low-cost dentists

Mexico - Nogales
low-cost
dentists
By Alessandro Gandolfi
parallelozero
Koali lives in Alaska but her dentist is in Nogales, Mexico. She flies to Tucson
whenever she needs a visit or a dental care and simply walks across the border.
She travels for 4,000 kilometres, but she saves quite a lot of money every time.
Thousands of US citizens do the same every year: they travel to Mexico for their
dental care or to buy low-cost prescription drugs.
They call it health tourism, a phenomenon documented also in the recent movie
“Dallas Buyers Club”. Beyond the border it is possible to find drugs that cannot
be sold in the USA and the cost of fillings, prosthesis, and dental crowns, for
example, is 70% cheaper. Everything started in the 1950s when officers of the
military bases in Arizona used to cross the border to go and have fun in Nogales,
Sonora: alcohol, women and dentists were much cheaper there. And still are.
Nowadays many web sites in English guide you to the best clinics (more than one
hundred) testifying to a growing business: “USA health care is too expensive”,
doctor José Luis Espinoza says, “and many Us citizens simply cannot afford its
costs. Coming to Nogales has become a must”.
Nogales (Mexico), a view of
the city with the 2011 metal
fence separating the city
Nogales (Mexico), people
queueing at the border to
enter the United States
Nogales (Mexico), a
man with a donkey
walking in the street
Nogales (Mexico), ‘Estrella’ mariachi
during a break at El Tule restaurant
Nogales (Mexico), an old photo of the
border between Mexico and the United
States kept at Casa de la Cultura
Nogales (Mexico), Plaza
Pesqueira, a street with
several dental clinics
Nogales (Mexico), one of
the city’s main streets
Nogales (Mexico), two US couples
having a rest drinking margarita
at the Cheves & Munchies bar
Nogales (Mexico), Koali Pontual-Thorne
(on the right) buying medicines in a
pharmacy near the border. Koali lives in
Alaska, she came to Mexico to save money
Nogales (Mexico), Koali Pontual-Thorne walking
back to United States after dental surgery
carried out by José Luis Espinoza. Koali lives
in Alaska but flew to Mexico to save money
Nogales
(Mexico),
twouna
US couples
Seoul (South
Korea),
ragazza esce dalla
having
a rest
Salon Regis,di
a Nogales
stazione
dellaat
metropolitana
Yongsan
historical bar founded in 1928
Nogales (Mexico), advertising for a
dental studio in calle Obregón
Nogales (Arizona, USA), a family after
a tourist tour beyond the border
in the Mexican part of the city
Nogales (Mexico), Angel Bautista and Alejandra
Hernandez kissing through the metal fence built in
2011 separating Mexico from the United States. He
cannot go to the USA and she cannot go back to Mexico
Nogales (Mexico), the ‘Estrella’
mariachi at El Tule restaurant
Nogales (Mexico), a man dressed up
to advertise the Similares chemists.
Many US citizens go to Nogales to buy
products that are cheaper than in the
US or are not available there
Nogales (Mexico), a US family
at Marco Antonio Peralta’s
Dental Bliss studio
Nogales (Mexico), a patient waiting
for her turn while reading a magazine
at Francisco J.Tapia’s dental studio
Nogales (Mexico), the children’s
room at Roberto Duran Peimbert’s
NIC (Nogales Implant Center)
Nogales (Mexico), the US patient
Cliff Bensen at Marco Antonio
Peralta’s Dental Bliss studio
(Mr. Peralta on the left)
Nogales (Mexico), a US couple
walking towards a dental studio
Nogales (Mexico), two US
girls have had their braces
put on at a dental studio
Nogales (Mexico), Koali PontualThorne at José Luis Espinoza’s dental
studio. Koali lives in Alaska but
flew to Mexico to save money
Nogales (Mexico), US citizens Mary
and David Fournie from Tucson at
José Luis Espinoza’s dental studio
Nogales (Mexico), a dental
studio in calle Obregón
Nogales (Mexico), the US citizen
David Fournie from Tucson at José
Luis Espinoza’s dental studio
Nogales (Mexico), a US patient
at Roberto Duran Peimbert’s NIC
(Nogales Implant Center)
Nogales (Mexico), the US patient
Cliff Bensen paying for his
dental care at Marco Antonio
Peralta’s Dental Bliss studio
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