WATERVILLE – Mainers are going across the Canadian border for more than just lower-priced prescription drugs. They’re also going there to visit the dentist.

Christine Labelle of Skowhegan goes to a dentist in Lac Megantic, Quebec. Other Mainers are going there too, she said, getting dental work done for a fraction of the cost.

Labelle, who doesn’t have dental insurance, said her dentist in Canada is open four nights a week as a service to customers and has the latest technology. She recently was charged $38 for work she said would cost $250 in Maine.

“A friend of mine saved $1,400. People are saving over 50 percent,” Labelle said. “There’s a pharmacy, an optician … and it’s all cheaper.”

Tref Lessard of Winslow said a dentist in Maine wanted to charge him $2,000 for two fillings and two crowns, but his dentist in St. Georges, Quebec, charged him $1,300 – a $700 savings.

Lessard said he has been back again twice since August, and he and his wife have saved money on crowns and bridges that would have cost three or four times more in Maine than what they paid in Canada.

Word-of-mouth about Canadian dentists and their modern equipment and affordable prices has a number of people in central Maine driving to Quebec.

Dr. Robert Beauregard, Lessard’s Canadian dentist, said he first began seeing New Englanders, mostly from Maine, about 10 years ago. About one in 10 of his patients now come from New England.

Many of his new patients had friends or relatives who lived in or around Jackman, a Somerset County town next to the Canadian border. And the word spread from there.

“The first ones were referrals,” he said. “They say, ‘You should go there. He’s a nice guy. Don’t be blind, there’s a lot of money being saved.”‘

Dr. James Falkner, a Biddeford dentist and president of the Maine Board of Dental Examiners, said he has heard of Mainers going to Canada for medications and dentures, but he hasn’t heard of people flocking there for dental treatment.

He said he would urge Mainers to take a close look at what they’re getting for their money in Canada.

“I would not say prices are unreasonably high here,” he said. “You have to match apples with apples, you kind of pay for what you get. You have to see what people are getting done.”

Beauregard, however, said dental work in Canada is in no way inferior to that in Maine. He said dentists are highly trained and use the latest equipment and materials.

Charles Veilleux, a lawyer from Skowhegan, said he would keep telling friends about his positive experience with his Canadian dentist. He said the first time he went there he had a cleaning and two minor cavities treated for $85.

“I came home smiling,” he said. “I am ecstatic about the work. It’s outstanding.”