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My root canal from a few years ago failed. I developed a nasty infection and pain all over again. The last time it cost me over $1300 out of pocket and my insurance picked up the other 60% so I was really pissed about having to do this again. So out of desperation, I said screw it and walked across the international bridge to Mexico. I found an endodontic specialist about half a mile from the bridge and walked in. Dude was just sitting there watching tv. I told him what was wrong and he led me into his office. I was shocked. Identical setup to the doctor in the USA including high resolution digital x-ray equipment. He worked on me for two and a half hours alone with no assistant. I never felt a thing! When he finished, he scheduled my follow up appointments since the infection requires up to three procedures to completely treat. Then he asked how I got there? I said I walked. Guy tells me, don't walk, I'll give you a ride. So he drove me back! He even stopped at a pharmacy so I could buy my antibiotics. The best part, total price for the appointment and all future follow ups including future post insertion and buildup for the crown....... $250!!!!!

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Lol! Nah, the guy was really honest. I was looking up his credentials last night and he graduated out of the most prestigious dental school in Mexico. The US, will actually honor dentists from that school. The difference is in the treatment approach. He seemed surprised that my previous root canal was performed in one sitting. He argued that typically two to three procedures are necessary to clear out the infection. He didn't understand why US dentists refuse to take that approach.

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DLT you have my sympathy. I've had five, with one taking a little over three hours. Longest I've had my mouth open without talking. Luckily I never got any bad reactions during or after. A tooth ache or infection is the same as an ear ache in pain. Despite how much whiskey you drink nothing stops that pain. I had most of mine after seceding from booze. Pain pills didn't help either. I hope he got it for you this time. Good thing you found someone who knew what they were doing, and brought you home, too. Wouldn't find that happening here.  

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So you can fly to Mexico, rent a car, get a hotel room, and pay for the health care for far less

than in the States just paying for the insurance and health care alone.

 

Just shows how really, really fucked up our health care system is.

 

I will definitely keep that in mind for major medical situations.

 

Of course I may get abducted for ransom by the narco Mexican police forces, so that will offset

the cost savings on the health care. It's always something.

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I attended a school function last night for my older boy.  We were sitting at a table with other parents as they served us dinner and I mentioned to them how happy I was to be eating pain free because I had seen an endodontist in Mexico for my tooth.  A lady sitting with us asked me who I saw, and then mentioned the same Doc's name.  I said yes, that's him.  She then went on to tell us that he had saved her life a few years ago because she had a dental abscess that had spread upwards in her face all the way to her eye socket!  She said he treated her for 4 months until the infection was removed.  Had the infection made it to her brain, it would have killed her! She highly recommended the same doctor I saw.  Looks like I picked a really good guy.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Follow-up treatment today.  Tooth is healing very nicely.  Scheduled for another canal cleaning/treatment in three weeks.  Everything was calm and on the way back, the doc showed me around.  He dropped me off at the bridge and I walked back.  As soon as I get over and past US customs, the shit hit the fan on the other side!  Some sort of firefight between the Mexican Army and the Cartels.  A few minutes later the Doc calls me to ask if I had made it across all right.  I told him yeah, and asked if he was fine.  He was kind of freaked out because the shit happened right where we had been only a few minutes before!  Oh well, only a few more visits and we are done!  

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My grandpa had a bunch of dental work done in Mexico when he was living in AZ. There are a lot of clinics just across the border. They tend to be US trained dentists and surgeons who aren't practicing in the USA. Grampa's guy was one such. He moved south because of a marriage, and opted to take the business with him. According to him, the US dental education is much better, particularly the general knowledge of medicine and drug interactions. However, he felt that while it was important to have someone who knows all the medical side of the process, he felt like he could train someone who was good with his hands and didn't know the medicine to do the actual work better than a lot of very intelligent dentists. So both sides are needed, but his thought was the actual surgery and dental work should be done by dental techs good with power tools, and overseen by someone who understands the medicine of it. -- Makes sense to me.

 

Keep in mind though, their equipment is generally out of date, and dentistry is major surgery. You wouldn't believe what percentage of old people dying is from complications of stuff like removal of an abscessed tooth. Also, anesthesia is one of the most dangerous things done in modern medicine and the most complicated. It is also one of the top killers in medicine. So how well do you want that guy to be trained, etc.?

 

So if you go for something like this know that most of the practitioners in these are people who couldn't keep licensed in the US and just moved barely across the border, they are using outdated, often limited equipment.. At the minimum I would want to stay on the US side near a hospital which is available to solve any serious health problems that might come up because of the Mexican surgery.

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You can also go to Italy and cure cancer with baking soda, a bag, some tube and a needle. It's an illegal procedure here.

 

 

Glad you found a good dentist. We go to Cranbrook BC Canada for our dental surgery around here if needed. They love cash as they never see it and wait months to get paid by the queen on their regular customers.

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