Costa Rica Dentist in Arenal – VIP Member recommends Dra. Tatiana Ortiz

Rising costs of dentistry in United States:

Rising costs of dentistry in the U.S. has reached an all time high with no relief in sight. Many people are forced to go without or are going deeply in to debt to get much needed dentistry.

Searching for an alternative:

It all began with an internet search for dentists in other countries. I had heard that excellent and affordable dentistry was available to Americans willing to travel and I needed to do some research.

The first few searches brought me to places like Mexico and Thailand where I was able to view before and after photos and read the stories of those individuals gracious enough to post their experiences. But everything changed when I happened upon an article about Costa Rica on the WeLoveCostaRica.com website.

I always wanted to visit this beautiful country and I was mesmerized with the possibility of finding competent and affordable dentistry while traveling to this amazing place.

Finding Dra. Tatiana Ortiz:

A little more digging produced an article about a dentist in the quaint town of La Fortuna, Costa Rica. I was intrigued. The article had photos of the lovely town, the dental clinic “A Perfect Smile“, the beautiful scenery and the amazing Arenal Volcano, which overlooks the town.

I knew this was my place. After sending an email and calling the contact information I was left waiting for a reply that never came. I decided to post a question about this dentist on the “WeLoveCostaRica.com” website. An answer came shortly thereafter, “that dentist has moved out of the country, but Dra. Tatiana Ortiz is the best dentist in town”, accompanied by an email address for her. I sent her an email, explained my dental needs and the needs of my brother and then began a unique patient-dentist relationship.

Dra. Ortiz set me straight on how much less the dental work would be there, but could not give us an actual estimate without examining us. She instilled in me a feeling of complete confidence. She sent some prices on crowns and bridges, amalgam removal, composite fillings and root canals. I was so hopeful. The prices in La Fortuna were even much less than in San Jose, the nations largest city.

We plan our trip:

Anyone who has ever heard anything about Costa Rica has certainly heard it is a beautiful country, the “Ticos” are kind and gentle people and the cost is relatively inexpensive for Americans.

I was ready to dive in full steam ahead. I was confident I could make this trip work, get our much needed dental work and have a wonderful time in the process. I visited many websites about Costa Rica, joined the WeLoveCostaRica.com website and bought a couple of budget travel books. We began to realize that it was actually affordable to stay and eat in Costa Rica, namely La Fortuna.

La Fortuna:

Our plan was to fly to San Jose, spend the night and then head up to La Fortuna the next morning. We had scheduled an appointment with Dra. Ortiz the afternoon of our first day, so rather than taking the bus to La Fortuna (a 4 hour journey) we prearranged a private driver (a 3 hour journey).

After leaving the city the scenery began to change to stunningly beautiful hillsides, rain forests and mountains, completely lush and full of life. We arrived in the town of La Fortuna, a quiet and charismatic town with a very comfortable feel.

Our next stop was “Gringo Pete’s Hostel”, a funky and artsy hostel in the center of La Fortuna which I found in the “Lonely Planet” travel guide. The hostel had rooms available for $3-$5 per person per night. It ended up being an awesome place to stay. We were so impressed with the quality of the food in Costa Rica.

We ate like royalty for very little money. La Fortuna has many “sodas” which are small, family run eateries found throughout Costa Rica. The quantity of quality food at such inexpensive prices made the experience so much sweeter.

We meet Dra. Tatiana Ortiz and Dr. Allen Arce:

After organizing ourselves at the hostel, we walked in to town, which to our surprise only took a few minutes. We arrived at the address Tatiana gave us only to discover the clinic was named “A Perfect Smile”. The exact place I was looking for originally.

We finally got to meet Tatiana and her partner and new owner of the clinic, Dr. Allen Arce. They got right in and examined us, took x rays and came up with a plan of treatment. The next day we met with them to discuss the plan and the cost. To our surprise, we were able to afford everything we needed.

Several weeks later and many hours in the dentist chair found us with healthy and beautiful smiles. This is indeed a situation where we saved thousands of dollars. Even after we added in the cost of getting there and staying there, it was considerably less. I cannot say enough how grateful I am to these two wonderful dentists.

A Perfect Smile, A perfect dental experience:

The reason I am writing this article is share this experience with those who are searching for an affordable and competent dentist. I speak to those people who have been quoted many thousands of dollars to repair their teeth or to those who are tired of paying outrageous fees for their dentistry and would like to see a beautiful country in the process.

This article is also to show our appreciation to these two talented dentists at “A Perfect Smile”. We took a chance and it worked. We found ourselves in need of major dentistry and we knew what the cost would be here in the U.S. We knew we could blaze this trail and write about it later.

Our thanks to VIP Member Sheila Kelly for writing this wonderful article. Sheila is self-employed artist living in Santa Barbara, California.

Note from Scott Oliver – Founder of WeLoveCostaRica.com – So many people have some sort of hidden agenda when it comes to taking some time to recommend someone and others are afraid of repercussions.

When I asked Sheila why she was recommending these two young dentists, she said to me that: “I have two reasons for writing this article, one is to help others who need a lot of dentistry and cannot afford prices here. People are going without and need to know that there are alternatives.

The second reason is to help out these dentists who are young and just starting out and have been so gracious to me and my brother. The quality of dentistry and customer service was so exceptional that I am compelled to write about it.”

All I can say is thank goodness for people like Sheila Kelly who is thinking about helping two wonderful young professionals and our other VIP Members.

If you have enjoyed a remarkable experience with a Costa Rican professional and would like to send me an note about your experiences, please do and, don’t worry about not being a write! Heck! I’m no writer and I’ve “written” two books….

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.