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DAN says to not dive with dentures and I am sure their reasons are sound, but some of us do. No one likes to admit to having them tho, I didn't for some time - but I've since decided that it doesn't really matter if everyone on SB knows so I have learned to be more open about my experiences. If you would like me to post your experiences anonymously, I'd be glad to, have before - just PM me.
It was high time to give up on my lower, partial bridge and move on to a full lower denture as I'd lost some more of the lower teeth - not that I couldn't eat enough to have to still watch my weight, but a good steak or diving with the lower bridge in were both out of the question. Nothing against the local professionals here, but I could not get much info from their offices; I think one did quote a ballpark figure of $3,000? I wish that my last dentist hadn't retired but I did find my favorite assistant from that previous office, a home town lady whom I'd known for years, discussed the possibilities, and I'll probly be seeing her and her new dentist when he returns from medical leave - but I decided to give the Cancun Adventure a go and save enough on the work to pay for much of the dive vacation...
I have known people who traveled to El Paso only an hour's flight away for such and were rather happy with the Jaurez dental work they'd received, but one of them is dead now, the others I've lost touch with, and there's just not a lot of ready info available on this. If I was going to travel for a Mexican dentist tho, I wanted to combine the adventure with a Cozumel dive trip - so I started my search for dentists in the Playa del Carmen to Cancun area, establishing good communications with three...
Dr. German invited me to phone if desired, and closer to travel time even gave me his personal cell number in case I had any problems finding his office - which I did, but I'll come back to that. I arranged to be into Cancun so I could be at his office by 1pm on that Thursday and he assured me that the lab work and all would be done by Monday if I wanted to only be there for the weekend, but I scheduled a Tuesday return.
I'd never flown into Cancun, and didn't really want to - the fares to Cozumel were even cheaper for the time so close to spring break, but it went okay. Off the plane, find my luggage, find the bus area, buy a 40 Peso ticket to downtown Cancun, a short bus ride, then the final cab ride. I ended up making that cab trip four times overall and the price can vary greatly; negotiate well before loading bags! The first taxi driver couldn't find the address, even tho I'd printed out instructions, so we phoned the office from my cell - the cabbie had a chat in Spanish, and then we arrived.
The Market area of Cancun is a little seedy compared to the more touristy areas, and I saw several other dental offices around but didn't bother looking into them. I was transporting two huge bags, my roll-on, and a back pack, but the ladies there were very nice about allowing me to leave my things with them on the ground floor while I went upstairs to the clinic. Well, my back pack stayed with me, even as I left the exam room for the lavatory, but that's me. The clinic was well laid out, perhaps not as fancy as some US dental offices I've visited - at costs passed on to consumers to be sure, but nice enough for me. The exam rooms seemed a little basic but never lacking in any of my needs and I met some others from around the US who seemed happy with the more economical work they were enjoying.
I was there for a few hours, X-rays, exams, chats with Dr. German, etc. He tried to get me to upgrade to implants to more securely hold both plates, but no way was I budgeted for such, so we agreed on $750 US for all of my needs, Visa accepted without surcharge. They added new material to my top plate to make it fit better as I had been needing it adjusted, and a lot more material to my bottom bridge so I could use it for the days until my finished plate was ready, even tight enough for diving with it which I hadn't expected I could. Everything went great with one exception, that turned into a good learning experience...
For the new material to be added to my plate and bridge, Dr. German turned me over to an associate dentist who seemed a nice fellow and a competent professional - but with no apparent English communications. Yes, I now, I was in Mexico, and it would be good for me to learn more Spanish - but if you advertise Dental Tourism with English Spoken Here as they do, you really need for everyone to communicate in English well. This young dentists left excess material protruding from my bottom bridge that irritated my mouth a bit, but I was unable to communicate this with him and failed to do so with Dr. German. A couple of days later I gave up on the irritation, risked all with my pocket knife, but was able to break off the excess just fine, but I learned - when a non-English speaking assistant wants to work on me, just say nope!
I left the office late that afternoon for the cab to the bus station, the 36 Peso ride to PDC, a $5 tricycle porter to get me to the nearby ferry dock (I had a lot of luggage; he deserved it), but just missed the boat I was shooting for. Purchasing a ticket for the next boat, I checked my bags in, headed for Senior Frogs for a beer overlooking the water, then back out for better food than served there, then finally asleep on the ferry. It was a very long day starting with leaving my house at 2:30 am for the airport and ending at my Cozumel dive resort at 9 local/10 pm Texas time if I remember correctly, but I was happy that I got all that done in one day.
I enjoyed my next five nights and four days of fun Cozumel diving, then dried and packed my gear to leave right after breakfast on Tuesday. Knowing that I might feel like caca after final extractions on the second visit, I took time the first day to check out hotel Xbalamque suggested by Dr. German a couple of blocks from his office, learned that it was around $90 walk-in but only $50 booked over the net, booked it from Cozumel, then headed that way: ferry to PDC, bus to Cancun, negotiated cab to the hotel, checked in by noon, locked bags in my room, then hiked over to Dr. German's office.
They were all ready for me, but of course I was not the only patient and he tried to let the Spanish speaking dentist do my extractions, but with my previous learning experience - I politely got out of the chair, found Dr. German and explained: I came to Cancun for him to do my work and that's the way it was to be! No problem, on with Dr. German. I watched as he broke the sterile seals on the needle and anesthesia, grimaced a bit as he injected it on both sides, waited for the deadening chemical to set it, and he wrapped me up with a few easy pulls and my new plate that fit nicely. With only minor hitches, job well done.
I really could have flown okay that evening, but booking one night there was the prudent plan so I killed time casually in the area and in my room, had a nice breakfast nearby the next morning, found a cabbie who only wanted $2 to the bus station so made a $10 deal for the airport instead, checked my bags in, enjoy lunch with wireless internet, and finally departed. Got stuck in Houston with connecting problems, but the airline paid my hotel and some food there.
Will I go back to Dr. German and Dental Maya? Sure, hope he's still with them next year, and I am sending him a copy of this report so I expect he'll probably fix the communication challenges I disliked.
It was high time to give up on my lower, partial bridge and move on to a full lower denture as I'd lost some more of the lower teeth - not that I couldn't eat enough to have to still watch my weight, but a good steak or diving with the lower bridge in were both out of the question. Nothing against the local professionals here, but I could not get much info from their offices; I think one did quote a ballpark figure of $3,000? I wish that my last dentist hadn't retired but I did find my favorite assistant from that previous office, a home town lady whom I'd known for years, discussed the possibilities, and I'll probly be seeing her and her new dentist when he returns from medical leave - but I decided to give the Cancun Adventure a go and save enough on the work to pay for much of the dive vacation...
I have known people who traveled to El Paso only an hour's flight away for such and were rather happy with the Jaurez dental work they'd received, but one of them is dead now, the others I've lost touch with, and there's just not a lot of ready info available on this. If I was going to travel for a Mexican dentist tho, I wanted to combine the adventure with a Cozumel dive trip - so I started my search for dentists in the Playa del Carmen to Cancun area, establishing good communications with three...
But one of them turned out to be in Merida, which I must have overlooked when I contacted him through his web site. Sounded very promising, but too far from the rest of my plan.
The one I found in PDC sounded fine, well recommended from some SB members there, but he could not get the lab work done in my time needs as he sent his off to Mexico City and needed a full week - longer than I could justify as a solo traveler.
I did not really want to go to Cancun either, but Dental Maya had an impressive web site, along with some good recommendations on other internet sites, and my initial communications with them went very well with Dr. German Arzate answering all my questions well. We emailed several times over the month prior and he was always kind, prompt, and communicative. So I went with him: Dental maya | Dental clinics in Cancun | Dental Care in Cancun | Dental work in Cancun | Dentist in Cancun
The one I found in PDC sounded fine, well recommended from some SB members there, but he could not get the lab work done in my time needs as he sent his off to Mexico City and needed a full week - longer than I could justify as a solo traveler.
I did not really want to go to Cancun either, but Dental Maya had an impressive web site, along with some good recommendations on other internet sites, and my initial communications with them went very well with Dr. German Arzate answering all my questions well. We emailed several times over the month prior and he was always kind, prompt, and communicative. So I went with him: Dental maya | Dental clinics in Cancun | Dental Care in Cancun | Dental work in Cancun | Dentist in Cancun
I'd never flown into Cancun, and didn't really want to - the fares to Cozumel were even cheaper for the time so close to spring break, but it went okay. Off the plane, find my luggage, find the bus area, buy a 40 Peso ticket to downtown Cancun, a short bus ride, then the final cab ride. I ended up making that cab trip four times overall and the price can vary greatly; negotiate well before loading bags! The first taxi driver couldn't find the address, even tho I'd printed out instructions, so we phoned the office from my cell - the cabbie had a chat in Spanish, and then we arrived.
The Market area of Cancun is a little seedy compared to the more touristy areas, and I saw several other dental offices around but didn't bother looking into them. I was transporting two huge bags, my roll-on, and a back pack, but the ladies there were very nice about allowing me to leave my things with them on the ground floor while I went upstairs to the clinic. Well, my back pack stayed with me, even as I left the exam room for the lavatory, but that's me. The clinic was well laid out, perhaps not as fancy as some US dental offices I've visited - at costs passed on to consumers to be sure, but nice enough for me. The exam rooms seemed a little basic but never lacking in any of my needs and I met some others from around the US who seemed happy with the more economical work they were enjoying.
I was there for a few hours, X-rays, exams, chats with Dr. German, etc. He tried to get me to upgrade to implants to more securely hold both plates, but no way was I budgeted for such, so we agreed on $750 US for all of my needs, Visa accepted without surcharge. They added new material to my top plate to make it fit better as I had been needing it adjusted, and a lot more material to my bottom bridge so I could use it for the days until my finished plate was ready, even tight enough for diving with it which I hadn't expected I could. Everything went great with one exception, that turned into a good learning experience...
For the new material to be added to my plate and bridge, Dr. German turned me over to an associate dentist who seemed a nice fellow and a competent professional - but with no apparent English communications. Yes, I now, I was in Mexico, and it would be good for me to learn more Spanish - but if you advertise Dental Tourism with English Spoken Here as they do, you really need for everyone to communicate in English well. This young dentists left excess material protruding from my bottom bridge that irritated my mouth a bit, but I was unable to communicate this with him and failed to do so with Dr. German. A couple of days later I gave up on the irritation, risked all with my pocket knife, but was able to break off the excess just fine, but I learned - when a non-English speaking assistant wants to work on me, just say nope!
I left the office late that afternoon for the cab to the bus station, the 36 Peso ride to PDC, a $5 tricycle porter to get me to the nearby ferry dock (I had a lot of luggage; he deserved it), but just missed the boat I was shooting for. Purchasing a ticket for the next boat, I checked my bags in, headed for Senior Frogs for a beer overlooking the water, then back out for better food than served there, then finally asleep on the ferry. It was a very long day starting with leaving my house at 2:30 am for the airport and ending at my Cozumel dive resort at 9 local/10 pm Texas time if I remember correctly, but I was happy that I got all that done in one day.
I enjoyed my next five nights and four days of fun Cozumel diving, then dried and packed my gear to leave right after breakfast on Tuesday. Knowing that I might feel like caca after final extractions on the second visit, I took time the first day to check out hotel Xbalamque suggested by Dr. German a couple of blocks from his office, learned that it was around $90 walk-in but only $50 booked over the net, booked it from Cozumel, then headed that way: ferry to PDC, bus to Cancun, negotiated cab to the hotel, checked in by noon, locked bags in my room, then hiked over to Dr. German's office.
They were all ready for me, but of course I was not the only patient and he tried to let the Spanish speaking dentist do my extractions, but with my previous learning experience - I politely got out of the chair, found Dr. German and explained: I came to Cancun for him to do my work and that's the way it was to be! No problem, on with Dr. German. I watched as he broke the sterile seals on the needle and anesthesia, grimaced a bit as he injected it on both sides, waited for the deadening chemical to set it, and he wrapped me up with a few easy pulls and my new plate that fit nicely. With only minor hitches, job well done.
I really could have flown okay that evening, but booking one night there was the prudent plan so I killed time casually in the area and in my room, had a nice breakfast nearby the next morning, found a cabbie who only wanted $2 to the bus station so made a $10 deal for the airport instead, checked my bags in, enjoy lunch with wireless internet, and finally departed. Got stuck in Houston with connecting problems, but the airline paid my hotel and some food there.
Will I go back to Dr. German and Dental Maya? Sure, hope he's still with them next year, and I am sending him a copy of this report so I expect he'll probably fix the communication challenges I disliked.
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