it is time for our nation’s people to wake up and realize that without the military we will lose all that we have. If we as a nation do not insure that our nation’s veterans are taken care of then we may soon be lost as a free people. People are watching you who serve in the Congress and Senate, we are watching how you treat those who serve us all and continue to keep us free. As our military and veterans go so goes our nation. 

Americans go to Mexico for a cheaper perfect smile
By Robin Emmott

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – It was fear of the hefty bill as much as fear of the drill that kept American musician Don Clay away from U.S. dental clinics for 30 years.

When a sorely infected tooth eventually drove him to the dentist last month, it was to a clinic in a Mexican border city better known for violent crime and drug cartels.

Shrugging off concerns about hygiene and Mexico’s brutal drug war, thousands of Americans are heading to Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican border cities for cheap dental treatment.

"I had to get my teeth fixed. I need a perfect smile to make a successful career in music. Treatment in the United States is so pricey," said Clay, a Texan trying to get a record deal as a hip-hop artist.

U.S. dental treatment costs up to four times as much as in Mexico, making it tough for uninsured Americans to treat common problems such as abscessed teeth or pay for dentures.

A dental crown in the United States costs upward of $600 per tooth, compared to $190 or less in Mexico.

Aspiring Mexican dentists are moving to border cities in droves and are luring American patients away from farther flung discount destinations such as Hungary and Thailand.

Americans have long crossed the border for cheap medicines, flu vaccines, eye surgery or specialist doctors, but dentists are now in highest demand.

Dental clinics are on almost every block in central Ciudad Juarez, ranging from dingy dives to clinics that look more like posh hair salons. Getting there involves dodging prostitutes, drug pushers and cowboy-boot sellers.

BARGAIN-HUNTING

"We’ve gone from a handful of patients when we started 2-1/2 years ago to 150 new patients a month," said Joe Andel, an American who owns the Rio Dental clinic in Ciudad Juarez with his Mexican dentist wife, Jessica.

Rio Dental, which uses U.S. labs to make its crowns, picks patients up at the airport in El Paso, Texas, across the border and has treated people from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.

"The Internet makes this possible. It allows patients to find us and research us and shows we can do dental work of equal or superior quality to the United States," Andel said.

Internet bloggers swap stories and compare notes about Mexican dentists, but it always comes down to money.

Dentistry in the United States has become prohibitively expensive for some patients, with bills that can run to tens of thousands of dollars. Malpractice insurance premiums, operating costs that are much higher than in Mexico and dentists seeking to claw back the rising cost of their tuition all weigh.

Even among Americans who have medical insurance, many find they are not covered for treatment other than the basics, and paying on credit means high interest payments.

"I did $4,000 of dental work in the United States and put it on my credit card. Because of the interest, I only paid off $400 in three years," said a U.S. teacher from New Mexico getting treatment in Ciudad Juarez who gave his name as Bill.

Cosmetic dentistry, which insurers do not cover and which can be paid in dollars in many Mexican border clinics, is also popular, Ciudad Juarez dentist Luis Garza said.

"If you want a perfect smile, you have to pay for it, and we can do it cheaper, that’s all," he grinned.