Why Americans Flock to Mexico’s “Molar City” for Dental Care

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New Yorker staff writer Burkhard Bilger doesn’t have great teeth. According to Bilger, his “gaptoothed grin” makes him look like he came from a bar fight or a remake of “Deliverance.” Given his lousy dental insurance, a friend recommended that Bilger head to Mexico’s “Molar City,” Los Algodones, a place that has the highest per capita concentration of dentists in the world, to get his teeth fixed. Medical tourism is nothing new, but few think of going abroad for their teeth. Yet most Americans have inadequate dental insurance and the system is geared to abandon you just when you need it the most. We talk to Bilger and dental professionals about why dental care does not get the respect, or coverage, that it deserves. Guests: Burkhard Bilger, journalist and staff writer, New Yorker Magazine; Bilger is the author of "Fatherland" and "Noodling Flatheads" - his most recent piece for the New Yorker was titled "Word of Mouth: A Pilgrimage to Mexico's Molar City" Dr. Lisa Simon, physician, dentist and health researcher; Dr. Simon is also an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:04.8	Writer Burkirkered Bilger's teeth were snagled and stained.
1:08.4	He says his gap-tooth grin looked like he just stumbled out of a bar fight.
1:11.7	With lousy dental insurance, he crossed the border to Mexico's molar city, Los Algodones,
1:17.4	which has the highest concentration of dentists in the world. He joined thousands of Americans seeking care they can't afford in the U.S.
1:25.0	We talked to Bilger and dental experts about why American healthcare doesn't treat your teeth
1:29.4	like the rest of your body.
1:31.1	That's all coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Leslie McClurg. I'm in today for Alexis Madrigal. My six-year-old just lost her first two teeth. But unfortunately, the ones that are coming in, or they're coming in at these pretty odd angles, kind of like they're trying to elbow their way into her mouth.
2:04.2	And I'm already pretty worried about what it's going to cost to straighten them out.
2:08.5	My partner is paying an orthodontist $20,000 to straighten his kids' two teeth or his two kids' teeth.
2:16.1	I'm thinking maybe when it's time, we should just head to
2:19.3	Los Algonas, Mexico. This is a town just past the Arizona border known as Moeller City.
2:25.5	That's what journalist Bergerd-Bilger did. He just wrote about it in The New Yorker. Welcome, Berkard.
2:31.1	Good to be here. Why does your wife call you snagletooth?
2:35.0	Well, I just say we met when we were in fifth grade and she had buck teeth back when
2:41.0	this started.
	...

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