Dental Tourism in Mexico

It is so important to take good care of your teeth and to practice good dental hygene. As an adult, and now having to pay for dental work, I can better appreciate my mothers insistance that I brush my teeth everyday!  One of the problems is that cavities form, and if we don't catch them in time the only solution to save the tooth is a root canal. At Sam dental we are happy to include in our consulting staff, Dr. Gaston as our endodontist. Dr. Gaston is very qualified as a dentist.  He is not just a general dentist doing root canals as is the case in some clinics, he is certified with a specialization in endodontics.  In fact Dr. Gaston is so reveered in his field, he has served as the local President of the National College of Dental Surgeons, which the Mexican equivolent of the American Dental Association.  When you have to have a root canal, you are in very good hands when you come to Sam Dental in Tijuana. The price we charge for root canals is just $225, plus the post and crown.  Normally we can do the whole thing for $525 using standard materials. 

Comments (0)     

At Sam Dental in Tijuana we are very pleased to a new addition to our consulting staff.  Dr. Arnulfo Vazquez is now doing all of our dental implants.  Dr. Vazquez is one of the very best implantologists in Tijuana. He did the studies for his specialization in dental implants in the USA at the University of Minnesota. He recieved his board certification in the USA, and then again in Mexico.  He is certified to teach implantology and train dentists in Mexico. Dr Vazquez also did further studies on bone grafting at the University of L.A..  Dr. Arnulfo Vazquez has put in many thousands of dental implants in Mexico, and has over a 97% success rate.  When you contact us at Sam dental for dental implants, you are in very good hands.  We guarantee our work. 

Comments (0)     

 "Hey Jim . Thanks so much to you, Dr Villa, and the rest of Sam Dental.  Great Job. I look forward to getting more work done in the future. I'll have pictures for you soon, and then a video. .....Buck Gunter"

The above note was sent to us by a patient who just had his teeth worked on.  He is a profession saxophone player whose front teeth had gotten worn down.  He told me that he is at the height of his ability, but that with his deteriorating dental condition, if he hadn't got his teeth fixed, his career would be drawing to a close.  You can't play the sax without your front teeth! He still has some work to do, but with the new 11 crowns that we put on his front teeth, he not only has a new smile, but he has a new lease on his career life.  Cosmetic dentistry in Mexico as well as restorative dentistry in Mexico is of excellent quality, and is very affordable.

Comments (0)     

With the summer coming up, it is a great time to go to Sam Dental in Tijuana for dental tourism. Not only will you get quality dental care in Mexico, but you will be coming at a time that the weather is excellent, and going to the beach in your free time works. Just 15 minutes from Sam Dental is the beach community of Playas.  This is a very nice area, away from the hustle of downtown.  There is a nice promenade walkway along the beach with restaurants, coffee shops, and tourist shops. You can sit out at a table, and enjoy the surf while you sip your cup of latte. For most dental treatments, there is a couple of days between the initial preparation work and the finished crowns, the time when the dental lab is creating your new smile. It gives you the opportunity to check things out in Tijuana, and enjoy the beach.  That is what makes dental tourism in Tijuana something special.

Comments (0)     

Normally when you think of cosmetic dentistry, you think of putting on veneers.  But there is so much more that we can do at Sam Dental in Tijuana.  Recently a young man named James from Florida came.  His teeth were crooked and snarled.  It  would have been better to have fixed everything with orthodontic treatment, but James didn't want to wait for that.  We were able to reshape his teeth and smile with a series of dental crowns and a dental bridge.  The result was amazing.  What we did cost under $3000.  Orthodontic treatment in the USA would have been twice that, and he would have had to wait for at least 2 years to look nice.  He left our clinic in 6 days with a smile that won't quit! 

Comments (0)     

Clean drinking water is a concern many people have.  They are afraid to drink the water in Mexico when at a mexican dentist office.  We would not advise drinking the tap water, not because it is toxic, but because in drinking water from an area you are not used to could make you sick. In the clinic, all the water used while working on the patients is purified water only.  We also have bottled water for you to drink.  In your hotel they will have bottled water in your room, and you can ask them for extra bottles.  If you want to buy water or other things to snack on in your room, there are severla coninience stores nearby, the receptionist at your hotel, or our office staff can tell you where to go.  There is also a good sized grocery store just two or three blocks from the hotels. You don't need to be afraid to drink the water, but it is best to just stick with botled water while on your Tijuana dental tourism vacation..

Comments (0)     

Many of our patients stay at the Hotel Villa de Zaragoza.  That makes eating out easy as they have a good restaurant on site.  The cuisine is typical Mexican food, with some American dishes. Everything is good, and the prices are very reasonable. Right next door is a very nice restarant called "Ricardo's".  This is a little nicer place to eat. the prices are a little bit higher, but not much.  The menu will have a few more American dishes on it, and the atmosphere is definitely more upscale than at the hotel. There is a little hole in the wall place between Ricardo's and the hotel.  it is cheaper, and the food more common, but is is still a good place, especially for a Mexican style breakfast.  One thing you might want to avoid is eating at a street taco stand.  Sometimes they are not as sanitary.  I eat at them, but I have learned which ones are good, and who to stay away from. 

If you choose to stay at the Hotel Ticuan, you will have to eat elsewhere.  The Ticuan is a much nicer place than the Villa de Zaragoza. It is a new construction, and everything is very nice.  However, they have not finished their on site restaurant. If you turn to your left, when you leave the hotel lobby, and walk to the corner, crossing the street and continuing for about a 1/2 block, there is a very good restaurant. You will see it on your right.  They have a section where people can come up to a counter off the street, but they have a nice dining area inside. Here you will find very good typical Mexican fare at a reasonable price.  If you went past this place, and were to continue to the corner, looking to your left you will see Ricardo's, next to the Villa de Zaragoza.  Also from the Ticuan you can see a "Sanfords" sign.  That is a restaurant that caters to Americans, although the food is not as good as the other places mentioned.

Comments (1)     

Although we are willing to pick you up, some prople prefer to just take a taxi to the clinic. The ride is just $5.  In case you want to take a taxi, or just to have a plan "B" as a back up plan, here are the instructions. 

First, make sure you write down the address of Sam Dental to show a taxi driver. The address: Calle 9 Ignacio Zaragoza 8367, entre Negrete y Madero, Zona Centro If you hand this to the driver, he will get you there in 7 minutes.  The instructions for crossing are the same as the previous post, with the difference that you should exit Mexican Customs through the exit that is straight ahead. You will see literally 50 or 60 taxis parked there. You will be approached by a taxi rep wearing a yellow shirt with a neck tie. Don't be afraid of him, as he will speak English and can help direct the driver. Just tell him that you want to go to the address on the paper, and he will tell the driver where to go.  One thing to be careful of is some of the taxis will try to convince you that they know a real good dentist that is very cheap.  Don't let him take you to a different place. For one thing, there are unscrupulous dentists that have made deals with the taxis to take you to their clinic.  Think about this, if theses dentists are so unscrupulous as to try to steal patients, know that they will try to steal from you by saying you need treatments that you don't really need.  The other thing is that I feel responsible for you, and have tried to do everything I can to make sure you arrive safe, and when you are a no show, it isn't fair to me to make me worry.

Comments (0)     

When driving to our clinic, we recommend that you park your car on the US side of the border and walk across to where we can pick you up in front of the exit from Mexican Customs. The best place to park your car is right next to the entrance gate for pedestrians.  Just drive down Interstates 5 or 805, and take the last exit in the USA to the street, Camino de la Plaza.  Since  the 805 and 5 merge right ther, so does the off ramps of the two merge, so from either freeway, you end up at the same place.  Off of Interstae 5, look for exit 1A. Coming down the ramp you will come to a traffic light at Camino de la Plaza.  Do not turn, just go through the light, and you will see the UETA parking lot. If you will park your car, and call us from the lot, we will send someone to pick you up, meeting you at the gate exiting Mexican Customs. 

From the parking lot, you will continue down the sidewalk that leads up to the turnstile gate entering Mexico. From there you will walk down a long corridor that opens out into a courtyard. From this courtyard, there are two exits. One is straight ahead, where you will see hundreds of yellow taxis, and one is off to the right, leading to the street.  For us to pick you up, you will need to go through the gate on the right. You will wait there in front of the gate, between a couple of taco stands, and we'll be there to pick you up.

Comments (0)     

When you come into Sam Dental to have major dental work, it will be done in two phases. Because our patients come in for major dental work from long distances, we don't work at the same pace as US dentists. in the US, when you have an appointment, the dentist doesn't usually work on you for much over an hour and a half at a time. The dental lab also may take weeks to send the work back, and thus major dental work can take many visits to the clinic, and many weeks to be completed. At our Tijuana dental clinic, we can do almost anything over the course of a week. We dedicate our time to you. Your dentist will work on you exclusively until all the prep work is finished. The first couple of days, all you teeth will be prepped. After that you will have 2 or 3 days free to do what ever you want. When the crowns are done, you will come in for a couple of hours to have everything put on, and your crowns adjusted.  You are then free to go home.  We find that it is best to stay in Tijuana during your dental trip.  One of the advantages is that during those days that you are waiting for the lab work to get back, you can go check out the coast and beach areas near Tijuana. Rosarito beach, just 30 minutes away is a great dental tourism location. Do you like seafood? how about lobster, shrimp or multiple kinds of fish? Some of the best, and inexpensive seafood places are in Rosarito beach.  Like the beach? There are lots of beaches, and even nice hotels located right on the beach. If you wanted a day of deep sea fishing, Ensenada is just an hour and a half from Tijuana. At Sam Dental, you not only will get great dental work done at a fraction of the price, but you have the opportunity to have a great dental vacation. 

Comments (0)     

Hey Jim, This is Mike from Chicago.  I just got back home and everyone was amazed at the difference in my teeth.  My wife actually started to cry when she saw my smile!  Please relay my thanks to Dr. Villa for a job very well done. The dental clinic was spotlessly clean, and everything seamed very sanitary. the equupment was top quality, and the dentists were great. I have a lot of friends who are planning on calling you up to set appointments to come down for dental work. I want to thank you for the professional way that everything was handled during my dental tourism trip.  You were great for informing me about everything before hand and for keeping tabs on me while there.  The hotel accomodations were great, and the food in the restaurants you recommended was awesome. The best thing is how nice my crowns turned out. My teeth look great. what is even nicer, is how much money I saved! Thanks again for making it all possible.

Mike Johnson 

Comments (0)     

Lori lives near Orlando, Florida.  She had a lot of dental issues including one missing tooth in front and another one that was falling out.  She was also missing several other teeth.  When Lori went to a local dentist he told her that she would need 16 crowns and several root canals in order to fix her smile. The cost for these procedures was going to run around $19,000. in Orlando, so Lori began to search online to find a viable alternative.  That is how she found out about dental tourism in Mexico. Her research caused her to come across our Tijuana dentist clinic. There were a lot of positive reviews about Sam Dental, and so Lori made a call. She found that the person who took her call was very informative and set her fears at ease. Sam Dental was willing to pick her up at the airport, set up her accomodations at one of the nearby hotels, and get her back to the US.  The total for the same work was only going to cost $4,200 at Sam Dental, so Lori decided to book a flight. Lori is very enthusiastic about her smile now.  She looks years longer, and loves to smile now. 

Comments (0)     

Recently at Sam Dental Tijuana, we had the pleasure of restoring the smile of a young lady named Hannah.  When she was only 11 years old, Hannah had an accident while roller blading.  Her two front teeth had been broken about 1/3 of the way off. This coupled with bad genetics, Hannah had a whole mouth full of problems. By the time Hannah came to our Tijuana dental clinic, she was 17 years old.  That means that that all during her formative years as a teenager, she has had to suffer with a terrible smile.  In fact, Hannah has tried to keep from smiling for years.  The reason that Hannah had never had her teeth fixed is simply because the cost of dental care in the USA is prohibitive.  When her family found out about dental tourism to Mexico, it made it an attainable goal to get her teeth fixed.  All the dental work Hannah had done in our Mexico dental clinic cost less than $4000.  If it had been done in the USA, the cost would have been over $16,000.  Although $4000 is a lot of money, it is doable. Dr.  Arcelia Jimenez worked long and hard on Hannah.  when her permanent crowns were all placed, her smile was renewed.  Hannah is a pretty girl, but now with her teeth all fixed, she is radiant. On their way back to the airport, Hannah called me. When I asked how she liked her teeth she told me that since she left the clinic, she couldn't stop smiling! What a change! This is why I love working with Sam Dental in Tijuana.  

Comments (0)     

The traditional type of partial denture that most people know about is made of a metal frame that the teeth and acrylic gum colored plastic is mounted to. There are metal clasps that clip onto the surrounding teeth to hold the denture into place.  With the new generation Valplast, Flexie or Lucetone material, there are flexible clasps that match your teeth and thus are virtually un noticeable.  Even the part of the denture that is to made simulate the gums is much more realistic. The clips, being flexible are much easier to use and more comfortable to hold the denture in place. The flexible partials are also much more aesthetic than the metal frame or acrylic partials. The best thing is, they can be made in less than half the time that metal frame dentures can be made.  That means that when you travel from along distance, you can take an extra day or two to eat with the dentures in place and try them out so that we can adjust the fit to make sure they are fitting comfortably.

Comments (0)     

Many dental patients have had their dental health deteriorate to the point that they finally need to have their teeth extracted and a full denture fitted. Here is what you can expect at our Tijuana dental clinic.

When your teeth need to be extracted, on your first appointment we will first take the impressions of your mouth and the teeth you still have.  This will give the lab the contour of your mouth, and the height of your teeth.  If you don't have enough teeth, after the lab does some work, a second set of impressions will need to be taken in order to determine the length your new teeth will need to be in order to have the bite correct.  Once your immediate dentures are made, on the next visit, your teeth will be extracted, and the new immediate dentures will be put in your mouth.  You will need to keep these dentures in your mouth for the length of time the dentist tells you. They will have medication in the lining to aid healing.  after two weeks we will need to see you again to remove the stitches, and put relining material in the dentures.  Please keep in mind that after your gums are healed up, and the swelling in our gums recedes, your dentures will need a relining.  Also, your gums will continue to shrink for the next 8 or 9 months. After a time, relining will not be enough to keep your dentures snug.  For that reason, immediate dentures are not the best dentures, but are rather inexpensive.  After 9 months to a year it would be the time to consider a new, and better set of dentures.  We can offer high quality dentures of flexible, unbreakable material such as Valplast, Lucetone, or Flexite. We can even put very realistic porcelain teeth.

Comments (0)