Nearly 10 million Americans have traveled outside the U.S. for dental care, according to a report from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, and as federal Medicaid cuts and coverage rollbacks shrink access to affordable dental services, that number will grow more, according to a June 15 article published on Talking Points Memo.
The CareQuest report found that 58% of dental tourists cited lower costs abroad as their primary reason for seeking care outside the country, with an additional 9% pointing to lack of insurance coverage. Dental care in Mexico typically runs 50% to 75% less than comparable treatment in the U.S., according to the Journal of International Oral Health.
Fueling the trend are several converging policy changes. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes cuts approaching $1 trillion to Medicaid, the federal-state safety net program that covers low-income adults and people with disabilities. States, which administer the program, are already trimming or eliminating optional adult dental benefits to offset the shortfall.
On June 1, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an interim final rule establishing Medicaid work requirements, which analysts project could push millions off the program. CMS also reversed a 2024 policy that allowed routine adult dental services to qualify as an essential health benefit under ACA Marketplace Exchange plans, which the ADA-led Organized Dentistry Coalition had urged CMS not to make.
Medicare Advantage plans, which cover more than half of Medicare recipients, are also scaling back dental offerings in response to slowing reimbursement rates. A Mass General Brigham study found that only 8.4% of those plans met basic quality benchmarks, such as no co-pays for biannual cleanings.
For dental practices near the U.S.-Mexico border, the downstream effects are already familiar. Dr. Scott Stafford, director of the Practice Administration Program at UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry, said that during his 20 years in private practice, he routinely saw two to five patients per week requiring follow-up care or corrections from work performed abroad. DrBicuspid.com has previously reported on the clinical and quality-of-care challenges accompanying cross-border dental treatment.
Wade Rakes, CEO of CareQuest, said in the TPM article that he expects dental tourism to keep climbing. "It is very likely in the near term, absent significant policy change, that individuals facing those four-figure and five-figure bills are going to look at their options."
