Where to go, who to see, how to get there...

Oh my gosh. Once I decided to investigate going to Mexico to get dental work done I had no clue where in Mexico to go. The reports on the news are horrible. Murder, rape, robbery, extortion (not the dental kind) and kidnapping all seem to be a daily occurrence in Mexico. How do they have any citizens left if there is that much crime there?

Thinking on this I remembered that a friend had told me about a dentist his sister had seen in a small town across the border from somewhere near Harlingen, TX.  OK, that's a start. I called my friend and asked about this information again and was given the name and phone number of the dentist his sister had seen and highly recommended.

His name is Dr. Fabio Durrzo and he practices in the town of Nuevo Progresso, Tamailupas, Mexico and indeed it is just south of Weslaco, Tx nestled on Hwy 83 between McAllen and Harlingen, Tx.

Only having seen the word in print, I thought the town of Weslaco was some Spanish word and pronounced: wes/lak'/o. But it's an abbreviation of the words "Western Land Company," apparently the group who formed the small agricultural town rich in palm trees, mango groves and fabulous birds.

The Audubon Society designates particular places as world class birding centers and there are nine of them in southeast Texas. Each of the three north/south migration routes cross in that part of Texas/Mexico giving residents and visitors a unique opportunity to see nearly every migratory bird from the western hemisphere at some point of the year or other.  Check out the link below:
http://www.theworldbirdingcenter.com/estero.html

I crank up the courage to make the first phone call to Mexico and right off the bat I find my Spanish isn't good enough for telephone conversations with strangers. I ask in Spanish if I can leave a number for someone who speaks English to call me back. After I hung up I wondered if anyone would call me back at all and wondered too if I ought to continue to pursue this considering my limited ability with the native tongue.

But the following day I received a telephone call from a lovely lady named Beatrize Cruz who is Dr. Durzzo's English speaking assistant. Miss Bea does the phone calling to patients who don't speak Spanish. What a relief and something that made me feel much better.

We talked about my needs and I asked if I could send a list of treatments that had been suggested here in the USA. She gave me a fax number and said she would show them to Dr Durzzo and get back with me. And a couple of days later I received another call from Miss Bea saying that Dr. Durzzo thought I would need to be there for three or four days to get the treatments underway.

It all sounded surreal. How long would I have to stay, where would I stay, what all was he going to do? My upper lip started sweating. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

Then Miss Bea said, Dr. Durzzo thought he could do the majority of the work (if it needed to be done) for approximately $1900. Given that I had already carefully studied the suggested treatments here, I immediately saw the price difference, about 1/4 the price here. I asked if I could call her back in a few days after giving it careful thought. She said, of course, to let her know when I wanted to schedule a visit.

Honestly I wasn't all together comfortable with the prospect of going to a country I've never seen to have a doctor I don't know, do dental treatments I don't fully understand for an amount of money about which I am not completely sure.

Hmmm. Faced with the prospect of being in chronic pain for the next umpteen years versus putting our finances in jeopardy to pay for treatment that will hopefully fix the pain, I decided to go for a walk with the dogs and think it over.

We went outside to feed the sheep their night hay and braced against the below freezing temperature. The wind was blowing about 20 mph from the north making it feel like 5 degrees. As I bent my face away from the wind on the walk back to the house, I remembered having seen the weather report for Weslaco, TX,  nine miles from Nuevo Progresso, "sunny, breezes from the SE at 10 mph with a projected high of 80 degrees F."

OK, I'm gone.

You can take out a second mortgage.....

January 2011 - 

"You can take out a second mortage on your house..."  
This was what the finance person at my dentist's office said to me when we went over the proposed treatment plan designed to stop-gap the deterioration of my teeth. 

A second mortgage? Are you kidding me? 

This is nothing but extortion in the guise of medical care.

I am not maligning the skill, only the astronomical  fees for services, take out a second mortgage... sheesh.

And it would be nice if you knew how good your dentist was.  If they were graduated from dental school at the top of their class you might think the work was worth more maybe.  But your dentist might be one who was graduated from dental school on the bottom rung by the skin of their own teeth, but they still got the sheepskin and hung up their shingle. And now you're paying them for your dental care... really, really paying.

Is this even legal?
When I got the treatment estimate here in the USA I said to the staff person  that I thought I might shop around for a better price. She replied, "That won't do you any good here, they all get together and decide what prices to charge."   Isn't that price fixing? Is that legal? I'm just asking...

See that expensive (insert here: sports car, lavish SUV, etc)  in the parking lot? It don't think that  belongs to the receptionist. You're paying for that car and the boat and all the other amenities that go along with the "Doctor" status here in the states. In other words, the dentist/doctor, etc works for YOU, not the other way around.

Everyone deserves to earn a good living if they can do it ethically and legally.
I just don't think that the costs charged for dental care in the USA are even close to fair.

The estimate I received for minimum treatment only for a few teeth and only to prevent them from getting worse was more than $8000. Or I could have them all pulled and get dentures for somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000.

I shuddered to think what it would cost to actually repair or replace the problem teeth so that I would be unlikely to need more work any time soon. Given the breakdown on my proposed treatment plan I believe it wold cost certainly more than $20,000.  If I was hiring the Ed Hardy of dentistry, maybe... the local guys, NOT.

Implants, Crowns, Bridges... these are considered premium applications of dental art and are priced accordingly.  (Hmmm...) They are not only sturdy and pretty well permanent but also beautiful, transforming in some cases. For me? I just want to be out of chronic pain.

I've never had pretty, white, straight  teeth and I despaired of ever having a pretty smile considering the cost of even relieving pain and restoring function.

So I decided to pursue another course.... one that took me south of the US border....

I'll take you with me on this adventure toward a healthy mouth and you can decide for yourself if you want to continue to pay the money here or there.

¡Vamos! - Kyt