Dental insurance is usually pretty decent in the US, probably not worth leaving the country unless it's significant work. I have no idea with OP is getting done that costs thousands of dollars. Certainly that's an outlier.

Without insurance you can often get reasonably priced dental care at dental universities if you have one local.

At least for anything students can work on (fillings, extractions, etc). If you need a root canal, ortho, jaw surgery, or etc then I doubt it'll be a great option.

I strongly urge people to avoid regular dentists for serious work that there are specialists for. They don't have the tools or expertise, and often leave people with broken jaws and infections that lead to more surgeries. Pay the extra; you'll wish you did when your jaw is wired shut, or you have to pay again to re-do a root canal, or go to emergency due to infection.

No way, I have to get an implant and I was just quoted $4k with insurance.

An implant is certainly "significant work".

Once a year trip sounds totally fine for significant work

An implant involves multiple appointments over like 2-4 months.

Makes me wonder what the insurance company is paying, how much you pay them and if its even worth it.

My dentist (in UK) charges £2500 for an implant. I don't have insurance.

(technically I do have insurance, since NHS dentistry exists which I pay for in my taxes. However I had an NHS dentist and when they got sold on to Bupa they would simply not do things which would be expensive for them, meaning after some years I had fillings falling out and broken teeth all over)

They are paying my dentist what he charges. This isn’t far from other dentists charge.

Dental insurance in the us usually only covers a max of $1000

I’m an outlier. An implant was around $7000 out of pocket, with insurance.

I have had an implant and for me it was around $2.5k with insurance in the midwest.

Not so. Anecdata point: My wife and I dropped our Delta Dental insurance this year. We reviewed what we'd paid in premiums over the prior 5 years vs. the full cost of procedures we'd had done in that time. Full cost would have been ~40% of our premiums + residuals. In this aspect of life, we've decided to self-insure.

Yeah, dental insurance is primarily a tool for companies to provide a tax free benefit to employees. It doesn't make much sense to buy dental insurance yourself, unless you're high risk (get lots of cavities, etc.)

One of my front teeth got broken at a pool party in Thailand. I was able to get it fixed the next day with a walk-in appointment for $75. The fix lasted for something like 5 years.

You also have plenty of American-trained dentists, at least in Thailand, although I'm not sure they're any better than the locally trained ones.