Canadian Dentistry Is a Rip-Off

My job has a dental plan, but not a good one.

It barely covers one cleaning per year. Anything else is pretty much out of pocket.

A couple years ago, I needed a root canal.

The cost was $1900, including x-rays.

I submitted the receipt to my office. They don’t use an insurance agency. It’s an internal dental plan.

I was eligible for a $600 reimbursement.

They added the money to my paycheck, where it was taxed into oblivion as income.

When all was said and done, the difference in my take-home pay was just over $200 on a $1900 expense.

Ever since, I try to avoid the dentist.

A few months ago, I started planning a trip to Egypt.

I thought that since costs there are pretty inexpensive, maybe I can get some dental work while I’m in the country.

I certainly needed it.

About a year ago, I lost a tooth, and there’s been a gap ever since.

My dentist in Canada wanted to install a bridge, but that would compromise the healthy teeth adjacent to the missing one.

An implant makes more sense, but those are expensive.

I also had a chipped crown that I wanted to replace, and the root canal I mentioned earlier still needed to be crowned.

I started researching dental work in Egypt. Maybe I could see the pyramids, tour the country, and get my teeth fixed while I’m there.

It turns out that dental tourism is pretty common in countries like Egypt.

Mexico, Turkey, Hungary, and Thailand are also popular destinations for dental tourism.

Canada’s dental system is heavily tied to insurance billing. Because most procedures are paid through insurance plans, patients rarely see the true cost.

Over time, this creates a system where prices rise faster than in countries where patients pay directly, and dentists often require unnecessary procedures.

For example, I wanted to get a simple teeth cleaning. I contacted a few dentists in my city, and all of them insisted that I needed x-rays. They refused to clean my teeth without them.

I know for a fact that you don’t need an x-ray to clean somebody’s teeth.

So after doing some research, I found a dental office called Perfect Smile located in the Heliopolis neighborhood of Cairo and reached out to them.

I explained that I was visiting Egypt as a tourist, so my time would be limited.

We set up an appointment for the day after I arrived.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Egypt, but the first time you visit Cairo can be quite a shock.

It’s loud, chaotic, and dirty. There’s garbage in the streets. Stray cats and dogs roam around. Traffic laws are nonexistent and people use their horns constantly. There’s a lot of half-finished construction.

Even if you know what to expect, it’s pretty overwhelming.

I started to feel unsure about booking this appointment.

The next day, I took an Uber from my hostel to the dentist office, and walked in.

This was a shock in the opposite direction. The office was clean, well constructed, and organized.

This looked better than many Canadian dental offices I’ve been in.

The appointment began with some imaging, and a consultation with one of their partners.

He informed me that I had some cavities that would require fillings. Some of them looked pretty serious.

I reminded them about the crowns, and the implant I wanted to get while I was there.

It would be no problem. They got the room set up for me and brought me in.

The dentist they set me up with was a pretty cool guy. He knew English, and was very friendly to talk with.

One of my cavities wound up needing a root canal. I told him to go ahead. It only took about 15-20 minutes for him to complete it.

I’ve had root canals in the past which took 45-60 minutes to complete. They were long and slow procedures.

When I mentioned this to the dentist, he informed me that root canals were his specialty, which is how he managed to get it done so quickly with no serious pain and minimal discomfort.

I had another cavity that required a specialized porcelain filling. The chipped crown I had for years was replaced. Then I had my teeth properly cleaned for the first time in years.

By then, time was running short. Perfect Smile’s implant specialist was at their other location in New Cairo.

I had a couple hours to get there, so I stopped at a cafe for a bite, then took another Uber to get there.

Their New Cairo office was on the 3rd floor of a recently constructed medical building. I was ushered in almost right away.

The specialist froze my mouth, made an incision at the gumline, peeled back the tissue, and drilled into my jawbone. He then screwed the implant post into the pilot hole he made, and stitched up the site.

The whole procedure took about 15 minutes, and I felt nothing.

Just a side note: dental implants happen in two stages. The first stage is what I just described, where a post is implanted into the jawbone. It needs to heal for 3-4 months before an actual crown can be placed on the site. I still have a gap where my missing tooth is, and I can’t feel where the implanted post is.

After the procedure, everything started catching up to me. I had been at the dentist since noon, and it was now approaching 8 p.m.

I wanted to get back to my hostel, but I was caught in Cairo traffic, and the freezing was wearing off.

After getting back, I took a brief nap, had some dinner, and then went back to bed. I was returning back to the dentist the following day.

Thankfully, the second visit was less complicated than the first. I had two cavities that required fillings, and two crowns needed to be placed.

The whole thing went smoothly without incident.

So how much did everything cost?
Let’s break it down:

Dental Imaging - 3000 EGP
Cleaning - 2000 EGP
Standard Fillings - 3000 x 2 = 6000 EGP
Porcelain Filling - 7000 EGP
Root Canal - 6000 EGP
Crowns - 7000 x 3 = 21 000 EGP
Implant - 18 000 EGP

Total: 63 000 EGP

That’s about $1650 Canadian dollars.

How much would this have cost if I had the work done in Canada?
Let’s take a look. These are the average Canadian dental costs.

Dental Imaging - $400
Cleaning - $220
Standard Fillings - $275 x 2 = $550
Porcelain Filling - $1100
Root Canal - $1500
Crowns - $1500 x 3 = $4500
Implant - $5000

Total: $13 270

Make no mistake. We are getting screwed when it comes to dental work in Canada.

In fact, Canada and the USA have the most expensive dentists in the world.

The amount of money I saved by flying to Egypt and getting work done here has paid for my trip several times over.

And this isn’t the first time I’ve had dental work performed in a foreign country.

About ten years ago, I was looking to have my metallic fillings replaced with non-metallic ones.

I knew this would cost a small fortune in Canada, so when I was visiting Leon, Nicaragua, I went out in search of a dentist.

Leon has a dentistry school, so there were many to choose from.

Rather than doing research, I asked an employee at my hostel if he knew a good dentist. He pointed me to a nearby office.

I found a receptionist, who called the dentist. I told him what I needed, and he took me in.

After looking through my mouth, he says to me, “Okay, you have eight fillings that I can replace. Now the cost per tooth is normally $25 USD, but because we’re going to do all of these at once, I can do it for $15 USD.”

I had to do everything in my power not to break out laughing at what a great deal this was.

He spent the next 3 hours drilling throughout my mouth, replacing my old fillings with new ones using no anesthetic. It didn’t hurt, but I felt a little raw afterwards.

I paid him $120 USD, and went on my way.

Granted, dental quality varies as well.

I had my first root canal in Mexico. A friend of mine recommended the clinic.

The dentists did a great job with the procedure. I was nervous and expecting intense pain, but it never came.

However, the crown they placed over the site fell out a few times, plus it chipped less than a year after I got it, leading to me needing to replace it on this recent trip to Egypt.

Overall, I’ve come to the point where I no longer trust dentists in Canada.

It’s not their performance I take issue with, it’s their business practices.

Unless it’s an absolute emergency, I plan on avoiding them as much as possible, and if you don’t have full insurance coverage, I suggest you do the same.

With the money you save, there’s a good chance you’ll cover the cost of your flight - and maybe your whole trip.

Do your research ahead of time. Find an office that fits your needs and has experience with foreign patients. The last thing you want is a shady dentist who doesn’t speak your language.

I know any kind of dental or medical tourism can seem daunting at first, but it really is the best way to save big money while receiving the same quality care you would get in your home country - all while seeing parts of the world you might otherwise never get the chance to visit.

In my case, fixing my teeth became the most cost-effective trip I’ve ever taken.

If you’re facing a major dental bill, it may be worth asking not “How will I pay for this?” but “Where in the world should I go?”

If you enjoyed this article, bookmark this page and remember to Subscribe.

If you’d like personalized guidance on training, consistency, and building a sustainable routine, I offer 1-on-1 coaching. Feel free to reach out.

Check out my Substack:

And follow me on socials:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube

Thanks for reading.

God Bless.