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071 Medical Tourism · bit of a Rambler

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Kai, and I am a bit
0:03
Speaker 1: of a rambler. I like to travel, learn and tell stories.
0:07
Speaker 1: And today I want to go more in depth into
0:09
Speaker 1: a topic I've touched on several times because it's extremely
0:13
Speaker 1: important to everyone, really, but especially for those of us
0:17
Speaker 1: from countries with they're responsible governments. Medical tourism. What is
0:23
Speaker 1: medical tourism. It's basically exactly what it sounds like. You
0:27
Speaker 1: travel to another country to receive medical care. And usually
0:32
Speaker 1: this is undertaken because it's so much cheaper to get
0:35
Speaker 1: quality care in other countries than it is in a
0:37
Speaker 1: place like the US. And right up top, I want
0:40
Speaker 1: to throw out some prices. So angioplasty where you open
0:45
Speaker 1: the artories in your heart thirty thousand in the US,
0:49
Speaker 1: ten thousand in Thailand, five thousand in India. You can
0:52
Speaker 1: go to medicaltourism dot com and check out all these prices,
0:56
Speaker 1: but I think it's good just to give you an
0:57
Speaker 1: idea of how much cheaper it is. And as I'll
1:00
Speaker 1: explain soon, from my experiences with medical tourism abroad, you
1:05
Speaker 1: still get a very high quality of care. So let's
1:08
Speaker 1: go through a couple more prices. A heart bypass surgery
1:12
Speaker 1: in the US, they're about one hundred twenty three thousand dollars.
1:16
Speaker 1: In Thailand they're seventeen thousand dollars, and in India they're
1:20
Speaker 1: seven thousand dollars. Heart valve replacement US one hundred, seventy
1:25
Speaker 1: thousand Thailand, twenty thousand, India eleven thousand, hip replacement US
1:32
Speaker 1: forty thousand Thailand seven thousand, India fourteen thousand. Huh, new
1:39
Speaker 1: replacement US thirty five thousand, Thailand six thousand, breast implants
1:45
Speaker 1: US sixty five hundred Thailand seventeen hundred, rhinoplasty US sixty
1:51
Speaker 1: five hundred Thailand three hundred. Wow, those jobs are cheap
1:57
Speaker 1: in Thailand three hundred bucks. I mean, I'm not going
2:00
Speaker 1: to get one, but that's that's like ninety five percent
2:04
Speaker 1: cheaper than the US. That's crazy. Oh, lasik is cheaper
2:08
Speaker 1: than the US. According to this site, says one thousand
2:11
Speaker 1: in the US, but it's two thousand, six hundred in Thailand.
2:16
Speaker 1: But again, as I'll explain later, Thailand invested mostly into
2:19
Speaker 1: their dental fields and internal medicine fields, so that's why
2:24
Speaker 1: those joint replacements and everything are so much cheaper. The
2:28
Speaker 1: last thing here is IVF treatment, which is fifteen thousand.
2:32
Speaker 1: This says on average in the US and three thousand,
2:35
Speaker 1: seven hundred up to fifteen thousand in Thailand, but starting
2:40
Speaker 1: at thirty seven hundred. So I really want to throw
2:43
Speaker 1: those out just right up top so you can see
2:46
Speaker 1: if nothing else, the cost is literally ninety five percent
2:51
Speaker 1: less if you go to a country with fantastic quality
2:54
Speaker 1: of care like Thailand that I can recommend personally and
2:59
Speaker 1: from an total reviews from friends and expats in Thailand.
3:03
Speaker 1: But at this point I undertake medical tourism for the
3:06
Speaker 1: quality as well as the cost. And it started with dentistry.
3:11
Speaker 1: For me. I had a pretty bad jaw infection, like
3:15
Speaker 1: I had this huge bump that kept getting bigger and
3:19
Speaker 1: was swollen, and my teeth were terrible for a long
3:22
Speaker 1: time until I finally started using an electric toothbrush, which
3:25
Speaker 1: means I just am terrible at brushing my teeth, I guess,
3:28
Speaker 1: but I had built up you two and a half
3:30
Speaker 1: decades of poor dental care plus bad genetics. Every male
3:36
Speaker 1: in my family has terrible teeth and I did too
3:40
Speaker 1: until I got the electric toothbrush. But although I didn't
3:43
Speaker 1: develop new problems after I started using the electric toothbrush.
3:47
Speaker 1: I still had all these, like I said, legacy problems.
3:51
Speaker 1: And when I was in Morocco, I started having this
3:54
Speaker 1: what was some kind of infection, and I was on
3:57
Speaker 1: the phone talking to my mom at a cafe about
4:00
Speaker 1: the dentistry, and a lady came over to my table,
4:04
Speaker 1: an American, and she told me she couldn't help it
4:07
Speaker 1: over here about my dental problem and suggested her dentist
4:11
Speaker 1: in Morocco. At this point, I didn't know anything about
4:15
Speaker 1: medical tourism, and I didn't even consider healthcare in other
4:19
Speaker 1: countries because I didn't know anything about it. So I
4:23
Speaker 1: went to this dentist, but it was a very upscale dentist,
4:28
Speaker 1: and the prices just seemed normal American prices to me.
4:32
Speaker 1: So it's like, oh, I guess dental cares the same
4:34
Speaker 1: here as in the US. But that had got me
4:38
Speaker 1: thinking that, of course, healthcare systems are going to be
4:41
Speaker 1: different in different countries. So I started looking up what
4:44
Speaker 1: the best alternatives are to US dental work, because aside
4:49
Speaker 1: from this one infection I had, I had other cavities
4:54
Speaker 1: and stuff that I wanted. I just want to fix
4:56
Speaker 1: all my teeth at once, and in terms of dentistry.
4:59
Speaker 1: I went to the whatever countries now, Thailand kept coming
5:02
Speaker 1: up as the place to go because the government, the
5:06
Speaker 1: Thai government invested a whole bunch of money into the
5:10
Speaker 1: medical technology field in general, and more specifically into dentistry.
5:16
Speaker 1: Because of medical tourism, they were banking on people coming
5:19
Speaker 1: from other countries after they build up their medical field
5:22
Speaker 1: and specifically dentistry field, to come to Thailand and take
5:27
Speaker 1: advantage of the much lower cost but basically equal technology.
5:32
Speaker 1: The technology that I saw when I went into the
5:35
Speaker 1: Bangkok International Dental Clinic, which is where I get all
5:39
Speaker 1: of my work done, looked either the same or more
5:42
Speaker 1: advanced than anything I had seen in the US, and
5:45
Speaker 1: the skill of the dentists surpasses the US. And I
5:50
Speaker 1: went to a lot of dentists every other year until
5:54
Speaker 1: I left the US, because I always had a cavity
5:58
Speaker 1: or another. I think I had two root canals done
6:01
Speaker 1: in the US by doctors with very varying skills, and
6:05
Speaker 1: I'd had I don't know how many cavities filled growing
6:08
Speaker 1: up by many different dentists in the US. And I
6:12
Speaker 1: saw the price tag receipts of hundreds of dollars several
6:15
Speaker 1: times when I went to dentists in the US, and
6:18
Speaker 1: I figured it was worth trying what everybody recommended. Go
6:22
Speaker 1: to Thailand, and if you're worried, go to the Bangkok
6:25
Speaker 1: International Dental Clinic. They have the absolute best dentists. It
6:30
Speaker 1: might be twice as much as if you go to
6:32
Speaker 1: one of the local clinics, but that's still going to
6:35
Speaker 1: be probably half the price of what you would pay
6:37
Speaker 1: in the US. And all of these prices I'm going
6:40
Speaker 1: to talk about are without insurance, because at the time
6:43
Speaker 1: I didn't have insurance. But I actually know a few
6:46
Speaker 1: people who have been traveling with Travelers insurance and they've
6:50
Speaker 1: been able to use it to get dentistry for literally
6:53
Speaker 1: basically free, like thirty bucks paying their insurance premiums. And
6:57
Speaker 1: I don't know how those travel insurance companies stay in business.
7:02
Speaker 1: And when I tried to get the plan, I still
7:04
Speaker 1: had copays of a couple hundred dollars and the treatments
7:07
Speaker 1: were so cheap anyway, it didn't really make sense for
7:11
Speaker 1: me to get the insurance plans. But if you find
7:14
Speaker 1: a really good deal for travel insurance, check the terms
7:19
Speaker 1: and if they pay for whatever you need to get done,
7:24
Speaker 1: there's certainly no harm in looking into it, especially for
7:26
Speaker 1: going to get insurance. Anyway, why not try and file acclaim?
7:29
Speaker 1: I have been told it works fine. I just haven't
7:33
Speaker 1: had any procedure expensive enough for it to make financial
7:36
Speaker 1: sense for me. So anyway, after Morocco, I decided to
7:40
Speaker 1: go get all of my teeth done because now I
7:43
Speaker 1: had the money from teaching English, and if I was
7:46
Speaker 1: going to spend that money on anything, I figured, let's
7:48
Speaker 1: just get all the accumulated problems in my mouth fixed.
7:52
Speaker 1: I had one tooth that was pretty sure needed a
7:54
Speaker 1: root canal, I had a couple other pains that I
7:57
Speaker 1: knew I would have to get fillings for, and I
8:01
Speaker 1: just had a whole bunch of problems still with my
8:04
Speaker 1: mouth that I had always lived with because in the
8:07
Speaker 1: States I just didn't have enough money, and I had
8:11
Speaker 1: lived with dental pain for so long that when I
8:14
Speaker 1: finally did have enough money in China, whose dentistry I
8:19
Speaker 1: do not recommend, I didn't even think of getting the
8:23
Speaker 1: work done. But finally I was like, oh, I actually
8:26
Speaker 1: have money, finally, And then I looked into medical tourism,
8:31
Speaker 1: and so many procedures are recommended to get done overseas
8:36
Speaker 1: sometimes because the expertise is better, but often just the cost,
8:40
Speaker 1: Like you're going to get the same quality of care
8:43
Speaker 1: but at a far lower cost. And as someone with
8:47
Speaker 1: no insurance, I can absolutely confirm that I've paid way
8:50
Speaker 1: lower costs in Thailand for all of my dental work.
8:54
Speaker 1: So I went in there, I got a bunch of scans,
8:56
Speaker 1: a bunch of X rays. They take your ID you
8:59
Speaker 1: fill out of and then they print you out a
9:02
Speaker 1: card right there at BIDC, the Bangkok International Dental Clinic,
9:07
Speaker 1: And I was kind of impressed that I got a
9:09
Speaker 1: little like membership card right away, like in fifteen minutes
9:13
Speaker 1: after I walked through the door. I was now part
9:15
Speaker 1: of the dental infrastructure at that clinic. So with this
9:20
Speaker 1: membership card, which has a barcode on it, they can
9:23
Speaker 1: scan the barcode and they can see your fees, how
9:26
Speaker 1: much you'll have to pay for each treatment, All of
9:29
Speaker 1: the treatments you've had done at that clinic, your X
9:32
Speaker 1: rays and examinations, results, everything is connected to this little
9:39
Speaker 1: barcode they scan. It's connected straight to your patient file,
9:43
Speaker 1: and any member, any doctor in that clinic, can pull
9:47
Speaker 1: up your whole history and just look at it instantly.
9:49
Speaker 1: It's such a great convenient system, even compared to clicking
9:55
Speaker 1: around and looking through different things, like when you're waiting
9:58
Speaker 1: at the counter in a dentist office in the US
10:01
Speaker 1: and they're like, hang on, we just updated the system,
10:03
Speaker 1: and da da da. I've been to BIDC probably five
10:08
Speaker 1: or six times now, and every single time they beep it,
10:13
Speaker 1: they confirm all the treatments and everything that have had before,
10:16
Speaker 1: and at this point I can't even remember the first time,
10:18
Speaker 1: like everything, but I'm like, probably that must be correct
10:21
Speaker 1: because it sounds correct and you have everything right there.
10:25
Speaker 1: But when they gave me the ID, that was my
10:28
Speaker 1: first indication that this was a proper, modern clinic that
10:32
Speaker 1: was run better than other dental clinics i'd been to.
10:35
Speaker 1: And then I had the experience of their doctors who
10:39
Speaker 1: were so knowledgeable and confident and precisely skilled. After my
10:45
Speaker 1: first root canal there, which is the first thing I
10:47
Speaker 1: got done, I just decided I would never be getting
10:51
Speaker 1: dental treatment anywhere else, and if I did get dental
10:54
Speaker 1: treatment at one of the local clinics, it would be
10:57
Speaker 1: again half as much, about twenty five five percent of
11:01
Speaker 1: the US cost basis for any dental procedure or less.
11:05
Speaker 1: I had seen full braces for like forty dollars at
11:07
Speaker 1: local clinics, but I just figured, this is the international
11:10
Speaker 1: dental clinic. I get everything done right this first time. Also,
11:14
Speaker 1: that was the first time I was indulging in medical tourism,
11:18
Speaker 1: and the clinic had already impressed me, so I went
11:22
Speaker 1: with them the first time I got my dental work done,
11:25
Speaker 1: and it was just such a wonderful It was honestly
11:28
Speaker 1: a great experience that I was like, Oh, I'm just
11:32
Speaker 1: doing this forever. So I found out, in addition to
11:34
Speaker 1: that patient file system where they just scan and have
11:37
Speaker 1: your whole history and every doctor knows exactly what's going on.
11:42
Speaker 1: I've never waited past my appointment. No dentist I've had
11:46
Speaker 1: has ever been rushed, and no dentist I've ever had
11:50
Speaker 1: has not done a procedure correctly the first time. It's
11:56
Speaker 1: shocking how skilled the dentist in Thailand. Or for me,
12:02
Speaker 1: growing up as a US citizen, you always hear, oh,
12:05
Speaker 1: we have the best medical systems in the world, and
12:08
Speaker 1: you're paying for quality and all that. And at this
12:11
Speaker 1: point I'm fifteen years out of the country. I confirm
12:14
Speaker 1: that's not true, because every time I get something done
12:17
Speaker 1: outside of the country, it's at a lower cost, and
12:20
Speaker 1: especially in terms of dental care, the quality of care
12:24
Speaker 1: is much better and the quality of infrastructure. So, like
12:27
Speaker 1: I was saying, in addition to the patient ID badge
12:31
Speaker 1: that you get, that's very convenient. I found out when
12:34
Speaker 1: I got my root canal that after they do the
12:37
Speaker 1: root canal, which they did the same day. I walked
12:40
Speaker 1: in after they did the X ray and initial checkups
12:45
Speaker 1: and the doctor was like, wow, your teeth are terrible.
12:48
Speaker 1: And I was like, I know they're okay now because
12:51
Speaker 1: I just got electric toothbrush, but this is like two
12:53
Speaker 1: and a half decades of terrible dental care. And she said, well,
12:57
Speaker 1: we can just do the root canal right now. Do
13:00
Speaker 1: the root canal now. And I agreed to it. And
13:02
Speaker 1: it took like, I don't know, thirty minutes. They introduced
13:06
Speaker 1: me to the surgery dental surgery doctor on hand, and
13:11
Speaker 1: she pointed out an infection on that infection I had
13:14
Speaker 1: in Morocco, but anyway, let's start with the root canal.
13:18
Speaker 1: So I waited for maybe ten minutes for them to
13:20
Speaker 1: set up, and then the doctor called me in she
13:24
Speaker 1: gave me a shot which I barely felt of novacane
13:28
Speaker 1: or whatever numbing agent they use. She came back in
13:31
Speaker 1: after five minutes tested if the numbing had worked. It did,
13:35
Speaker 1: but she was so confident that she just dove right in.
13:39
Speaker 1: As soon as she checked how numb I was and
13:43
Speaker 1: started drilling and everything. The clinic was spotless clean. I've
13:48
Speaker 1: never seen anything remotely not sterile, spotless hygienic in BIDC,
13:56
Speaker 1: so I was pretty eighties with how clean it was.
13:58
Speaker 1: It was the most comfortable share probably I've ever been in.
14:02
Speaker 1: And as soon as she started working, it was just
14:05
Speaker 1: easy to tell this dentist knew exactly what she was doing,
14:10
Speaker 1: even when she oh, everyone there speaks perfect English. Also,
14:13
Speaker 1: of course all of the doctors are at least bilingual,
14:16
Speaker 1: like their local tie people tie doctors and dentists, but
14:20
Speaker 1: they speak fluent English. And she explained to me very
14:24
Speaker 1: clearly exactly what she was going to do to which teeth,
14:28
Speaker 1: and then what she would look at after we dealt
14:30
Speaker 1: with the emergency root canal, which he said was really
14:33
Speaker 1: bad and we have to deal with that. So she
14:36
Speaker 1: went right in, drilled, everything was over after like twenty
14:40
Speaker 1: five minutes, she took a scan so they could build
14:44
Speaker 1: a crown. And that's when I found out that they
14:46
Speaker 1: actually have a crown lab in the BIDC. So in
14:50
Speaker 1: the US, if you get dental work done like a
14:54
Speaker 1: root canal, you have to go to some guy who
14:55
Speaker 1: does root canals. He takes pictures, he sends the pictures
14:59
Speaker 1: of his work to another lab, and weeks later they'll
15:02
Speaker 1: mail a crown based on those pictures and the mold
15:05
Speaker 1: they take back to that dental lab. So it can
15:08
Speaker 1: take weeks for this all to go all around at BIDC.
15:13
Speaker 1: For like I said, fifty percent of the cost. Oh,
15:16
Speaker 1: I guess the cost was about seven hundred dollars US
15:21
Speaker 1: for the root canal itself plus seven hundred dollars for
15:25
Speaker 1: I chose the most expensive option, the gold alloy crown,
15:29
Speaker 1: because I looked it up online and they said gold
15:32
Speaker 1: lasts as long as you take care of it. And
15:35
Speaker 1: I've had this one for thirteen years now. I have
15:39
Speaker 1: had to re cement it twice, I think. But the
15:43
Speaker 1: crown itself is as good as the day I got it.
15:46
Speaker 1: Oh you know what, No, I thought it was twice,
15:49
Speaker 1: but actually the taie one I had to resement once
15:53
Speaker 1: ten years after it was done. The other one I'm
15:56
Speaker 1: thinking of was from a different dentist in the US. Anyway,
16:00
Speaker 1: this dental surgeon performed the most comfortable route canal I've had,
16:05
Speaker 1: and I have had a few, so I have something
16:07
Speaker 1: to compare that by as a medical provider. She just
16:11
Speaker 1: felt so in control of the situation. She had the
16:15
Speaker 1: lab for the crown downstairs, so the timeline was no price.
16:20
Speaker 1: As soon as I healed from the root canal, which
16:23
Speaker 1: she said, we can just wait a week. I was
16:25
Speaker 1: just going to stay in Thailand until I got all
16:27
Speaker 1: of that work done, and she said that if I
16:30
Speaker 1: was going to be there anyway, just make sure everything's
16:32
Speaker 1: healed up. So we'll wait a week, my crown will
16:35
Speaker 1: be ready to go. And since they fabricated there, there's
16:38
Speaker 1: a super low risk of rejection, which I have had.
16:41
Speaker 1: In the States, they have printed out gold crowns twice
16:45
Speaker 1: and they've not fit because they have to send it
16:48
Speaker 1: to a different lab or a different doctor who's never
16:51
Speaker 1: seen you or met you has to look at pictures
16:54
Speaker 1: and molds and build the crown and mail it back
16:57
Speaker 1: to your dentist. So it's a very disconnected system, whereas
17:01
Speaker 1: if you go to b IDC, you're paying less than
17:03
Speaker 1: half as much for any treatment, and they're doing everything
17:06
Speaker 1: in the same building with the same people who know
17:09
Speaker 1: you as their patient. And again, the quality of care.
17:13
Speaker 1: And I've been to a lot of dentists in the
17:15
Speaker 1: US and now several in Thailand is better in Thailand.
17:20
Speaker 1: And I know this that's crazy, but I actually wondered
17:23
Speaker 1: if it was because they're all like tinier and skinnier.
17:27
Speaker 1: So I wondered if it like their hands are smaller
17:29
Speaker 1: so they can more easily manipulate the tools and just
17:33
Speaker 1: get in your mouth and fixed stuff. And I was
17:35
Speaker 1: pretty convinced that was correct until the second root canal
17:38
Speaker 1: I got a few years later, and the guy was huge.
17:42
Speaker 1: He was well over six feet, just a really big guy,
17:44
Speaker 1: and he was just as skillful as this first surgeon
17:47
Speaker 1: that I had a few years previous. So it was like,
17:48
Speaker 1: I guess they're just great dentists. So anyway, this first
17:53
Speaker 1: female dental surgeon I had the first time I became
17:57
Speaker 1: a patient of the Bangkok International Dental Clinic, finished the
18:01
Speaker 1: whole root canal in less than half an hour. I
18:05
Speaker 1: really don't know exactly how fast it was, but it
18:08
Speaker 1: felt like, I don't know, twenty minutes or so. And
18:11
Speaker 1: then she finished and got out and she was like done,
18:15
Speaker 1: and I was like what. I couldn't believe she was
18:18
Speaker 1: done because it was so fast and it felt so good,
18:23
Speaker 1: like it felt done. It felt like a normal tooth basically,
18:27
Speaker 1: even though she had you know, numbed my mouth and everything.
18:30
Speaker 1: I just felt so taken care of and the tooth
18:33
Speaker 1: felt so well root canaled that I was shocked, but
18:37
Speaker 1: she you know, gave me a little mirror to check
18:40
Speaker 1: and water to spit out and all that crap, and
18:43
Speaker 1: then my root canal was done in like thirty minutes painlessly,
18:47
Speaker 1: and she was like, soap, come back in a week.
18:49
Speaker 1: We'll check just to make sure, but I will be
18:53
Speaker 1: checking with your crown when they make it with this
18:56
Speaker 1: mold that I had just bit down on, and we
18:58
Speaker 1: should be able to fit it, and you're on your way,
19:01
Speaker 1: and then if we do need to refit anything, we'll
19:03
Speaker 1: do it here since it's in the same building. It'll
19:05
Speaker 1: take forty eight hours maximum, and then we can retry
19:09
Speaker 1: and fit it again. And I was like, oh, okay,
19:11
Speaker 1: it does take like a couple days to like build
19:13
Speaker 1: the crown. She was like, no, we just have to
19:15
Speaker 1: say it might take forty eight hours, but we basically
19:18
Speaker 1: never have to redo crowns because we have this mold
19:22
Speaker 1: we make it here. It's just incredibly accurate. And I
19:25
Speaker 1: was like, okay, great. I went back one week later,
19:28
Speaker 1: she had my gold crown. She put it on, the
19:30
Speaker 1: fit was perfect, cemented it there, and it's worked ever since.
19:35
Speaker 1: Like I said, for I guess thirteen and a half
19:38
Speaker 1: years now since I first got that. I don't know,
19:41
Speaker 1: I said, half like as though I'm accurate at all,
19:44
Speaker 1: I have no idea what the actual time is, but
19:47
Speaker 1: about thirteen years, I'm so bad with time. And it
19:51
Speaker 1: was totally painless. I mean, she it was the same
19:54
Speaker 1: doctor and she was like, yep, I was in the
19:56
Speaker 1: lab when they made it. This is yours. It should
19:58
Speaker 1: fit right. She placed it on, you know, wiggled it
20:02
Speaker 1: a little and said does it feel secure. I was like,
20:04
Speaker 1: it feels like my tooth. Yeah, it feels perfect. And
20:07
Speaker 1: then she put the cement on, put it on ultra
20:10
Speaker 1: violetd it or whatever that blue light is so that
20:12
Speaker 1: it cured the adhesive. Done, and that is still like
20:17
Speaker 1: the best crown of the ones I had before from
20:21
Speaker 1: the States. They always had to finagle it in there
20:24
Speaker 1: and kind of rock it back and forth and push
20:26
Speaker 1: it on. And those ones from the States work for sure,
20:30
Speaker 1: like they're good crowns. But it's just a difference. Let's say,
20:35
Speaker 1: if the US crowns were ninety percent good or whatever.
20:38
Speaker 1: This was just one hundred percent perfect fitting crown that
20:41
Speaker 1: I got at the International Dental Clinic in Bangkok. And
20:45
Speaker 1: my dentist oversaw the making of my gold crown, which
20:50
Speaker 1: I'm sure improved the process because she had been looking
20:53
Speaker 1: at my tooth that she had just done the root
20:57
Speaker 1: canal on before she helped them, or she oversaw anyway,
21:01
Speaker 1: the gold crown making process, which you don't get in
21:06
Speaker 1: the States because every lab is different, and so they
21:09
Speaker 1: have to, like I said, mail your information to another
21:14
Speaker 1: clinic where they do work and then mail it back,
21:16
Speaker 1: and if that screws up, they have to mail it
21:18
Speaker 1: back and takes a week each way. It's a whole
21:20
Speaker 1: pain which I have gone through in the States, but
21:22
Speaker 1: I haven't gone through in thirteen and a half years
21:24
Speaker 1: because I never go back to the States for dental
21:27
Speaker 1: work anymore. I always go to Thailand. Oh, speaking of which, Okay,
21:30
Speaker 1: so this first dental surgeon I had, like, I had
21:34
Speaker 1: the X rays and she was like, okay, that was
21:36
Speaker 1: one of your problems, but like, you're probably going to
21:39
Speaker 1: need other treatments because your teeth are terrible. She said
21:44
Speaker 1: it like nicely and professionally, but she was saying that
21:46
Speaker 1: my teeth were terrible. And I was like, yeah, okay,
21:48
Speaker 1: so what else do I need to do? And she
21:50
Speaker 1: was like, I'm pretty sure you have a super bad
21:53
Speaker 1: jawbone infection on the other side of your mouth. It
21:57
Speaker 1: doesn't happen very often, but it is a exactly what
22:00
Speaker 1: this X ray im looking at looks like to me,
22:03
Speaker 1: and we can take care of that right now if
22:05
Speaker 1: you want to. And I asked some follow up questions,
22:08
Speaker 1: just like how bad was it, how much would it
22:10
Speaker 1: cost to take care of what was the healing process like,
22:14
Speaker 1: and she had all the answers on the tip of
22:15
Speaker 1: her tongue. It was a lot more intensive than the
22:17
Speaker 1: root canal because she actually had to cut through the
22:21
Speaker 1: gum and then into the jawbone and then clean out
22:24
Speaker 1: the infection and then sterilize that and then put the
22:28
Speaker 1: bone back on and then sew the gum back on
22:31
Speaker 1: and then it would be done. And I was like, wow, okay,
22:33
Speaker 1: so how long does that process like take and she
22:36
Speaker 1: shrugged and she was like like thirty minutes. And I
22:41
Speaker 1: was like, thirty minutes, like for the whole thing. She's
22:44
Speaker 1: like she kind of shrugged and she was like, I
22:46
Speaker 1: don't know, could take an hour if there's a complication.
22:49
Speaker 1: But this is my specialty, like this specific type of surgery,
22:52
Speaker 1: so I know exactly what I'm doing, I know exactly
22:55
Speaker 1: where to cut. I have the thing right here, and
22:58
Speaker 1: she held up the picture was like, this is just
23:00
Speaker 1: exactly what I know how to do, so it will
23:04
Speaker 1: not take a very long time. And I was like, wow, okay,
23:08
Speaker 1: when do we schedule that for and she said, well,
23:12
Speaker 1: it's on the other side of your mouth from your
23:14
Speaker 1: new crown, so let's just do the surgery now. And
23:19
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, nat now now like today now.
23:21
Speaker 1: She was like, you're already here. I'm here too. We
23:23
Speaker 1: can just do it. And the sooner you get rid
23:26
Speaker 1: of the infection, the better. And she had impressed me
23:29
Speaker 1: so much with the root canal and the crown and
23:31
Speaker 1: just her knowledgeableness and confidence. I was just like, yeah, yes,
23:36
Speaker 1: let's do it. And that also maybe took thirty minutes.
23:40
Speaker 1: I don't know, not much longer, if any longer. She
23:45
Speaker 1: put a thing that held my lips apart. That's the
23:48
Speaker 1: other thing. Every time I've gotten dental work in the US,
23:52
Speaker 1: it takes them so much time to access my tooth
23:57
Speaker 1: before they can actually start work on It. Never happens
24:01
Speaker 1: at the BIDC these guys. I don't know if it's
24:05
Speaker 1: their training or what, but I much prefer these surgeons,
24:10
Speaker 1: she said, thirty minutes, and she put in the thing
24:13
Speaker 1: that opens my lips so that she can access my
24:17
Speaker 1: gum easier. She didn't cut into my cheek or anything.
24:20
Speaker 1: She just, you know, there's a device that moves your
24:23
Speaker 1: lips away from your gum so the dentists can work
24:25
Speaker 1: on your gums. But she put that thing in and
24:28
Speaker 1: a minute later I had the shot. She confirmed I
24:32
Speaker 1: was numb five minutes later, and then I didn't feel anything,
24:36
Speaker 1: but apparently what she did, and she showed me pictures
24:39
Speaker 1: of the whole thing, the whole process. Cut open the
24:42
Speaker 1: gum of the infected jaw, She cut opened the jawbone,
24:47
Speaker 1: she removed everything, cleaned it out, put the jawbone back in,
24:52
Speaker 1: sewed the gum over, and it was all done in
24:56
Speaker 1: I don't know, thirty minutes, super short time because I'm
25:00
Speaker 1: just imagining all these awful things or like you know,
25:03
Speaker 1: what could go wrong, And each of these steps is
25:05
Speaker 1: taking a few minutes, but each step is over after
25:08
Speaker 1: a few minutes, as well the time it takes for
25:11
Speaker 1: me to worry about what the procedure could be. She's
25:14
Speaker 1: already done the gumflap, she's already taken out, and she
25:17
Speaker 1: talked me through it, so I'd be like, oh, man,
25:20
Speaker 1: like maybe this job bone because she has to drill
25:23
Speaker 1: into my bone, this might be bad. And then she's like, Okay,
25:26
Speaker 1: I have the job bone open. We're going to start
25:28
Speaker 1: cleaning it out. And I was like what because I
25:30
Speaker 1: didn't feel anything and it was so fast, but yeah.
25:35
Speaker 1: Then the surgery was done and she had put everything
25:38
Speaker 1: back in, so did it all back up? And I
25:42
Speaker 1: have never had a reoccurrence of that infection. And I
25:47
Speaker 1: had had that for a long time, probably few years,
25:52
Speaker 1: like it had been on and off hurting. She took
25:54
Speaker 1: care of it in thirty minutes. It was gone and
25:57
Speaker 1: it's never come back. And I mean, I can look
26:00
Speaker 1: there's no scar or anything. Your mouth heels pretty quickly,
26:03
Speaker 1: and you know it's damp in your mouth, but it just, yeah,
26:08
Speaker 1: it feels and looks like a normal jawbone and gums
26:12
Speaker 1: and everything. I don't know. I've never had any trouble
26:14
Speaker 1: in that region of my mouth since, and that area
26:17
Speaker 1: of my jobbone had been a problem location before for years.
26:22
Speaker 1: So I went back to the dental clinic later and
26:26
Speaker 1: got the other problems all dealt with in the exact same, simple,
26:32
Speaker 1: precise manner that the Bangkok International Dental Clinic is known for.
26:38
Speaker 1: And I have experienced. I've been to the BIDC, like
26:41
Speaker 1: I said, five or six times something like that, and
26:44
Speaker 1: I've never had anything close to what I would call
26:47
Speaker 1: a bad experience. I've never waited, I've never they've never
26:50
Speaker 1: screwed up anything. Nothing has ever hurt. I do have
26:55
Speaker 1: to get more numbing agent than a lot of other
26:58
Speaker 1: patients have, even in the States for dental work, but
27:03
Speaker 1: I tell them that beforehand, and they give me an
27:07
Speaker 1: extra dose. In the US, I've had dentists come back
27:11
Speaker 1: five six times and give me more numbing agent, and
27:15
Speaker 1: then they do the test and I can feel it,
27:17
Speaker 1: I'm like, I need more, and they do the test
27:19
Speaker 1: and I feel it and I just have to keep
27:21
Speaker 1: doing it until I'm finally numb. But in this Bangkok
27:26
Speaker 1: International Dental Clinic, I've never had that problem. They either
27:29
Speaker 1: numb better or they're using better chemicals because when they
27:33
Speaker 1: do it, it works, The numbing works, and they somehow
27:37
Speaker 1: know exactly how much to give me usually the first time.
27:39
Speaker 1: The next time I got a root canal, I think
27:42
Speaker 1: that guy had to give me two shots, but after
27:45
Speaker 1: the second shot it was done, and he was as
27:48
Speaker 1: skilled as my first dentist. It was a different dentist.
27:52
Speaker 1: But when I went in there and that was like
27:53
Speaker 1: a year later, that I finally got the other problems
27:56
Speaker 1: dealt with. Because after I got that root canal and
27:59
Speaker 1: the infection delt with, my mouth felt so much better
28:04
Speaker 1: I was. I didn't even notice the other problems that
28:07
Speaker 1: were in the x rays we talked about, and I
28:09
Speaker 1: was just like floating on cloud nine for a year,
28:11
Speaker 1: and I traveled to other countries and I was like,
28:14
Speaker 1: I should just go get all that other stuff done
28:16
Speaker 1: because it was so painless and easy and cheap, and
28:19
Speaker 1: so I bounced back to Thailand also Thailand is such
28:23
Speaker 1: a great country. There's the people are super nice, the
28:27
Speaker 1: culture ever, the food is so good. I love Thailand.
28:32
Speaker 1: I visited there more than a dozen I've been to
28:34
Speaker 1: Thailand so many times. It's just a fun, beautiful place
28:37
Speaker 1: with the nicest people ever, and amazing medical industry. I'm
28:44
Speaker 1: talking about dentistry now, but because dentistry was so successful
28:49
Speaker 1: for Thailand and inviting medical tourism to their country, they
28:53
Speaker 1: started investing in all medical fields, like a few years
28:59
Speaker 1: later after they in the dental field, and you can
29:02
Speaker 1: get everything done there for way, way cheaper than US prices.
29:08
Speaker 1: Cancer treatments, any long term chronic illness treatments, all the
29:12
Speaker 1: treatments they have in the States they have in Thailand.
29:15
Speaker 1: Clinics as well, knee hip replacements, joint replacements of any kind.
29:21
Speaker 1: You can get cosmetic surgery there. Transgender surgeries are very
29:27
Speaker 1: common and very well done there. Apparently. I recommend Thailand
29:34
Speaker 1: for medical tourism basically for everything, based on my having
29:38
Speaker 1: gone to just the international dental clinics so many times
29:41
Speaker 1: and knowing a bunch of other expats in Thailand who
29:44
Speaker 1: go there for all of their blood tests and their surgeries.
29:49
Speaker 1: Every single person who gets medical care done in Thailand
29:52
Speaker 1: gives glowing reviews, like you can listen to me gushing
29:56
Speaker 1: here about the dental field. If you're in Thailand and
29:59
Speaker 1: you talk to the people, like other expats who go
30:02
Speaker 1: to Thai hospitals, they all sound like me. With whatever
30:06
Speaker 1: they've had done, like a hip replacement or even cosmetic
30:09
Speaker 1: surgeries or anything. Everyone's gonna give you these great reviews
30:13
Speaker 1: because the doctors in Thailand are skilled at at least
30:18
Speaker 1: the same level as any other country. And like I said,
30:21
Speaker 1: for my money, in my opinion, those doctors are better
30:25
Speaker 1: than any doctor I've dealt with in the States. Okay,
30:28
Speaker 1: So I went back to Thailand and I went to
30:33
Speaker 1: the dental clinic. They scanned me, I went upstairs, the
30:36
Speaker 1: doctor was right there. He checked my X rays. I
30:39
Speaker 1: got all new X rays again, and he was like, hey,
30:43
Speaker 1: did we tell you to do all this last year
30:45
Speaker 1: and then you didn't? And I was like, yeah, but
30:49
Speaker 1: I did get the surgery and the crown that I
30:51
Speaker 1: figured I could come back later, because I just figured
30:55
Speaker 1: I could come back later. And he was like, yeah,
30:58
Speaker 1: I mean, you should have got it earlier, but we
31:01
Speaker 1: can do it now. And he basically did the same
31:04
Speaker 1: thing now now now, and he took out one of
31:09
Speaker 1: my teeth, drilled it in, did a roue canal in
31:11
Speaker 1: half an hour. I felt nothing for the entire process.
31:14
Speaker 1: It was done. I went back in a week later.
31:17
Speaker 1: He had my gold crown. He put it in. It's
31:20
Speaker 1: always worked, fits perfectly, and he put me at ease.
31:24
Speaker 1: It was again the confidence and obvious skill that this
31:27
Speaker 1: doctor had. I just wasn't worried at all when he
31:31
Speaker 1: started work. And also, of course my experience now with
31:33
Speaker 1: two dental surgeries at that clinic going flawlessly, with great
31:39
Speaker 1: quality of care overall, and just the system itself is great,
31:43
Speaker 1: and yeah, I don't have to wait any time. They
31:45
Speaker 1: do all the work in house. So it was pretty
31:48
Speaker 1: comfortable when I saw this second dentist. And then he
31:52
Speaker 1: was so skilled that I was comfortable getting the work done.
31:55
Speaker 1: And I got all the work done, and I was
31:58
Speaker 1: paying so much less than I would have, and I
32:00
Speaker 1: didn't have to deal with any insurance companies, and I
32:03
Speaker 1: had the money because, like I said, I was teaching English.
32:06
Speaker 1: So I'm saving two thousand a month roughly, and each
32:10
Speaker 1: root canal and the gold crown on top cost me
32:14
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred ish. It looks like it's about fifteen hundred
32:17
Speaker 1: now ten years later if you get a root canal.
32:20
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the fee schedule. Oh, that's another great
32:23
Speaker 1: thing about getting your dental work done at BIDC. They
32:28
Speaker 1: have their full fee schedule listed online, so before you go,
32:32
Speaker 1: you can check exactly how much everything is going to cost,
32:36
Speaker 1: how much, like down to the x ray. They'll tell
32:38
Speaker 1: you exactly how much an x ray is, how much
32:40
Speaker 1: your veneers are, how much your braces are, your root canal, crown,
32:44
Speaker 1: whatever it is. That price is on the website right
32:47
Speaker 1: now and anyone can go look at it. Just type
32:49
Speaker 1: in BIDC Dentist Bangkok fee schedule and you'll see all
32:55
Speaker 1: of the prices for every procedure they do, which is
32:59
Speaker 1: every procedure. So my experience with medical tourism is mostly
33:04
Speaker 1: limited to dentistry, and it's been a one hundred percent
33:10
Speaker 1: positive experience. And I've saved a ton of money, and
33:14
Speaker 1: I've saved a ton of time, and I've got better
33:17
Speaker 1: quality of care by going to another country for my
33:21
Speaker 1: medical needs. Now, when I was in Cambodia, I hung
33:25
Speaker 1: out with this group of old dudes and we talked
33:28
Speaker 1: in ate sushi on the porch and at this micro
33:30
Speaker 1: brewery half sushi bar. That was so cool. But they
33:35
Speaker 1: all had huge problems, and they all did medical tourism.
33:39
Speaker 1: They went to hospitals in Cambodia though, and had similar stories.
33:45
Speaker 1: One guy had cancer like another guy actually did have
33:49
Speaker 1: a hip replacement, I think, But they all have the
33:52
Speaker 1: exact same stories. The quality of care is fantastic. The
33:56
Speaker 1: price is so much cheaper than the US. The turnaround
33:59
Speaker 1: time is so much cheaper for any procedure. Yeah, cheaper
34:04
Speaker 1: medical procedures with a better quality of care. I mean,
34:08
Speaker 1: you can't go wrong, even if you add in the
34:09
Speaker 1: ticket price for going to another country. If you have
34:13
Speaker 1: anything not extremely minor, it's worth it. If you add
34:18
Speaker 1: in the price of the flight as well, especially if
34:21
Speaker 1: you factor in the quality of care you're getting. It
34:25
Speaker 1: makes so much sense. Especially if you're a US citizen
34:28
Speaker 1: with a crumbling ancient healthcare system that barely is limping
34:34
Speaker 1: along and probably most importantly puts profits far above patient care,
34:40
Speaker 1: it makes sense to try out medical tourism. You can
34:43
Speaker 1: skip ahead to the end where I mentioned some basic
34:46
Speaker 1: prices average prices in the different countries, but for any
34:50
Speaker 1: sort of significant medical care. You'll be saving thousands to
34:54
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars just by getting a four
34:57
Speaker 1: hundred dollars plane ticket to Bangkok. There's no advantage it
35:00
Speaker 1: doesn't have over the US medical system, and you don't
35:04
Speaker 1: have to go to Thailand. I highly recommend Thailand because
35:07
Speaker 1: I've been there so much and I know that personally.
35:11
Speaker 1: It's great for dentistry. I know women who have gone
35:15
Speaker 1: in for fibroids, I know transgender surgery patients, I know
35:21
Speaker 1: cancer patients. I know lots of people who get blood
35:24
Speaker 1: tests and all their checkups done there, So I'm very
35:29
Speaker 1: familiar with that country. But there are lots of countries
35:32
Speaker 1: that people recommend. Colombia keeps coming up as the best
35:36
Speaker 1: country for cosmetic surgery. I just met someone here like
35:40
Speaker 1: two weeks ago who told me she was planning on
35:43
Speaker 1: going to Colombia to get her cosmetic surgery done because
35:46
Speaker 1: it was well known that Colombia has the best cosmetic
35:49
Speaker 1: surgery and it's so cheap. So if you're going to
35:52
Speaker 1: get cosmetic surgery, maybe look into Colombia. But whatever you're
35:56
Speaker 1: going to do, if you have a specific condition, just
36:00
Speaker 1: type into Google medical tourism your condition, and it'll tell
36:05
Speaker 1: you the countries that are the best at that. You
36:07
Speaker 1: can look at the hospitals and the reviews from actual
36:09
Speaker 1: patients and make your decision on that. There's a lot
36:13
Speaker 1: of good information online. There are a lot of good reviews,
36:16
Speaker 1: and you can often contact the hospitals directly through their
36:19
Speaker 1: website with any questions you might have about the procedure
36:22
Speaker 1: itself or the process of becoming a patient when you
36:26
Speaker 1: fly over there. But if you have anything like significant
36:30
Speaker 1: medical tourism is a great way to go because you're
36:33
Speaker 1: going to save a lot of money, you're probably going
36:35
Speaker 1: to get a much higher quality of care than you
36:37
Speaker 1: would in the States, and you can get it done
36:40
Speaker 1: where you want to get it done. If you want
36:42
Speaker 1: to travel to a specific country anyway, go to that country,
36:47
Speaker 1: get your medical procedure done, actually use it for tourism,
36:51
Speaker 1: and then head back. Although I don't recommend it because
36:53
Speaker 1: living abroad is way better. Anyway, that's my story about
36:58
Speaker 1: medical tourism and my recommendations. Let's look at the fee
37:03
Speaker 1: schedule that I talked about real quick because it's available online,
37:07
Speaker 1: so you can get a no insurance, you can get
37:10
Speaker 1: a root canal. Oh okay, they're even cheaper than I remember,
37:15
Speaker 1: so I think my total cost then for the root
37:17
Speaker 1: canal plus the gold crown was only about twelve hundred
37:22
Speaker 1: That sounds more correct, because depending on what tooth you
37:25
Speaker 1: have right here online, it's between three hundred and five
37:29
Speaker 1: hundred US dollars for the root canal procedure, and then
37:33
Speaker 1: four hundred dollars if you want the tooth looking crown,
37:38
Speaker 1: and seven hundred eighty dollars if you want a gold crown.
37:42
Speaker 1: And I always got the gold crowns, so mine would
37:44
Speaker 1: have been about twelve hundred bucks total. So if you
37:46
Speaker 1: have a moler to get the root canal on, which
37:49
Speaker 1: is the most expensive tooth to get it done on,
37:51
Speaker 1: that's five hundred US bucks, and then it's four hundred
37:54
Speaker 1: for your crown. So for under one thousand dollars you
37:57
Speaker 1: can have your root canal and and crown done in
38:02
Speaker 1: a week. Obviously, way way cheaper than the States with
38:06
Speaker 1: the same medical technology and education for their doctors, with
38:10
Speaker 1: a higher quality of care and all the work done
38:12
Speaker 1: in house with the doctors you have. Veneers are less
38:16
Speaker 1: than two hundred bucks. Full dentures are two thousand in
38:20
Speaker 1: visi line is two thousand, and I know for sure
38:23
Speaker 1: in visi line is like five thousand or more in
38:26
Speaker 1: the States. And all those prices are without insurance. So
38:30
Speaker 1: you can check online bidc Bangkok Dental International, Dental Clinic
38:35
Speaker 1: Fee schedule, and just check all these prices for yourself.
38:39
Speaker 1: If you have any teeth stuff you got to get done,
38:40
Speaker 1: go get it done there. They are good And it's
38:44
Speaker 1: been over a decade since I got all this work
38:46
Speaker 1: done and it's still working. So cost, quality of care,
38:50
Speaker 1: quality of procedure, state of the art medical technology, and expertise.
38:55
Speaker 1: If you need medical care, medical tourism is worth looking into.
39:00
Speaker 1: It has every advantage. It has been great talking to
39:04
Speaker 1: you again. Medical tourism is such a great shortcut to
39:09
Speaker 1: a vast improvement of life. Like there's nothing more important
39:13
Speaker 1: than our health that determines our quality of life. And
39:17
Speaker 1: if you're trapped in a crumbling or broken healthcare system
39:22
Speaker 1: like the US has, there's no reason to participate in
39:25
Speaker 1: that system, and every reason to pay into and participate
39:30
Speaker 1: into a system that actually provides quality medical care. And
39:35
Speaker 1: other countries know this, so they've invested in their medical
39:38
Speaker 1: fields because they know the quality of care is so
39:41
Speaker 1: poor in the US compared to the cost that all
39:45
Speaker 1: they have to do is train their doctors. They pay
39:47
Speaker 1: for their doctors to go through medical school, use the
39:50
Speaker 1: same technology and education that US doctors get, and then
39:54
Speaker 1: you can fly over there, access the highest level of
39:58
Speaker 1: expertise and technology, and have your procedures done with the
40:02
Speaker 1: same or better quality of care at a vastly lower price.
40:06
Speaker 1: And it bears repeating that this is the bidc the
40:09
Speaker 1: Bangkok International Dental Clinic. I'm talking about the most famous
40:13
Speaker 1: dental clinic in the whole country. So if you go
40:16
Speaker 1: to a local clinic, all those prices I said that
40:18
Speaker 1: are already less than half the price of a non
40:22
Speaker 1: insured procedure in the States, you can slice that in
40:25
Speaker 1: half or more again to get a lower price if
40:28
Speaker 1: you just go to a local clinic instead of the
40:30
Speaker 1: best clinic in the country. I mean, if you don't
40:33
Speaker 1: even have the money to pay half the price of
40:35
Speaker 1: the US prices, you can fly to Asia, teach English
40:39
Speaker 1: for six months, have all the money you need to
40:41
Speaker 1: pay for your medical procedures, and then fly back after.
40:44
Speaker 1: Like if you have zero savings at all, but you
40:46
Speaker 1: need some medical work done and you're lucky enough to
40:49
Speaker 1: be a native or fluent English speaker, easy enough to
40:52
Speaker 1: go to Asia and teach English, you'll instantly have the
40:55
Speaker 1: savings you need to pay for your medical care. One
40:58
Speaker 1: of my teachers literally paid their medical debt. That's why
41:02
Speaker 1: they started teaching, and then when they realized they could
41:05
Speaker 1: pay it off, they kept teaching until their medical debt
41:07
Speaker 1: was gone, and then they kept traveling. Anyway, I can't
41:11
Speaker 1: recommend looking into medical tourism enough if you have any
41:15
Speaker 1: medical care you need. I hope you have a great day.
41:19
Speaker 1: Thank you again for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.