Dentists and Dental Care
San Diego close, Tijuana
Our experience with dentists for dental care in Mexico has been equally positive.
A few years ago, before our life in Southern Arizona, Tijuana was our closest city in Mexico. We were referred to a dentist there, Dr. Arturo Gonzalez, who is fluent in English. His office in a mid-rise medical building is remarkably cosmopolitan. We have chatted there with patients from as far afield as England and Spain.
One December day back then, my husband developed sudden tooth pain. The doctor suggested he come to the office in the early evening hours. On our way there, we turned onto the main boulevard and were enjoying the bright holiday decorations overhead. The next thing we knew, there were massive decorated floats, flying banners and marching bands beside us. Police were whistling for us and everyone else to stop. Without ever intending to be, we had become engulfed in a long, slow Christmas parade. We were stuck.
We figured we would go the office as soon as the festooned floats and costumed performers passed by. It was 9:00 p.m. when we finally got free. We drove the remaining few blocks to the dental office feeling defeated. The street of tall office buildings was darkened save for one lonely light. Dr. Gonzalez' light.
Our dentist opened the door when we arrived. “How are you? He asked Bob. “You must be hurting. What happened?”
We told him about the parade. He and his assistant both shook their heads.
He explained that if we hadn’t arrived soon, he would have given up and left. He knew that something unavoidable must have detained us. He had not known there was going to be a parade. His assistant ushered my husband into the cheery office and they got to work repairing Bob’s tooth.
http://www.arturogonzalezdds.com/agdds/Welcome.html
Nogales, Arizona to Nogales, Sonora
After we settled in Southern Arizona, a friend recommended a Nogales, Sonora dentist, Dr. Chester Squire. The dentist’s street level office is an easy walk from the international border in Nogales, Sonora. Dr. Squire himself speaks English as his native language and Spanish equally well. He has a generosity of spirit we admire. He often flies with other medical professionals to remote villages in Mexico where they donate services. Plus, his sense of humor always shines through.
Between us, Bob was the first to need dental care for a tooth that needed repair. The dentist offered an opinion about the tooth that was refreshing to our way of thinking. He presented options. He allowed that a crown might be a good long term solve but he also pointed out that a crown requires a certain amount of destruction of an existing good tooth. His suggested approach would be to build up the tooth with a new composite filling. If the filling held up, that would be super. If a filling wouldn’t last, then he would do the crown and reduce the cost by the amount of the trial repair. That seemed more than fair.
Three years have passed. The repair has lasted. So has our trusting relationship with Dr. Squire.
Recently, in late 2009, Dr. Squire came to the rescue again. A tooth of mine, a very old crown that had long ago had a root canal gave way. No pain. Just an embarrassing hollow look. When I phoned Dr. Squire on his U.S. phone number, he once again assured me we had options. “Save that tooth,” he said, and I did. I took to his office it in a tiny envelope. He was able to salvage it, restore it to its rightful place and my smile looks as it did before the tooth went awry. The charges were nominal and the result remarkable.