jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Interesting. I didn't notice ANY difference.
But my Mexican supply is long gone, now.
Only reason I know is because I saw it for sale there and started doing some Google research.
Meanwhile, in Mexico...
- Thread starter Jay Honeck
- Start date
Only reason I know is because I saw it for sale there and started doing some Google research.
Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
Well, it seemed to work well, and for pennies on the dollar compared to the OTC stuff we can buy here.
And if I ever need major dental work done, I hear they are quite excellent -- should you survive the trip.
I do feel sorry for the folks in Progresso. Their poverty is aching, and they rely on idiots like me dropping $50 - $100 on doodads on every trip.
You know -- on stuff like a Packer poncho. Incredibly, I can't find a picture of me wearing it, but here's a group of Packer fans at our local saloon holding it up for a photo. (I don't recall why I took it off, but it looks like we were winning...
)Yeah, we were pretty bummed when they imploded in the NFC championship game...
MikeS
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 297
- Display Name
Display name:
MikeS
> "There are, like, thousands of snowbirds in Progresso on any given day. It's the only place I've ever been with people standing on the street soliciting for dental care! (Apparently you can get dentures and bridges for a tiny fraction of what they cost in the States.)"
Dentures and bridges = like, I mean, like unhygenic food traps & generally troublesome? Like, in the case of bridges, like temporary? Like, to install a bridge the dentist will, like, compromise a couple perfectly good teeth for anchors - teeth which will eventually fail since they are being, like, asked to support loads and side stresses nature didn't design them for? So, like, maybe five years, maybe longer? Maybe less? After, like, the bridge fails the dentist will then suggest compromising some more good teeth if there are any left. Like, ADA Standard Of Care?
Sorry about the parody. Adolescent English annoys me but, like, that appears to be the way the world is, like, turning. Good point though about the cost of dental work in Mexico. On that issue, I offer the following experiences.
Implant technology was developed first in Sweden in the 60's, has evolved and is ever being perfected, yet dentists are still depending on the authority of their white coats and customer ignorance to babble about root canals, bridges and plates. Root canals are also, of course, temporary. Kill the root by taking out the nerve and blood supply and the now-dead bone gets brittle and will soon fracture if at all stressed. If the tooth isn't in the "bite" then it will fracture later rather than sooner, but someday you’ll bite something hard and it will fracture. Then the dentist gets to do an extraction and "sell a bridge" to the poor bastard in the chair who either hasn't done his or her research (most of us) OR whose dental insurance won't cover implants but WILL cover the expensive stone-age procedures promoted by the ADA and adhered to by most dentists since it is their livelihood and much to their advantage to make as much money as possible off of each tooth over time. Replace a damaged tooth with an implant and their revenue stream is toast. Dentists fully comprehend how this all works and will defend their shell game when confronted by pointing to the ADA “standard of care” and piously saying something about “saving the tooth.” Horsecrap. If a tooth is at the point of needing a root canal, an ethical, knowledgeable dentist will pull it out, put some bone material (allograph) in the vacancy, let it integrate with the surrounding bone (about three months), then drill a little hole and install a tiny titanium (titanium is the only metal which will integrate with bone as we all know . . . although there are other materials coming down the pike) anchor bolt-like thing called an implant, let IT integrate (another three months), then put a nice crown on top of that and then brush and floss as you did or didn’t do with your original tooth. You’re done. That tooth will outlive you as long as you do enough mouth maintenance to prevent gum disease. If everyone went directly to an implant when a tooth is beyond repair, the number of dentists (and anyones’ need for them) in this country would decrease at least 50%. Endodontists would disappear altogether.
When I got back from several years in Southern Africa about twenty years ago I decided to catch up on neglected dental work and entered into a “full mouth restoration” process thinking I could get everything done in such a way as to not have to worry about my teeth for the rest of my life. My dentist was a high-dollar specialist in root-canals and cosmetic dentistry. I wanted all the teeth I was born with (minus wisdoms) restored to as-new condition. I was very ignorant of dental procedures and very trusting of the dentist, who came highly recommended. After a couple years and 25 to 30K, there remained a space to be filled - he just couldn’t figure out any way to make any money off of that space, so he sent me to his dental surgeon buddy, another high-dollar specialist. Even after being tortured with anesthetic needles and drills for a couple years, the term “dental implant” sounded scary. The surgeon’s office had an atmosphere with suitably subdued lighting and white-coated assistants whooshing around silently on mysterious duties and expensive looking machinery was everywhere glowing and humming. Very impressive and in keeping with the gravity of such a major undertaking as implanting something into my body. I was summoned and escorted to my theater of operation. After a proper interval the surgeon appeared (he later confessed he’d been masturbating in the back room while thinking about the receptionist . . .
) relaxed me with casual banter and answers to my feeble questions, and injected a bit of anesthetic into the area where the implant would be placed. After a few minutes of waiting for the anesthetic to work it’s way into the surrounding nerve endings, he returned and drilled a little hole then screwed into the hole the little implant, sewed up the gum flap over the implant and I was done for the day. It all took about fifteen minutes and other than the prick of the anesthetic needle, was completely painless. Wow, I thought. Is that all there is to it? That cost $1800 (back then, perhaps more now). There was an additional charge of $140 for a panoramic x-ray done before the procedure. After three months of integration my dentist then placed a crown on the implant - another $1000.
In the next couple of years I had three more implants done, each one about $3200 including the crown. My new root canals were failing at an alarming rate (the dentist blamed it on me grinding my teeth when asleep) and cracked roots were needing to be extracted and replaced with implants on what was becoming a regular basis. I was looking at having to spend another $3K+ every time it happened.
I really didn’t question what I had subjected myself to with the dentist until very late in the game. I reluctantly realized it was a clear case of “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Finally doing some research, I learned that root canals, bridges and the other antiquated procedures they do are widely thought of by consumers as permanent solutions but in dentistry are considered to have a very limited life. They never tell us that though when we’re in the dentist’s chair. It’s a real honest-to-god con game they play, so seriously, in their white coats and fancy trappings. As with all con games, the victim needs to be unaware of what’s really going on.
Once I had one done, I also learned about dental implant history and that the implants themselves, depending on brand and patent considerations, can be had for less than $100. The kits to install them - the little drill motor and drill bits, etc. can be bought, by anyone, for around $1500. Blue Sky Bio is a good source of materials, information, how-to videos, on-line webinars, etc.
I eventually realized I was being charged $1800 for something that cost $100 and 15 minutes of time to install. It finally dawned on me that I had been a really ignorant and gullible person and that the dentist racket has a higher profit margin than Walter White's business.
Since I live near the border (which is why all of this is getting posted in this thread) and since my Spanish is decent I went to Tijuana to find somebody proficient in installing implants. It appeared the root canals that had been failing were going to continue to do so (they have) and I couldn’t afford $3200 every time it happens.
I had a panoramic x-ray done in Tijuana recently, I had lost track of how many implants I’ve now got and wanted to do an inventory. Thirteen currently and am in the process (integration) of getting a two more. The machine was the same as the one used in the fancy office. The panoramic radiograph along with a CD with the digitized image cost $25 and was given to me . . . not mailed or delivered to some dental office to be kept in a file cabinet. Just ask the technician sometime for your x-rays after you have some taken. They’ll act as if the x-rays you’re paying for are their property and will reluctantly agree to make you a copy if you insist - a charge that will get added to your bill of course. I swear people, we need to take back our intelligence when it comes to dentists and doctors with their smoke and mirror crap. Our records, our x-rays, our bodies, teeth and brains belong to us, not to the cabals in white coats. They thrive on our ignorance and on our meekly playing along. We suffer for being stupid, not just financially.
Anyway, my dentist in Tijuana has done god knows how many implants and is as proficient as anyone up here I’d pay 2K to. I’ve been getting my implants and crowns done in his office for about eight years. Including the crown, I pay $800 for everything. I think that’s a typical mas o menos price for implant & crown south of the border. That includes the allographs (bone material to fill the vacancy left by an extracted tooth root) when necessary. I think it’s always necessary - why not build-up the structure before drilling it? Kind of like (same thing actually) having good concrete in place before setting an anchor bolt. You can buy allographs on-line for $40 from the same places the dentists get them and the container has enough material for several teeth, not just one. I had one “dental surgeon” up here tell me he wanted $700 for this “bone implant.” If you check with your dentist, I think you’ll find that’s typical.
I’ve been seeing advertisements in SoCal for “same day implants” but it’s more smoke and mirrors. Either they explain when you walk in the door what they “really” need to do, or they install an implant in marginal bone and make damn sure the tooth is not at all in the bite and then hope for the best . . . and of course, charge an arm and a leg either way. I wouldn’t recommend same-day implants.
Unless you live near the border going back to the Mexican dentist three or four times over the three to six months it takes for integration is a hassle. If Mexico is out of the question, find a good implant specialist near where you live and hopefully have enough money for what is a permanent tooth replacement procedure. Insurance doesn’t normally cover implants - it’s considered “cosmetic” dentistry for totally mysterious reasons that have something to do with the ADA cabal I have no doubt. In any case, root canals and bridges and plates and dentures (unless attached to implants) are all in the same category as bleeding with leeches and drilling holes into the cranium to relieve headaches and evil spirits. Until biotech comes up with a way to regenerate new teeth (as do some other animals, so it’s quite likely), implants are the only good solution to replacing a tooth.
I’ve never had any problems in my many trips to Tijuana over the years. I use a motorcycle to avoid the long wait lines, whether vehicle or pedestrian. San Ysidro/Tijuana is the busiest border crossing in the world, yet with the bike it’s effortless. I hope that never changes.
Dentures and bridges = like, I mean, like unhygenic food traps & generally troublesome? Like, in the case of bridges, like temporary? Like, to install a bridge the dentist will, like, compromise a couple perfectly good teeth for anchors - teeth which will eventually fail since they are being, like, asked to support loads and side stresses nature didn't design them for? So, like, maybe five years, maybe longer? Maybe less? After, like, the bridge fails the dentist will then suggest compromising some more good teeth if there are any left. Like, ADA Standard Of Care?
Sorry about the parody. Adolescent English annoys me but, like, that appears to be the way the world is, like, turning. Good point though about the cost of dental work in Mexico. On that issue, I offer the following experiences.
Implant technology was developed first in Sweden in the 60's, has evolved and is ever being perfected, yet dentists are still depending on the authority of their white coats and customer ignorance to babble about root canals, bridges and plates. Root canals are also, of course, temporary. Kill the root by taking out the nerve and blood supply and the now-dead bone gets brittle and will soon fracture if at all stressed. If the tooth isn't in the "bite" then it will fracture later rather than sooner, but someday you’ll bite something hard and it will fracture. Then the dentist gets to do an extraction and "sell a bridge" to the poor bastard in the chair who either hasn't done his or her research (most of us) OR whose dental insurance won't cover implants but WILL cover the expensive stone-age procedures promoted by the ADA and adhered to by most dentists since it is their livelihood and much to their advantage to make as much money as possible off of each tooth over time. Replace a damaged tooth with an implant and their revenue stream is toast. Dentists fully comprehend how this all works and will defend their shell game when confronted by pointing to the ADA “standard of care” and piously saying something about “saving the tooth.” Horsecrap. If a tooth is at the point of needing a root canal, an ethical, knowledgeable dentist will pull it out, put some bone material (allograph) in the vacancy, let it integrate with the surrounding bone (about three months), then drill a little hole and install a tiny titanium (titanium is the only metal which will integrate with bone as we all know . . . although there are other materials coming down the pike) anchor bolt-like thing called an implant, let IT integrate (another three months), then put a nice crown on top of that and then brush and floss as you did or didn’t do with your original tooth. You’re done. That tooth will outlive you as long as you do enough mouth maintenance to prevent gum disease. If everyone went directly to an implant when a tooth is beyond repair, the number of dentists (and anyones’ need for them) in this country would decrease at least 50%. Endodontists would disappear altogether.
When I got back from several years in Southern Africa about twenty years ago I decided to catch up on neglected dental work and entered into a “full mouth restoration” process thinking I could get everything done in such a way as to not have to worry about my teeth for the rest of my life. My dentist was a high-dollar specialist in root-canals and cosmetic dentistry. I wanted all the teeth I was born with (minus wisdoms) restored to as-new condition. I was very ignorant of dental procedures and very trusting of the dentist, who came highly recommended. After a couple years and 25 to 30K, there remained a space to be filled - he just couldn’t figure out any way to make any money off of that space, so he sent me to his dental surgeon buddy, another high-dollar specialist. Even after being tortured with anesthetic needles and drills for a couple years, the term “dental implant” sounded scary. The surgeon’s office had an atmosphere with suitably subdued lighting and white-coated assistants whooshing around silently on mysterious duties and expensive looking machinery was everywhere glowing and humming. Very impressive and in keeping with the gravity of such a major undertaking as implanting something into my body. I was summoned and escorted to my theater of operation. After a proper interval the surgeon appeared (he later confessed he’d been masturbating in the back room while thinking about the receptionist . . .
) relaxed me with casual banter and answers to my feeble questions, and injected a bit of anesthetic into the area where the implant would be placed. After a few minutes of waiting for the anesthetic to work it’s way into the surrounding nerve endings, he returned and drilled a little hole then screwed into the hole the little implant, sewed up the gum flap over the implant and I was done for the day. It all took about fifteen minutes and other than the prick of the anesthetic needle, was completely painless. Wow, I thought. Is that all there is to it? That cost $1800 (back then, perhaps more now). There was an additional charge of $140 for a panoramic x-ray done before the procedure. After three months of integration my dentist then placed a crown on the implant - another $1000. In the next couple of years I had three more implants done, each one about $3200 including the crown. My new root canals were failing at an alarming rate (the dentist blamed it on me grinding my teeth when asleep) and cracked roots were needing to be extracted and replaced with implants on what was becoming a regular basis. I was looking at having to spend another $3K+ every time it happened.
I really didn’t question what I had subjected myself to with the dentist until very late in the game. I reluctantly realized it was a clear case of “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Finally doing some research, I learned that root canals, bridges and the other antiquated procedures they do are widely thought of by consumers as permanent solutions but in dentistry are considered to have a very limited life. They never tell us that though when we’re in the dentist’s chair. It’s a real honest-to-god con game they play, so seriously, in their white coats and fancy trappings. As with all con games, the victim needs to be unaware of what’s really going on.
Once I had one done, I also learned about dental implant history and that the implants themselves, depending on brand and patent considerations, can be had for less than $100. The kits to install them - the little drill motor and drill bits, etc. can be bought, by anyone, for around $1500. Blue Sky Bio is a good source of materials, information, how-to videos, on-line webinars, etc.
I eventually realized I was being charged $1800 for something that cost $100 and 15 minutes of time to install. It finally dawned on me that I had been a really ignorant and gullible person and that the dentist racket has a higher profit margin than Walter White's business.
Since I live near the border (which is why all of this is getting posted in this thread) and since my Spanish is decent I went to Tijuana to find somebody proficient in installing implants. It appeared the root canals that had been failing were going to continue to do so (they have) and I couldn’t afford $3200 every time it happens.
I had a panoramic x-ray done in Tijuana recently, I had lost track of how many implants I’ve now got and wanted to do an inventory. Thirteen currently and am in the process (integration) of getting a two more. The machine was the same as the one used in the fancy office. The panoramic radiograph along with a CD with the digitized image cost $25 and was given to me . . . not mailed or delivered to some dental office to be kept in a file cabinet. Just ask the technician sometime for your x-rays after you have some taken. They’ll act as if the x-rays you’re paying for are their property and will reluctantly agree to make you a copy if you insist - a charge that will get added to your bill of course. I swear people, we need to take back our intelligence when it comes to dentists and doctors with their smoke and mirror crap. Our records, our x-rays, our bodies, teeth and brains belong to us, not to the cabals in white coats. They thrive on our ignorance and on our meekly playing along. We suffer for being stupid, not just financially.
Anyway, my dentist in Tijuana has done god knows how many implants and is as proficient as anyone up here I’d pay 2K to. I’ve been getting my implants and crowns done in his office for about eight years. Including the crown, I pay $800 for everything. I think that’s a typical mas o menos price for implant & crown south of the border. That includes the allographs (bone material to fill the vacancy left by an extracted tooth root) when necessary. I think it’s always necessary - why not build-up the structure before drilling it? Kind of like (same thing actually) having good concrete in place before setting an anchor bolt. You can buy allographs on-line for $40 from the same places the dentists get them and the container has enough material for several teeth, not just one. I had one “dental surgeon” up here tell me he wanted $700 for this “bone implant.” If you check with your dentist, I think you’ll find that’s typical.
I’ve been seeing advertisements in SoCal for “same day implants” but it’s more smoke and mirrors. Either they explain when you walk in the door what they “really” need to do, or they install an implant in marginal bone and make damn sure the tooth is not at all in the bite and then hope for the best . . . and of course, charge an arm and a leg either way. I wouldn’t recommend same-day implants.
Unless you live near the border going back to the Mexican dentist three or four times over the three to six months it takes for integration is a hassle. If Mexico is out of the question, find a good implant specialist near where you live and hopefully have enough money for what is a permanent tooth replacement procedure. Insurance doesn’t normally cover implants - it’s considered “cosmetic” dentistry for totally mysterious reasons that have something to do with the ADA cabal I have no doubt. In any case, root canals and bridges and plates and dentures (unless attached to implants) are all in the same category as bleeding with leeches and drilling holes into the cranium to relieve headaches and evil spirits. Until biotech comes up with a way to regenerate new teeth (as do some other animals, so it’s quite likely), implants are the only good solution to replacing a tooth.
I’ve never had any problems in my many trips to Tijuana over the years. I use a motorcycle to avoid the long wait lines, whether vehicle or pedestrian. San Ysidro/Tijuana is the busiest border crossing in the world, yet with the bike it’s effortless. I hope that never changes.
Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
Two questions:
1. How old are you?
2. What caused the majority of your teeth to fail?
I've got some gold crowns (my molars tend to split) but, other than a fake front tooth (since age 10, when I bit the ice in Wisconsin --literally) I've still got all of my teeth. I'm 56, and wondering how long that will last.
1. How old are you?
2. What caused the majority of your teeth to fail?
I've got some gold crowns (my molars tend to split) but, other than a fake front tooth (since age 10, when I bit the ice in Wisconsin --literally) I've still got all of my teeth. I'm 56, and wondering how long that will last.
Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
Just to be clear, I have no intention of getting anything in Mexico. Just curious as to what happened to MikeS's teeth, and wondering how long mine will last.
Well, it seemed to work well, and for pennies on the dollar compared to the OTC stuff we can buy here.
And if I ever need major dental work done, I hear they are quite excellent -- should you survive the trip.
I do feel sorry for the folks in Progresso. Their poverty is aching, and they rely on idiots like me dropping $50 - $100 on doodads on every trip.
You know -- on stuff like a Packer poncho. Incredibly, I can't find a picture of me wearing it, but here's a group of Packer fans at our local saloon holding it up for a photo. (I don't recall why I took it off, but it looks like we were winning...
Yeah, we were pretty bummed when they imploded in the NFC championship game...
A lot of yachties go down to the Dominican Republic for dental work.
MikeS
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2014
- Messages
- 297
- Display Name
Display name:
MikeS
"Two questions:
1. How old are you?
2. What caused the majority of your teeth to fail?"
1. 69½
2. A dentist somewhere along the way told me I have "short roots" - a genetic inheritance if true. I haven't done any root comparisons to see if mine are shorter than normal but this is a possible reason for tooth problems. It's something a dentist once told me so I still remember it but really, the actual reason I've had so many teeth need replacement since I embarked on my "full mouth restoration" project was that the greedy butcher I chose for a dentist did root canals on a whole bunch of teeth that didn't actually need root canals. (I now know that none of them needed root canals, but this was before I knew that.) This Del Mar pindejo has a root canal fetish and advertises as a selling point for his services just how many thousands of them he has done. I chose him because he was the friend of a friend and because I was freshly back from several years out of the out of the country and was a little too hasty in choosing a dentist to have some overdue dental work done. I just wanted to get some broken crowns and chipped teeth fixed as I recall but somehow got talked into the "full mouth restoration" business. I had more money than brains just then and, like most people, had never really looked into the technicalities of dentistry. I trusted the bastard. It's been an expensive education.
I'm responsible for my own ignorance and bad luck in putting myself in the hands of this Del Mar vulture, but I must admit I'm fairly ****ed at him and his white-jacketed co-horts in the dentistry hustle. To unnecessarily destroy a tooth's root by doing root canals and the consequent "post core build-ups" and crowns and all the other attendant procedures and charges - just to make money . . . seems to me blatantly criminal. But he and others like him are still out there doing what they do, babbling the ADA line of crap when questioned although as I said, I didn't start questioning anything until too late in the game.
******************
BTW, flying to Monterrey or Guadalajara for dental work, particularly work that is going to require several appointments, seems a little cumbersome. It would make more sense to fly to San Diego, rent a car or take the trolley to the border and walk across and back. If the pedestrian line is long, for $5 you can jump on one of the lined-up border crossing mini-buses. That'll take less than an hour and you can read something or watch the world around you. Tijuana is not Juarez. I don't know that even Juarez is all that bad. The cartel/gang stuff doesn't affect gringos visiting Mexico for dental work. I don't know Juarez, but I know Mexico and for anyone to have a negative experience one would need to have the extraordinarily bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The State Dept. & news media . . . well, you know what they're doing - trying to justify their existence and/or selling a political agenda or advertising.
I got fleeced for a lot of money by a guy in a white coat in a fancy part of town in broad daylight right here in the U.S. If situational awareness is lost, anywhere can be dangerous. If you keep it, you stay safe no matter where you are, although I wouldn't go anywhere near Islamic territory. Never wanted to anyway.
1. How old are you?
2. What caused the majority of your teeth to fail?"
1. 69½
2. A dentist somewhere along the way told me I have "short roots" - a genetic inheritance if true. I haven't done any root comparisons to see if mine are shorter than normal but this is a possible reason for tooth problems. It's something a dentist once told me so I still remember it but really, the actual reason I've had so many teeth need replacement since I embarked on my "full mouth restoration" project was that the greedy butcher I chose for a dentist did root canals on a whole bunch of teeth that didn't actually need root canals. (I now know that none of them needed root canals, but this was before I knew that.) This Del Mar pindejo has a root canal fetish and advertises as a selling point for his services just how many thousands of them he has done. I chose him because he was the friend of a friend and because I was freshly back from several years out of the out of the country and was a little too hasty in choosing a dentist to have some overdue dental work done. I just wanted to get some broken crowns and chipped teeth fixed as I recall but somehow got talked into the "full mouth restoration" business. I had more money than brains just then and, like most people, had never really looked into the technicalities of dentistry. I trusted the bastard. It's been an expensive education.
I'm responsible for my own ignorance and bad luck in putting myself in the hands of this Del Mar vulture, but I must admit I'm fairly ****ed at him and his white-jacketed co-horts in the dentistry hustle. To unnecessarily destroy a tooth's root by doing root canals and the consequent "post core build-ups" and crowns and all the other attendant procedures and charges - just to make money . . . seems to me blatantly criminal. But he and others like him are still out there doing what they do, babbling the ADA line of crap when questioned although as I said, I didn't start questioning anything until too late in the game.
******************
BTW, flying to Monterrey or Guadalajara for dental work, particularly work that is going to require several appointments, seems a little cumbersome. It would make more sense to fly to San Diego, rent a car or take the trolley to the border and walk across and back. If the pedestrian line is long, for $5 you can jump on one of the lined-up border crossing mini-buses. That'll take less than an hour and you can read something or watch the world around you. Tijuana is not Juarez. I don't know that even Juarez is all that bad. The cartel/gang stuff doesn't affect gringos visiting Mexico for dental work. I don't know Juarez, but I know Mexico and for anyone to have a negative experience one would need to have the extraordinarily bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The State Dept. & news media . . . well, you know what they're doing - trying to justify their existence and/or selling a political agenda or advertising.
I got fleeced for a lot of money by a guy in a white coat in a fancy part of town in broad daylight right here in the U.S. If situational awareness is lost, anywhere can be dangerous. If you keep it, you stay safe no matter where you are, although I wouldn't go anywhere near Islamic territory. Never wanted to anyway.
Quick question now that I am getting older. At what age am I supposed to start reverting to fractions of years, and what age do I go back to months?
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
Mexico City can be an issue, too. Both the local management and our risk control people advised our execs to not take the corporate jet and dress like a tourist on the commercial flight as the bad guys would stake out arriving private planes and attempt kidnappings. YMMV.
red4golf
Line Up and Wait
Cancun, Chichen itza and Tulum during Oct / Nov were great. Drove around in a rental and didn't feel any less safe than convoying through Ramadi or Mosul.
Just kidding. It was a great area to explore on our own but I was warned not to get within 50 miles of the US border unless I was looking for trouble.
Just kidding. It was a great area to explore on our own but I was warned not to get within 50 miles of the US border unless I was looking for trouble.
magyarflyer
Pre-Flight
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2014
- Messages
- 60
- Display Name
Display name:
magyarflyer
> "There are, like, thousands of snowbirds in Progresso on any given day. It's the only place I've ever been with people standing on the street soliciting for dental care! (Apparently you can get dentures and bridges for a tiny fraction of what they cost in the States.)"
Dentures and bridges = like, I mean, like unhygenic food traps & generally troublesome? Like, in the case of bridges, like temporary? Like, to install a bridge the dentist will, like, compromise a couple perfectly good teeth for anchors - teeth which will eventually fail since they are being, like, asked to support loads and side stresses nature didn't design them for? So, like, maybe five years, maybe longer? Maybe less? After, like, the bridge fails the dentist will then suggest compromising some more good teeth if there are any left. Like, ADA Standard Of Care?
Sorry about the parody. Adolescent English annoys me but, like, that appears to be the way the world is, like, turning. Good point though about the cost of dental work in Mexico. On that issue, I offer the following experiences.
Implant technology was developed first in Sweden in the 60's, has evolved and is ever being perfected, yet dentists are still depending on the authority of their white coats and customer ignorance to babble about root canals, bridges and plates. Root canals are also, of course, temporary. Kill the root by taking out the nerve and blood supply and the now-dead bone gets brittle and will soon fracture if at all stressed. If the tooth isn't in the "bite" then it will fracture later rather than sooner, but someday you’ll bite something hard and it will fracture. Then the dentist gets to do an extraction and "sell a bridge" to the poor bastard in the chair who either hasn't done his or her research (most of us) OR whose dental insurance won't cover implants but WILL cover the expensive stone-age procedures promoted by the ADA and adhered to by most dentists since it is their livelihood and much to their advantage to make as much money as possible off of each tooth over time. Replace a damaged tooth with an implant and their revenue stream is toast. Dentists fully comprehend how this all works and will defend their shell game when confronted by pointing to the ADA “standard of care” and piously saying something about “saving the tooth.” Horsecrap. If a tooth is at the point of needing a root canal, an ethical, knowledgeable dentist will pull it out, put some bone material (allograph) in the vacancy, let it integrate with the surrounding bone (about three months), then drill a little hole and install a tiny titanium (titanium is the only metal which will integrate with bone as we all know . . . although there are other materials coming down the pike) anchor bolt-like thing called an implant, let IT integrate (another three months), then put a nice crown on top of that and then brush and floss as you did or didn’t do with your original tooth. You’re done. That tooth will outlive you as long as you do enough mouth maintenance to prevent gum disease. If everyone went directly to an implant when a tooth is beyond repair, the number of dentists (and anyones’ need for them) in this country would decrease at least 50%. Endodontists would disappear altogether.
When I got back from several years in Southern Africa about twenty years ago I decided to catch up on neglected dental work and entered into a “full mouth restoration” process thinking I could get everything done in such a way as to not have to worry about my teeth for the rest of my life. My dentist was a high-dollar specialist in root-canals and cosmetic dentistry. I wanted all the teeth I was born with (minus wisdoms) restored to as-new condition. I was very ignorant of dental procedures and very trusting of the dentist, who came highly recommended. After a couple years and 25 to 30K, there remained a space to be filled - he just couldn’t figure out any way to make any money off of that space, so he sent me to his dental surgeon buddy, another high-dollar specialist. Even after being tortured with anesthetic needles and drills for a couple years, the term “dental implant” sounded scary. The surgeon’s office had an atmosphere with suitably subdued lighting and white-coated assistants whooshing around silently on mysterious duties and expensive looking machinery was everywhere glowing and humming. Very impressive and in keeping with the gravity of such a major undertaking as implanting something into my body. I was summoned and escorted to my theater of operation. After a proper interval the surgeon appeared (he later confessed he’d been masturbating in the back room while thinking about the receptionist . . .
In the next couple of years I had three more implants done, each one about $3200 including the crown. My new root canals were failing at an alarming rate (the dentist blamed it on me grinding my teeth when asleep) and cracked roots were needing to be extracted and replaced with implants on what was becoming a regular basis. I was looking at having to spend another $3K+ every time it happened.
I really didn’t question what I had subjected myself to with the dentist until very late in the game. I reluctantly realized it was a clear case of “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Finally doing some research, I learned that root canals, bridges and the other antiquated procedures they do are widely thought of by consumers as permanent solutions but in dentistry are considered to have a very limited life. They never tell us that though when we’re in the dentist’s chair. It’s a real honest-to-god con game they play, so seriously, in their white coats and fancy trappings. As with all con games, the victim needs to be unaware of what’s really going on.
Once I had one done, I also learned about dental implant history and that the implants themselves, depending on brand and patent considerations, can be had for less than $100. The kits to install them - the little drill motor and drill bits, etc. can be bought, by anyone, for around $1500. Blue Sky Bio is a good source of materials, information, how-to videos, on-line webinars, etc.
I eventually realized I was being charged $1800 for something that cost $100 and 15 minutes of time to install. It finally dawned on me that I had been a really ignorant and gullible person and that the dentist racket has a higher profit margin than Walter White's business.
Since I live near the border (which is why all of this is getting posted in this thread) and since my Spanish is decent I went to Tijuana to find somebody proficient in installing implants. It appeared the root canals that had been failing were going to continue to do so (they have) and I couldn’t afford $3200 every time it happens.
I had a panoramic x-ray done in Tijuana recently, I had lost track of how many implants I’ve now got and wanted to do an inventory. Thirteen currently and am in the process (integration) of getting a two more. The machine was the same as the one used in the fancy office. The panoramic radiograph along with a CD with the digitized image cost $25 and was given to me . . . not mailed or delivered to some dental office to be kept in a file cabinet. Just ask the technician sometime for your x-rays after you have some taken. They’ll act as if the x-rays you’re paying for are their property and will reluctantly agree to make you a copy if you insist - a charge that will get added to your bill of course. I swear people, we need to take back our intelligence when it comes to dentists and doctors with their smoke and mirror crap. Our records, our x-rays, our bodies, teeth and brains belong to us, not to the cabals in white coats. They thrive on our ignorance and on our meekly playing along. We suffer for being stupid, not just financially.
Anyway, my dentist in Tijuana has done god knows how many implants and is as proficient as anyone up here I’d pay 2K to. I’ve been getting my implants and crowns done in his office for about eight years. Including the crown, I pay $800 for everything. I think that’s a typical mas o menos price for implant & crown south of the border. That includes the allographs (bone material to fill the vacancy left by an extracted tooth root) when necessary. I think it’s always necessary - why not build-up the structure before drilling it? Kind of like (same thing actually) having good concrete in place before setting an anchor bolt. You can buy allographs on-line for $40 from the same places the dentists get them and the container has enough material for several teeth, not just one. I had one “dental surgeon” up here tell me he wanted $700 for this “bone implant.” If you check with your dentist, I think you’ll find that’s typical.
I’ve been seeing advertisements in SoCal for “same day implants” but it’s more smoke and mirrors. Either they explain when you walk in the door what they “really” need to do, or they install an implant in marginal bone and make damn sure the tooth is not at all in the bite and then hope for the best . . . and of course, charge an arm and a leg either way. I wouldn’t recommend same-day implants.
Unless you live near the border going back to the Mexican dentist three or four times over the three to six months it takes for integration is a hassle. If Mexico is out of the question, find a good implant specialist near where you live and hopefully have enough money for what is a permanent tooth replacement procedure. Insurance doesn’t normally cover implants - it’s considered “cosmetic” dentistry for totally mysterious reasons that have something to do with the ADA cabal I have no doubt. In any case, root canals and bridges and plates and dentures (unless attached to implants) are all in the same category as bleeding with leeches and drilling holes into the cranium to relieve headaches and evil spirits. Until biotech comes up with a way to regenerate new teeth (as do some other animals, so it’s quite likely), implants are the only good solution to replacing a tooth.
I’ve never had any problems in my many trips to Tijuana over the years. I use a motorcycle to avoid the long wait lines, whether vehicle or pedestrian. San Ysidro/Tijuana is the busiest border crossing in the world, yet with the bike it’s effortless. I hope that never changes.
there is got to be a bunch of dentists in this forum. Could any of you make a comment regarding root canals and the facts quoted here?
the silence in the forest is bothersome......
steingar
Taxi to Parking
Matamoros has been a pit since I was a kid. They were saying most of the same things before my own excursion. Back then armed robbery was vanishingly rare, they'd just pick your pocket. One of my companions had his passport lifted.
Wise travelers to third world nations don't carry lots of cash or flashy jewelry to begin with.
Wise travelers to third world nations don't carry lots of cash or flashy jewelry to begin with.
cirrusmx
Line Up and Wait
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campoalavista
dafuq.. what are they smoking? Not one bad guy is getting near a GA airport in mexico. they are packed with federal police and soldiers. The only people at a real risk of kidnapping are wealthy well known locals. No one in there right mind is going to take a chance with an unknown gringo when they have plenty of locals to prey on, even less so with a salaried employee on a business trip.
I just think its stupid when people bash another country out of ignorance or based on what the TV news say so.
Now wondering on the street of matamoros or reynosa is pure foolishness just like wondering on the wrong side of detroit, ny, etc.
Clark1961
Touchdown! Greaser!
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We carry lots or cash - gotta have an out - but it isn't in one place and it never gets shown...
nddons
Touchdown! Greaser!
Clark1961
Touchdown! Greaser!
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not 'zactly - worked expat on a couple oilfield projects...the places I worked were pretty tame but the guys I worked with had been in some real **** holes...and I learned how to prep for self-evac from them...ya really can't count on the "company" to get you out