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Medical Tourism: Safe, Simple, and Shockingly Cheap
My first experience with overseas treatment was A+
I love my dentist. He’s a family friend, and a visit to his office on Staten Island, where I am from, is an easy and pleasant experience. I’m not one of those people who hates the drilling and the poking and the scraping. It’s not my favorite activity in the world, but a dental cleaning is just one of those things you’ve got to do, like paying your taxes or replacing the odd broken pipe — not always fun, but always necessary. Or else. In matters of the mouth, dare you not and you’ll risk an unpleasant smile, halitosis, and future gum disease. Now in my forties, I realize how much maintenance the human body actually requires.
My semiannual cleaning is usually quick and painless. The price tag, however, is never fun. My last cleaning cost nearly $300. Getting your smile sparkling and pretty can also cost a pretty penny. Yes, I have insurance, but I have yet to meet a dentist who actually takes it. I have gotten too used to paying for dental work as part of my grooming routine. And it’s expensive. It is no wonder that, when I was a kid, my mom’s go-to reason for why we seldom took a family vacation was “I have three kids with braces.”
A few weeks ago, I was prepping for my first trip since “The Before Times,” and after a year solo at home in my New York City apartment, it was time for a good old “grooming day” — haircut, manicure, pedicure, and dental cleaning. I was on a tight timetable, though, so a trip to Staten Island was not in the cards. I booked an appointment near my home in Manhattan, at a place called Dentl Bar, a cool, mod-styled center that claims to be New York City’s “first walk-in dental bar” and promises quick concierge-like dental services and “pricing made simple.” Well, pricing was simple. It was $275 for a cleaning. No thanks.
So I left on my trip to Montenegro with a new buzz cut and refreshed feet and nails, but I decided to put a pin in the dental cleaning until I got back. The trip was personal—I went for love; more on that another time—but a good toothbrush scrubbing with Tom’s of Maine would have to suffice. What I soon discovered was that there are countless reasons to fall in love with Montenegro, the small ex-Yugoslavia gem that is the size of…
