70% off on Dental Work - San Jose, Costa Rica

The work required 2 visits, 4 months apart. Both dentists were highly skilled, using economy of effort. I customarily take an hour or more to get numb, and have twice been sent home because they could not numb me, and they also could not put more novocain into me. Both dentists in Costa Rica numbed my mouth within 5 minutes! The clinic gets 95% of its business from the U.S. And Canada, and have made it very easy for us as travelers. They have a contact person to answer questions about travel, they have hotel rooms in the building above the clinic, and they will pick you up at the airport at no cost. Don't be put off by the Travel Coordinator's gruffness or bluntness. It is off putting, but he gets the job done. There are two weaknesses in this operation. One is the waiting. Expect to spend a large amount of time in the waiting room. A 9:00 appointment might not happen til noon. Deal with it. It is the primary tradeoff for getting high quality, ultra low cost dental care. If you stay in their hotel (they call it Casa Marco), you can hang out in your room, and wait to be called for your appointment, and read, play cribbage, or watch television in the meantime. The other tradeoff is that while Dr. Marco himself responds very quickly to inquiries (always within 24 hours, mostly within 8 hours), the billing staff is very slow to respond. Casa Marco's staff is wonderful. They will help you figure out where to eat, what to do, and how to do it. They will even drive you to your restaurant, or museum, or whatever, and pick you up, for $3-5 each way. The country is Spanish speaking, but most of the staff you come into contact with are bilingual. My US dentists typically explain each step of what they are doing, and how, sometimes why. The dentists i worked with in Costa Rica were unfailingly polite, and answered questions, but did not offer narrative. I suspect that it is because theirs is a volume operation, and they cannot afford to linger conversationally. They did answer questions, however briefly, which is why the bedside manner and answered my questions ratings below are not five stars.