Capt Steve
US Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,674
- Reaction score
- 2,974
At my last cleaning my Tucson dentist discovered a serious cavity. Unfortunately for me it was a tooth that supports the forward end of a three tooth bridge. Now I have had that gold bridge since I was 14, we're talking 45 years here, so I certainly got my money's worth out of it. Also on the unfortunate side of the ledger I have no dental insurance. So I am looking at $3,600, which I simply do not have, out of my pocket, for a new three tooth bridge and the root canal. The good news is that we live about a two hour drive north of Nogales Mexico where they have lots of excellent dentists who do most of their business treating gringo's like me.
Armed with a recommendation from a friend I called on Friday and was given a ten o'clock appointment the following Monday. They take credit cards and have a shuttle that picks you up at the border for the short ride to their office. The office was very busy, crowded with mostly gringo senior citizens like me. Everyone spoke passable English and I still speak a little Spanish so communication wasn't a problem. The office was nothing fancy but the equipment was all state of the art and the staff was very friendly, accommodating and professional.
Today they took x rays, created the impressions for the new bridge, removed the old bridge (yes I kept the gold), built/installed a temporary bridge and did the root canal. I admit to having been more than a little nervous about the root canal, I had always heard that they were extremely painful, but was pleasantly surprised when it took 30 minutes and was virtually pain free. After three hours in the chair but bolstered by three shots, I left in pretty good shape but am hurting tonight as the pain meds have long since worn off. I go back in two weeks when my new bridge comes back from the lab.
The total bill came to $1,218 and I paid $750 of it today with my Visa. I'll pay the balance when they put the permanent bridge in. Anyway you slice it I saved nearly $2,400 and am very pleased with the experience. I am fortunate to live close enough to Mexico to have this option and will happily recommend this office to my friends. If you don't have dental insurance (or even if you do as they will honor it), and are anywhere near Mexico I would encourage you to explore this option. As always...YMMV (o;
Armed with a recommendation from a friend I called on Friday and was given a ten o'clock appointment the following Monday. They take credit cards and have a shuttle that picks you up at the border for the short ride to their office. The office was very busy, crowded with mostly gringo senior citizens like me. Everyone spoke passable English and I still speak a little Spanish so communication wasn't a problem. The office was nothing fancy but the equipment was all state of the art and the staff was very friendly, accommodating and professional.
Today they took x rays, created the impressions for the new bridge, removed the old bridge (yes I kept the gold), built/installed a temporary bridge and did the root canal. I admit to having been more than a little nervous about the root canal, I had always heard that they were extremely painful, but was pleasantly surprised when it took 30 minutes and was virtually pain free. After three hours in the chair but bolstered by three shots, I left in pretty good shape but am hurting tonight as the pain meds have long since worn off. I go back in two weeks when my new bridge comes back from the lab.
The total bill came to $1,218 and I paid $750 of it today with my Visa. I'll pay the balance when they put the permanent bridge in. Anyway you slice it I saved nearly $2,400 and am very pleased with the experience. I am fortunate to live close enough to Mexico to have this option and will happily recommend this office to my friends. If you don't have dental insurance (or even if you do as they will honor it), and are anywhere near Mexico I would encourage you to explore this option. As always...YMMV (o;
I remember....
)
