We highly recommend that your first trip to Ukraine be as a tourist.  But if you are a typical middle class American you have decades of poor dental care that should be corrected.  Dental care is integral to your overall health, you can die from a chronically infected tooth * and unless your dentist has done a full facial scan and looked at the results closely, he does not know if you have an infected tooth - and neither do you.

Unfortunately most Americans cannot afford the best dental care and get by with poor quality fillings that can fall out, be swallowed and result in mercury poisoning.  You are unlikely to die from swallowing these fillings but a mouthful of 30 year old mercury fillings, particularly if originally done poorly, can be detrimental to your health and results in frequent and costly emergency trips to the dentist.  Go back to the Issues page and take a close look at Don's teeth.  Every tooth except for 1 implant is a top of the line porcelain crown using South Korean technology.  Service and attention to detail was extremely good.  When 1 crown fell off, the tooth was reshaped to provide more surface area and a new crown was fitted - at no charge.  And the price?  $12,000, including 25 teeth plus the implant.  For comparison, 26 teeth x $3,000 per tooth = $78,000 from that immigrant dentist educated somewhere in the Middle East, or 26 teeth x $4000 per tooth from an American educated dentist = $104,000.

Unfortunately the typical American educated neighborhood dentist is now rare in the USA.  These men and women are now in their 50's or older and are no longer interested in long hours and new patients.  Dentistry is a difficult profession that often results in chronic back pain and other issues.  Unfortunately many of these highly professional dentists have been replaced by immigrants from middle eastern nations, and assembly line dentistry in big clinics.  Too many of these immigrants have questionable degrees and regard their patients as infidels.  Coming to Ukraine and getting modern dental care from a dentist still in his 30's or 40's is a much better option than assembly line dentistry.  And since your dentist here is very likely to be Christian, he or she will treat you with respect.**

The difference between what you would pay for major work on a single tooth in the USA and what you will pay in Ukraine for superior work will more than pay for your trip to Ukraine.  If you have the time, you should strongly consider a visit to a dentist on your first trip here as a tourist.

* When Don lived in Palmer Massachusetts, he was in his late 30's and loved tennis.  His most common opponent was Fred Rabe, then in his late 20's.  But Fred had a painful tooth on Friday and decided to wait on Monday to see the dentist, probably because he could not afford the cost and, who knows, the pain might go away.  The infection went systemic and Fred died in the emergency ward of Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer that Monday.

** Your Ukrainian dentist is likely to speak better English that that Assembly Line dentist that your dental insurance company tried to send you to also.