Some things are meant to grab someone's attention One of the easiest and most likely attention grabbers is the opportunity to save money in any case. Charlie Kingston and his wife Lucia, whose real names remained undisclosed, are trying to do exactly that. They want to catch potential customers by providing the opportunity for them to save moeny. Charlie and Lucia developed a dental clinic simply known as “Greengos” whose slogan is; “American dental care, Mexican price.” Greengos, which is also a derogatory term referring to people of Hispanic heritage, has attracted much attention. It is the name of the dental clinic located in Mexico at Matamoros near the Texas/Mexico border. What the owners of Greengos are trying to accomplish is to attract patients from not only Mexico but also from the United States to come to their dental clinic for all their dental cares and they are doing this by offering prices which can not be beat in the United States. Just a couple examples of what kind of potential savings Greengos can offer you are braces for only $2,499 as opposed to $8,500 in the U.S. and also teeth cleaning and oral examples for only $29.99 compares to a whooping $160 in the United States. “The border culture is unique,” said Charlie Kingston. “People in Mexico come (to the U.S) to buy their televisions, for example. Well, Americans cross the border to get their cheap stuff too. In this case, healthcare.” Along with their favorable prices, Greengos also offers the latest dental technology including a Sirona Cerec 3 (pictured below to the right), which is used to make crowns, and also a DENTZ digital x-ray machine.(pictures below to the left) Some patients might be attracted to the discount prices but they must also wonder, is the reward greater than the risk. Matthew Messina,
a dentist and consumer spokesman for the ADA provided his insight on the topic by stating, “as long as patients are receiving good dental care it doesn’t matter where it happens.” He also added that, “People need to be aware that some things they take for granted (in the U.S.) are not necessarily true in other countries. There is a reason they are able to offer reduced rates, but you have to look at the reasons they cost less and the potential risk for patients.” This happy-go-lucky story about dentists in Mexico trying to do the right thing and provide affordable dental care to patients who can’t afford it in the United States, but I believe that this tale is one, which can turn sour with one faulty procedure. After reading this article about Greengos, I could not help but think about how important it is for our own government to establish a new dental care plan, which would provide for all citizens. By doing this, Americans could remain in the states and receive the dental care they deserve without having to worry about cost.
Leaving the states and searching for not only dental care, but also all kinds of health care in other countries could backfire on the patient. The patients would most likely be excited about the money they are saving, but I personally believe it is not worth taking the chance with ones health, risking possible infection and other malpractice. Some of these patients might end up spending even more money to repair possible damage done as a result of seeking cheaper care in the first place. In no way am I saying that health care in other countries is not viable, I am just saying that it isn’t the same as here in the United States. The states are known to offer a wide range of procedures with the newest machines and technology. They provide a clean and sterile environment which other countries may also be able to provide, but that is neither known nor unknown, it is a mystery and I believe that health care, dental and otherwise is not something that somebody should gamble with because stepping into the unknown is nothing more than a gamble.
1 comment:
Although I know virtually nothing about the dental world (other than what little I can observe when I got to get my teeth cleaned twice a year), I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. You do an excellent job of drawing readers in with an intriguing and pertinent topic choice, and holding their attention with valid points supported by quotations. In addition, although I am not typically a fan of using the first person, I believed that it was effective in your post, providing opinion in an otherwise largely fact-based and bipartisan post that allows the reader to connect with your piece by means of agreement or disagreement. As a result, I believe your post is more likely to receive comment than if it were without the final paragraph.
In addition, I appreciated the visual aspects of the post. I thought each of the images was well-chosen and pertinent to the content of the piece. Also, I thought that the unique, orange coloring of the links was very effective in drawing the reader’s eye, therein making them more inclined to investigate the sites that they lead to.
The one thing that I felt detracted from the overall effectiveness of your piece was some of the writing in the final paragraph. At times, missing punctuation, redundant statements, and reused words drew me out of the otherwise effective article. In particular, in the last sentence fails to provide a final punch worthy of the otherwise fluid and effective post:
“The states are known to offer a wide range of procedures with the newest machines and technology, all within a clean and sterile environment and other countries may also be able to provide similar care, but that is neither known nor unknown, it is a mystery and I believe that health care, dental and otherwise is not something that somebody should gamble with because stepping into the unknown is nothing more than a gamble.”
This sentence would be much more effective if broken up into several smaller sentences, so as to provide clarity for the reader. In addition, using “gamble” twice in the last point I feel detracts somewhat from the final punch which I assume you were looking for.
On the whole, however, I felt that this was a well-researched, intriguing, and generally effective post. I enjoyed reading it, and, as a I stated before, thoroughly appreciated how you were able to relate a complicated field to someone with little previous knowledge in it.
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