DDS Dental Costa Rica

Excellent treatment from both doctors - they listened to my priorities and were at pains to ensure that we understood both the process and the treatment objectives.

I had both a bridge with crowns, and a complete bottom arch (four on one implant) installed, and am very pleased with the results. My first visit was in October 2017 for the four implant anchors to be put in and also to get a temporary bottom arch installed. The entire staff was very professional and helpful, taking time to explain procedures and answer questions. The office has up-to-date, spotlessly clean equipment. Not much pain on the first visit, no pain on the second. My bite is nearly perfect, allowing me to eat all the foods I'd missed since getting a bottom denture that never seemed to stay in place. With an in-house lab and artist the final arch and bridge were quickly completed and look very natural. The price is established with an estimate emailed to the patient once the surgeon and dentist have received a panoramic x-ray. No additional charges were made; and it's hard to say how much I saved, since US dentists specializing in implants don't give estimates, but after research I'm guessing, after all travel expenses are figured in, I saved at least 40% and have work that is undoubtedly as good as any I'd find in the USA.

I wanted to take my time with my review and get my thoughts together before I sat down to write this. I work construction and after 20 years of traveling and going to a dentist only when I had problems had left me with very few natural teeth. When I met my wife, she got me into her normal dentist and we tried dentures, those lasted about two days. I couldn’t stand having a foreign object in my mouth. That’s when I started researching implants. After becoming discouraged at the cost involved with implants I came across a few websites advertising dental tourism. That is how I came across DDS Dental in San Jose Costa Rica. DDS is an office full of specialists, which is rare in the US. Most family dentists in the states do it all, cavities, root canals, extractions, etc. While most are good at their job its always better to have a specialist in a particular area so that is another reason that I was drawn to DDS There are a few blogs about DDS and even some YouTube interviews with some of the specialists down there, so I reached out to them for an estimate. At the same time, I reached out to a few other dentists in Costa Rica for estimates. DDS came in right in the middle of the pack as far as price goes, so that combined with the blogs I read and videos I watched sold me enough to make the leap and schedule an appointment. After several emails back and forth we agreed upon a time and I made the travel arrangements for my wife and I to travel to Costa Rica. If you have never been to a central American country before you will be in for some surprises. Insane motorcycle riders and just generally a lot different than what you will see in the US in every way. Flights are easy, we flew down the first time with Delta and it is a relatively short flight (3.5hrs) from their hub in Atlanta. The flight was around the same cost for a normal flight in the US (around $700). We basically picked a hotel out of a hat and were pleasantly surprised at the one we chose for our first trip. We stayed at the Hotel Costa Verde for around $45/night, this included a typical Costa Rican breakfast (rice and beans and scrambled eggs) and of course the stellar Costa Rican Coffee. The hotel arranged a shuttle to pick us up at the airport and we used taxis to get from the hotel to the office. I initially went in February of 2018; my first appointment was with Dr Gonzalez and Dr Prada. Dr Gonzalez is the implant specialist at DDS. My initial impression of the office was great. Having worked all over the country and with poor dental health means that I have been to 30+ different dentists in various regions of the US. I can say without a doubt in my mind that DDS was equal or better to every dentist I have seen in the US. My appointment was at 8:30 am on a Monday and after an initial panoramic X-ray we sat down to discuss the game plan and what happens next. The game plan was the same as my initial consultations over email, 8 implants and extract a few broken back teeth. We were told to come back at 10am and they would start the procedure. At 10 I was taken back to Dr Gonzalez’s room and they began with the anesthesiologist, 5 hours later I woke up with 8 implants. My wife paid our bill and we were told to come back on Wednesday for a follow up. After getting back to the motel, I slept until the next morning. Upon waking up all I noticed were the few stiches in my mouth and some slight discomfort and swelling, at no time was I ever in any pain. Uncomfortable is the best way to describe it, although that lessened significantly as each day passed. On Wednesday we went back and met with Dr Gonzalez and took another X-ray. He said everything looked good and we were essentially done for the first trip. He said we can come back in 4-6 months when the implants healed and then Dr Prada would take over and restore the implants. That was when we took the opportunity to see what a beautiful country Costa Rica is. Since our plane didn’t leave until Sunday we rented a car and drove over to the coast and spent 3 days just relaxing. Fast forward to September of 2019, I had a root canal fail while working away from home so I jadhad an additional implant put in in its place. After a few emails to DDS they assured me that it wouldn’t be an issue for them to restore that implant as well as my others on the next trip to see them. With work being hectic I didn’t get back to DDS until two weeks ago (Feb 2019), so It had been right at a year since I had the implants put in. This trip was much more involved than the first one. I needed to be there for a full 10 business days, and I elected to have all of my natural teeth crowned so that They all would match, and I could have a movie star smile (vain I know but I don’t care). On our first trip we saw that there is a hotel literally right across the street from the office, so I elected to stay there. I went by myself and my wife came down for the weekend we were going to be there. This visit involved a lot of novacaine and grinding on my teeth for the crowns and taking molds of my teeth for the crowns for my front teeth and for the implant crowns. This was all performed by Dr Prada. I have to say that Dr Gonzalez is an absolute master at his craft. The implant I had put in in the US was even not quite up to his standards, but he said it would be OK. Dr Prada is a master as well, I would venture to call him an artist as well as a top-notch dentist. He spent several days going over my crowns and restorations, fine tuning my bite and the fit of the implant crowns. After coming home and living with my new teeth for a while I can say that they are perfect. The color is exactly what I wanted, and my bite is perfect. After years of not being able to eat easily and having to avoid certain foods I can now eat anything I want again. I would recommend anyone to DDS dental and the specialists there. We will probably schedule an appointment once a year to go down and have my teeth cleaned and get a check up. They have changed my life for the better and I am very very happy with my smile now.

Excellent doctors! Highly recommended!

My dental treatment was perfectly done, and the price was very affordable. The doctors speak fluent English, they offer a very friendly and caring service. Also the clinic is located in a very nice neighbourhood. I highly recommend DDS Dental Clinic