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Dental implants offer a comfortable, permanent solution to missing, damaged, or failing teeth. While patients quickly understand the benefits of a procedure like 4-on-1 full arch dental implants, concerns regarding cost are front and center. Many patients explore the possibility of getting dental implants in Mexico, since the cost often appears much lower than the average cost in the United States.

However, there are serious risks associated with traveling to Mexico to get dental implants at costs that appear too good to be true. Our patients have regularly dismissed the idea of traveling abroad for dental implants when they learn about the risks involved in getting dental implants abroad (including 4-on-1 full arch), and how competitive our special pricing is, even compared to pricing in Mexico.

Dental Implants

First, it’s a good idea to have a solid understanding of what patients receive when they get dental implants. Titanium screws are placed into the jawbone of the patient, with a crown (or fake tooth) placed on top. Dental implants can replace one tooth, a few teeth, or whole rows of teeth. You can learn more about the different types of implants here).

4-on-1 Full Arch

For patients looking to replace an entire row of teeth with dental implants, they often turn to the 4-on-1 full arch dental implants treatment. Instead of replacing each individual tooth with a corresponding titanium screw, an entire bridge is placed on four screws. The new teeth are secure, look natural, and are permanent. Patients with 4-on-1 full arch dental implants have no special cleaning requirements and no dietary restrictions.

4-on-1 Full Arch dental implants are a multi-stage procedure. The first stage is a surgery, where patients are put under with IV sedation anesthesia, and any remaining teeth are removed. The screws are placed into the jawbone, and a set of temporary fake teeth are placed on top of the implants while the gums and jaw heal and the bone permanently fuses to the implants.

During healing, patients will visit their oral surgeon a handful of times to make sure implants are taking root and that there are no signs of infection. Once the mouth has fully healed, which is usually around 3 months, the final stage of the procedure can take place. The temporary fake teeth are replaced with a custom-made, permanent prosthetic bridge. This procedure is not a surgery, does not require sedation, and requires no recovery time.

Which countries are best for dental implants?

Generally, we recommend that patients are within easy, safe travel distance to their chosen oral surgeon. This makes it easy to have questions promptly answered, concerns quickly addressed, and complications resolved before major issues (like infection) can develop and worsen.

Is it safe to get dental implants in Mexico?

There are significant risks with traveling to Mexico to get dental implants. Even if patients don’t choose our office, we almost never recommend patients travel to Mexico, or any other country, to receive dental implants. There are several risk factors that patients may not be aware of, and these factors are often downplayed or hidden by companies that help to organize this kind of medical tourism.

Potential complications from dental implants in Mexico

One of the biggest complications from getting dental implants in Mexico is the risk of infection. Dental offices may not follow proper hygiene practices, and dental implant tourism sites even warn patients to make sure their chosen dental office follows general hygienic protocols. In many countries, dental regulations are lax and often non-existent, and it’s up to patients to determine which offices to avoid (which is often a difficult task).

If you choose a dentist in Mexico, and there are severe complications with the procedure, you will have no recourse to recoup the cost or form a legal case. Dentists in Mexico are not required to carry malpractice insurance, and patients have far less legal protections in Mexico than they do in the United States.

Accreditations of dentists in Mexico

There are some variations of what is required to be a dentist in Mexico, though the following are the most common requirements:

  • A high school diploma
  • Completion of a dental program of study (around 4 years)
  • One year of community service

Importantly, there is no standard, nationwide dental curriculum that students follow. This course of study also does not provide specialization as an oral surgeon. Getting dental implants requires surgery, so it’s important to have an oral surgeon, not just a general dentist, perform the procedure.

Dentists in Mexico can seek accreditation through the American Dental Association and the Mexican Dental Association. However, it can be difficult to tell what accreditation an office has, and it also won’t tell you if a particular office has an oral surgeon on staff. This difficulty in verifying accreditations is another reason why we discourage patients from traveling to Mexico for dental implants.

Taken together, implant failure rates tend to be higher in Mexico due to the issues listed above. When dental implants fail, the patient will either have to plan several more trips than expected to resolve complications, or they will need to turn to a domestic provider to fix the issue. If you choose a different provider in the U.S., there is no way to recoup costs from a dental office in Mexico. This is one of the major reasons we don’t recommend patients travel to any country for dental implants, including Mexico.

Quality of dental implants in Mexico

The quality of dental implants people receive in Mexico is often an issue. The bridge (or the fake teeth) could be made of low-grade materials like acrylic or low-grade porcelain. This will cause major problems for the durability of the dental implants, and should they chip or break due to poor craftsmanship, patients will need to book another plane ticket to get it resolved.

Many of our patients come to us because they received dental implants from low-quality and deficient dental offices and need our help to fix their smile. Having to redo a procedure is not only expensive and takes a toll on your jawbone and gums.

How much do dental implants cost in Mexico?

The primary reason patients look to Mexico for dental implants is the perceived low cost. The true cost will vary widely depending on where you go, what procedure you get, who is performing the procedure, and the materials used for your new teeth. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the prices you can generally expect for dental implants in Mexico:

Cost of a single dental implant in Mexico

The average cost of a single dental implant in Mexico will range from $1,500 to $3,000 In the U.S., the cost for a single implant usually ranges from $3,000 to $6,000. Most patients aren’t looking to travel to Mexico for a single implant, since the cost of lodging and travel added to the single tooth costs quickly meets and exceeds what you would pay in the U.S.

Cost of 4-on-1 full arch in Mexico

A comprehensive procedure like 4-on-1 full arch dental implants is what patients are usually considering when they look to Mexico. 4-on-1 Full Arch implants replace a whole row of teeth in one surgical procedure. This procedure requires approximately four appointments: first to extract teeth, second to place implant screws with temporary teeth, and then a few appointments to make your permanent, new teeth after your jaw has healed after three months.

In Mexico, you can expect to pay around $11,000-15,000 for 4-on-1 full arch dental implants. Of course, there are several other cost factors that you need to keep in mind that will increase this pricing. First, this cost may or may not be all-inclusive. That means, on top of the $11,000-15,000, you may need to pay for:

  • CT scans
  • Tooth extraction
  • IV Sedation/anesthesia

You also will need to be prepared to pay for the costs of travel several times back and forth 4-on-1 Full Arch dental implants require a few appointments with months of healing in-between, which means you will need to consider the following travel costs:

  • Round trip tickets (averaging $400 – $800)
  • Lodging. Prices can vary, especially if you stay at a resort. However, you can expect to pay $100-$200 a night for a standard resort, with those prices being much higher for higher-end hotels)
  • General travel costs, including food and transportation within Mexico.

After you include the travel and lodging costs, you can expect to pay a minimum of $13,000-$17,000 per row of teeth. This cost will increase if you need to stay longer than a few nights in Mexico, if your lodging is higher end, and if the costs of sedation, scans, and tooth extraction are not included.

This cost does not typically come with a guarantee of implant success or recourse if the surgery is performed poorly. As mentioned earlier, if you experience implant failures, patients will likely need to visit their dental office in Mexico several times to resolve the issue. Many patients choose to seek a domestic provider if there is an issue, but there will be additional costs involved with this and there is little legal recourse to recoup costs from the original dental office in Mexico. That means you pay twice for the procedure if it ends up failing.

Why are dental implants so much cheaper in Mexico?

There are a lot of reasons why the expected price of dental implants in Mexico is less than the average dental implant price in the United States. It’s less expensive to become a dentist in Mexico, and healthcare, in general, is much less expensive in Mexico because there are fewer safeguards and regulations mandated to protect consumers. There are more worrisome problems, too, including the lack of robust accreditation to become a dentist and the lack of a malpractice insurance requirement.

Another, more straightforward reason, that implants are cheaper in Mexico is that some offices in the United States simply choose to charge more; typically, these are the major chains that are owned by large corporations.

After performing over 5,000 4-on-1 full arch dental implants and hearing the stories of many of our patients (who have gone to large corporations and have been quoted upwards of $40,000+ per 4-on-1 full arch), we have made it one of our goals to provide dental implants – specifically 4-on-1 full arch – at affordable prices so that people can get the dental implants they need without having to risk traveling abroad for the procedure. Our 4-on-1 full arch is offered at an inclusive price of $14,950/arch; this is backed by our lowest price guarantee and quality warranty.

Our all-inclusive price is competitive with, if not cheaper than, what you can expect to find in Mexico, and you won’t have to worry about the cost of travel or the immense risk involved in receiving the surgery abroad. We only work with oral surgeons who specialize in dental implants, which allows us to offer dental implants at a competitive price without sacrificing quality.

Is it a good idea to get dental implants in Mexico?

As mentioned, the number one reason people go to Mexico to get dental implants is because of the perceived cheaper cost. However, given the risks of complications during the procedure, the accreditation problems of dentists in Mexico, and the problems with dental implant quality, we discourage patients from getting dental implants in Mexico.

Our office also makes 4-on-1 full arch dental implants accessible and affordable. Our all-inclusive cost is $14,950/arch, the procedure is performed by oral surgeons, and so you won’t have to worry about extensive (and expensive) travel arrangements. We also provide financing, which patients will struggle to find with dental offices in Mexico.

If you’re interested in 4-on-1 full arch dental implants and are concerned about the cost, please contact us. We can help with financing.

Dental Implant Mexico FAQs

1. What is the average cost of dental implants in Mexico?

For 4-on-1 full arch dental implants, the average cost will be around $11,000-15,000 for a row of teeth (excluding travels and accommodations). If you are looking for a single implant, you can expect to pay $1,500 – $3,000 per implant. This cost may or may not be all-inclusive, the materials may be low-quality, and the cost does not include travel or lodging expenses.

2. Is it safe to go to Tijuana for dental work?

There are several risks when you travel to Tijuana for dental work. Dental accreditation is not consistent, and it can be hard to tell exactly how qualified your dentist really is. Your specific office may struggle to follow basic hygiene practices, and if there is a significant complication during the procedure, dentists in Tijuana are not required to have malpractice insurance.

3. Does the lower cost of dental implants in Mexico mean you can always expect lower quality?

The lower cost doesn’t guarantee lower quality. The problem is that it is very difficult to find the offices that are offering a lower cost while offering quality service; for the most part, offices offer lower costs because they offer lower quality service. As mentioned, we never recommend patients travel to Mexico for dental implants because of the elevated risk of dental implant failure.

4. Why do I have to plan for multiple trips to Mexico for 4-on-1 full arch dental implants?

Proper 4-on-1 full arch dental implants are a multistage procedure. The first is a consultation and CT scan with the doctor to determine if you are a candidate for the 4-on-1 full arch procedure.  The second is an actual surgery, where you are sedated, teeth are removed, and your implant screws are permanently placed. You’ll receive a temporary set of teeth at the end of this stage. After several months, you’ll travel back to receive your final permanent teeth, which requires a few appointments. The reason why this needs to be done in multiple steps is because your gums and jawbone need time to fully heal, which takes several months. During this period, the shape of your gums might change, and the permanent teeth should be shaped to fit your gums after it has fully healed and are stable.

If you get 4-on-1 full arch dental implants in Mexico and there’s a complication (like an infection or a failed implant), you will need to book another trip to that dental office or pay the cost to see a dentist in the U.S. The risk of complications is high if you don’t have a properly trained dentist, and since dental accreditation in Mexico is problematic or nonexistent, it can be hard to tell who is and is not properly trained and certified for the procedure.

Many of our patients come to us with dental implants that have been poorly done and need to be fixed and redone. This is another reason that we never recommend patients go to Mexico for dental implants.

5. Why is your cost for 4-on-1 full arch dental implants so competitive with the price in Mexico?

Our office is able to provide a competitive price for 4-on-1 full arch dental implants for two important reasons. First, our oral surgeons have performed over 5,000 4-on-1 full arch surgeries and have developed high expertise for this procedure. That means they can perform the procedures efficiently, without sacrificing quality.

Our offices are also locally owned and operated by the oral surgeons performing the procedures. This means we avoid the unnecessary bloated corporate overhead of larger, nationwide offices, which gives us more precise control of our costs and pricing.

6. Are there other countries where it’s safe to get dental implants?

Even with countries that offer competitive pricing and have a clear, transparent accreditation system for dentists, there are still risks with traveling to get dental implants. The biggest risk is if there is an infection, placement problem, failed implant, or other issues, and patients can’t easily go back to the dental office to resolve the issue.

If you’re able to confirm the accreditation of an office (for example, they use the American Dental Association’s accreditation, or you have faith in other information they provide), it may still be difficult to know if the doctor performing your dental implant surgery an oral surgeon. Dental implants should always be performed by oral surgeons, as this reduces the healing time and the risk of implant failure.

We have made sure our pricing is competitive, even on an international stage. Our all-inclusive pricing of $14,950 per row of teeth is backed by our Low-Cost Guarantee as well as a quality warranty, so you can be assured that you are getting a high-quality procedure at the lowest price possible by the best and properly trained oral surgeons in America.

Author

  • Dr. Ryan Grider, DDS

    Dr. Grider is an Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon who specializes in full mouth (full arch, teeth in a day, All-on-X) dental implant procedures. Dr. Grider earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University, majoring in Biology and Pre-medical studies. Subsequently, he went to Indiana University School of Dentistry and earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. Post dental school, Dr. Grider completed an additional 4 years of residency at the University of Miami School of Medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.