$580 Car rental for 5 weeks
$1000 weekly expenses total ( high estimate, includes gas, at $5 a litre and several side trips)
total $4200.
We also bought a phone plan for using our phones in Brazil. I probably overpaid at $25 a month for the two of us for a plan giving each of us 40 gigabytes. You can get a sim card, called a chip here in Brazil for less than that but I read a lot of complaints about service from the phone service companies, because they work on commission. So, I've been walking around with my US phone and my Brazil phone, because my phone is locked and only works with WIFI. My wife's phone is unlocked so we were able to just swap sim cards for when she's down here.
Before leaving we stocked up on power converters and adapters. The power converter I bought for her hair dryer and a blender we brought didn't work and the cost for one here was the same-- about $40 at a store that sells electrical supplies. Also you can buy a hair dryer for $20 and the apartment came with a blender and juicer. She wanted a high powered blender so she could do her kitchen magic to make her own coconut oil and other goodies She loves coconut and here they cost next to nothing. There are many stands selling fresh coconuts for drinking coconut water for one or two dollars.
Bottom line, we did need the three plug adapters we brought for phone chargers. You can probably buy three down here for under $10 total. Probably good to take at least one with you so you can keep your phones charged before you can buy more. Phone chargers and computer power supplies are smart and can run on 120V like we use in the US or 220 as they use in Brazil. Things using motors or heat require power transformers. But, like I said, it's probably cheaper to buy another one down here.
The dental cost without travel expenses was about 27% of low estimates in the US. I chose to go with resin veneers instead of porcelain because the porcelains would have cost 90% more.
My wife needed multiple bone grafts, 5 implants and crowns and her cost, with radiology is about $4200.
My cost for three implants, two bone grafts and 17 resin veneers was about $6900. I save a bit paying with a credit card in the local Reais currency and I'll get a 3% rebate from my card company on top of that, so final cost, about 6700 including X-rays. If I had wired cash to pay, instead of using a credit card, they'd have given me a three percent discount.
Adding the travel and lodging and food expenses, our cost compared to average prices in the US were 37% of the US price. Keep in mind, that included five weeks of enjoying summer weather in Brazil while the Philly area enjoyed average temperatures in the 20s and several snowstorms.
I have to wait to get permanent crowns and porcelain veneers on two of the implants. I'll be looking into the cost of doing that in the US, but I'm definitely down for another trip to Brazil next year to finish up. That will cost me, with currency conversion and credit card rebates about $2900 for the dental work if I do it in Brazil. Porcelain veneers are very expensive.
Final cost for this trip, including travel, expenses and dental, about $15,500 for the two of us.
I should add that there are a lot of places here in Goiania that do this and I'm certain there are even more in Sao Paulo, the international entry point for most flights from the US. Driving around town you see a lot of offices offering the services, using different Portuguese names for the service. Some are pretty dingy looking. I have to say I was very impressed with the facility we went to. I've never seen such an attractive office or facade. That said, they probably charged a bit more than other places, but the quality of their overall look and the amazing level of patient treatment and care they offered was worth it, just in terms of the confidence it gave us in the quality of their work.
Also, at no time did I have any real problems with pain, even the day of and day after surgery. That was a nice added benefit. I did have stomach problems due to the antibiotics and possibly do to the pain meds I took-- nothing strong-- they gave me some stronger stuff-- something like Tylenol with Codeine-- but I didn't need it so I didn't take it.
15 years ago it cost me about $4500 to get one implant and a crown in Philadelphia. We, between us, got 8 crowns and 17 veneers for about half that much. I'm pretty sure that what we spent a total of $15,500 on would have cost between $40,000 and $50,000 in the US. My percentage calculations are based on the lower end
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