Doctors and Dentists
March 22, 2007
I heard all kinds of weird stories about doctors and dentists in Europe, so we did not know what to expect. Luckily we have had nothing but good experiences. We are paying out of pocket, but are still spending less for health care here than we do in the States and it is comparable for treatment, if not better in some ways.
Of course we are not dealing with any major problems, so I am not sure how that would work out. The costs for healthcare in the U.S is outrageous. I spent five minutes with my dermatologist just before leaving and the bill was over five hundred dollars.
Some people from the U.S. actually come to Spain (and places like Thailand and India) for good health
care and good prices. My hairdresser here is from the UK and she said her extensive dental work including implants done here was great and much better prices than in the UK. I do not know how prices vary within Europe and can only talk about our experience in a little village in Spain.
What we have experienced is similar services for a LOT less money and more personal care. I had a dental emergency of sorts when we first arrived and it is a little scary having such a problem in a foreign country. Dental chicken that I am, it is always high anxiety for me to deal with such, but the thought of having to deal with my first root canal in a foreign land was not a comforting thought.
Thank God, that thus far I have avoided the root canal or any serious dental work,but DaVinci ended up getting quite a bit of work done. It was quality work at a price so low that it was shocking compared to prices at home. We believe in taking good care of our teeth and gums for preventative care, so we all got check ups and are teeth cleaned before leaving.
I need to get my teeth cleaned every three months, so this was actually my second time for teeth cleaning, since I did my first one in December. We will have to find another dentist along the way for teeth cleaning in three months, but it is nice to have both a dentist and a doctor here in our village to call if we have any problems while traveling as it is just a quick flight away.
One of the good things about wintering in a small village with a small international expat community is that we had friends to ask for recommendations with years of experience with these doctors and dentists. We seemed to have too many good choices even in this little village!
We ended up using two different dentists and really liked them both. There was an office close by which was really convenient since we could walk to it. The main dentist there was from Argentina and he is the dentist of my hairdresser and many of our friends. Then there was another office that we needed to drive to in a nearby town and it had a woman dentist who was from Denmark and other friends went there. We ended up using both and they both also speak English, altho they speak better English in the Danish office.
In the same office as the dentist in our village that we walk to, we found a highly recommended doctor who also happens to be the mother of one of Mozart’s classmates. She is from the Netherlands and Mozart got a check up before we hit the road and a treatment for a small problem.
Pharmacies and medical lab work seems much easier in Spain as well. I have heard that one can even get medication and antibiotics without prescriptions, but we have mainly gotten things by doctors prescription or by bringing things in from home that we were out of (mainly natural things). We also want to get blood titers done and find that much easier to do here than at home.
I hate to use antibiotics, but I did end up using one the dentist prescribed which solved my early dental problem and helped me avoid the root canal (since my problem was connected to a gum problem). Mozart succumbed to the flu that was going around recently (thankfully DaVinci and I skipped it), right after our guests left and we got some medicine then (that we ended up not using). It did help that DaVinci can speak and read Spanish, but one could get around it without that.
I also used skype to call an alternative practitioner back in the States, when I was dealing with my early problem. I have had great response from Babinetics/ www.babinetics.com, so I was glad to still have that resource available no matter where I roam.
We have been very impressed with the caring and personal attention that one gets here. The equipment seemed to be state of the art and the dentists are the ones that do the cleaning. Mozart had a great woman doctor and dentist at home in California and I am very pleased that we found a great woman dentist and doctor here as well. She loved going to the doctor and dentist and is in A+health.
We all got check ups before we left last September, but we wanted to take advantage of the facilities we have here before hitting the road for seven months. We are a healthy crew that never seem to get sick, but
we just wanted to start off with a clean slate.
I heard all kinds of weird stories about doctors and dentists in Europe, so we did not know what to expect. Luckily we have had nothing but good experiences. We are paying out of pocket, but are still spending less for health care here than we do in the States and it is comparable for treatment, if not better in some ways.
Of course we are not dealing with any major problems, so I am not sure how that would work out. The costs for healthcare in the U.S is outrageous. I spent five minutes with my dermatologist just before leaving and the bill was over five hundred dollars.
Some people from the U.S. actually come to Spain (and places like Thailand and India) for good health
care and good prices. My hairdresser here is from the UK and she said her extensive dental work including implants done here was great and much better prices than in the UK. I do not know how prices vary within Europe and can only talk about our experience in a little village in Spain.
What we have experienced is similar services for a LOT less money and more personal care. I had a dental emergency of sorts when we first arrived and it is a little scary having such a problem in a foreign country. Dental chicken that I am, it is always high anxiety for me to deal with such, but the thought of having to deal with my first root canal in a foreign land was not a comforting thought.
Thank God, that thus far I have avoided the root canal or any serious dental work,but DaVinci ended up getting quite a bit of work done. It was quality work at a price so low that it was shocking compared to prices at home. We believe in taking good care of our teeth and gums for preventative care, so we all got check ups and are teeth cleaned before leaving.
I need to get my teeth cleaned every three months, so this was actually my second time for teeth cleaning, since I did my first one in December. We will have to find another dentist along the way for teeth cleaning in three months, but it is nice to have both a dentist and a doctor here in our village to call if we have any problems while traveling as it is just a quick flight away.
One of the good things about wintering in a small village with a small international expat community is that we had friends to ask for recommendations with years of experience with these doctors and dentists. We seemed to have too many good choices even in this little village!
We ended up using two different dentists and really liked them both. There was an office close by which was really convenient since we could walk to it. The main dentist there was from Argentina and he is the dentist of my hairdresser and many of our friends. Then there was another office that we needed to drive to in a nearby town and it had a woman dentist who was from Denmark and other friends went there. We ended up using both and they both also speak English, altho they speak better English in the Danish office.
In the same office as the dentist in our village that we walk to, we found a highly recommended doctor who also happens to be the mother of one of Mozart’s classmates. She is from the Netherlands and Mozart got a check up before we hit the road and a treatment for a small problem.
Pharmacies and medical lab work seems much easier in Spain as well. I have heard that one can even get medication and antibiotics without prescriptions, but we have mainly gotten things by doctors prescription or by bringing things in from home that we were out of (mainly natural things). We also want to get blood titers done and find that much easier to do here than at home.
I hate to use antibiotics, but I did end up using one the dentist prescribed which solved my early dental problem and helped me avoid the root canal (since my problem was connected to a gum problem). Mozart succumbed to the flu that was going around recently (thankfully DaVinci and I skipped it), right after our guests left and we got some medicine then (that we ended up not using). It did help that DaVinci can speak and read Spanish, but one could get around it without that.
I also used skype to call an alternative practitioner back in the States, when I was dealing with my early problem. I have had great response from Babinetics/ www.babinetics.com, so I was glad to still have that resource available no matter where I roam.
We have been very impressed with the caring and personal attention that one gets here. The equipment seemed to be state of the art and the dentists are the ones that do the cleaning. Mozart had a great woman doctor and dentist at home in California and I am very pleased that we found a great woman dentist and doctor here as well. She loved going to the doctor and dentist and is in A+health.
We all got check ups before we left last September, but we wanted to take advantage of the facilities we have here before hitting the road for seven months. We are a healthy crew that never seem to get sick, but
we just wanted to start off with a clean slate.
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nice site thanks for the post.
-heather-
Posted by: cosmetic dentist in california | January 07, 2009 at 11:01 AM