Mexican Dentistry?

[Rick G.]

Interesting story- A few weeks ago, I chipped one of my front upper teeth, just a wee bit along the very bottom of the tooth. It didn’t hurt when it happened, and it wasn’t deep enough up in to the tooth to hurt the inside of the tooth in my opinion.

I thought oh well, tough sh_t, I’m 70+ years old, my life’s about over, I’m not going to worry about it. But it was really bothering the wife, she said I needed to go get it fixed. I’m on her university employer’s dental insurance so she said take advantage of it.

So I go to see our dentist. She checked me out and claimed the work would have to be classified / coded as “cosmetic dental surgery”. I said whatever you want to call it, but she said they’d have to check our insurance to see if they would cover it.

Lo and behold, come to find out the insurance wouldn’t cover it, not even in part. Cheap SOBs. So our dentist gives me an estimate of dang near $3,500,00. TELL ME THERE AIN’T SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY’S MEDICAL SYSTEM!!!! HIGHWAY ROBBERY ON STEROIDS IF YOU ASK ME!

So I told her on the spot thanks but no thanks. I wasn’t mean towards her or anything-  I really like her, and will quite possibly need her help in the future for stuff covered by the insurance.

So, my wife agreed that sounded outrageous. But she wasn’t ready to give up. She said you’re going to Mexico to get your chipped tooth fixed. I said yeah right. Lol! But she was dead serious. 

She has a cousin down in Harlingen, Texas. We’ve visited her and her husband down there before. Nice folks, beautiful gorgeous house with a pool. She calls her cuz and asks about the dentists in Progresso Nuevo, Mexico, which is only a 25 minute drive from their house in Harlingen, TX.

Well her cuz raved about the dentists and doctors down there, and also about the pharmacies across the border. She even recommended a particular dentist where she herself had some cosmetic veneer dental work done. She said send your hubby down here, we’ll get him patched up, ha ha. Well I was very skeptical. But my wife called this dentist down there that her cuz recommended  and made me an appointment. My wife took a couple days off and came with me, and we visited and stayed with her cousin and her husband.

When you go in to Progresso Nuevo, you can either drive your vehicle in, or park your vehicle on the U.S. side and walk across the border in to Mexico. We chose to park in the U.S. and walk in. The dentist we chose was less than a 10 minute walk from the U.S. side parking lot.

So this dentist was a lady- Really nice, and sharp. And they spoke English in there, I really began to feel at ease. She checked me out, and also pointed out to me a couple of other teeth that needed attention. She fixed my chipped front tooth, can’t even notice there was a problem, invisible repair, perfect color match! She also cosmetically repaired a couple of my other worn down lower front teeth.

$385.00 cash USD total. Vs. almost  $3,500.00 that my dentist in the U.S. quoted me. Unreal. I paid cash. They’ll take credit, but for some reason they charge an additional 5% if you charge it. (My wife’s cousin said bring cash, lol.)

This place had 5 dentists on duty! Their waiting room was full of older U.S. citizens waiting to have their teeth worked on. One guy was there with his wife, they had flown in to Harlingen on Southwest Airlines from Cleveland, Ohio to both get a lot of dental work done that they wouldn’t have been able to afford back home. He said even with their Southwest flights and renting a car and a hotel room the savings was way more than worth it. F’ing unbelievable. 

Anyways, I’m really happy with the work done. I guess we have a back up dentist in Mexico now if we ever need any cosmetic work done, or if and when the wife retires and no longer has dental insurance through her work. And we have a built in place to stay down there as long as her cousin lives in Harlingen.

I shot some pics of the border crossing and of the main street sights in Progresso Nuevo, but for some reason the pics won’t post or show up on this board right now. Ugh! 

I've heard and read about people going to Canada or Mexico for stuff like this that’s prohibitively expensive here. …..never thought up until now that I’d ever need to do that. Amazing. Things are just way over-priced / too expensive in this country. But hey I guess we’s gots plenty of money to start a war. 

 

 

 

 

[jeeper61]

I understand they they do low cost car upholstery work down there too.

[acem]

1 hour ago, Rick G. said:

Interesting story- A few weeks ago, I chipped one of my front upper teeth, just a wee bit along the very bottom of the tooth. It didn’t hurt when it happened, and it wasn’t deep enough up in to the tooth to hurt the inside of the tooth in my opinion.

I thought oh well, tough sh_t, I’m 70+ years old, my life’s about over, I’m not going to worry about it. But it was really bothering the wife, she said I needed to go get it fixed. I’m on her university employer’s dental insurance so she said take advantage of it.

So I go to see our dentist. She checked me out and claimed the work would have to be classified / coded as “cosmetic dental surgery”. I said whatever you want to call it, but she said they’d have to check our insurance to see if they would cover it.

Lo and behold, come to find out the insurance wouldn’t cover it, not even in part. Cheap SOBs. So our dentist gives me an estimate of dang near $3,500,00. TELL ME THERE AIN’T SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY’S MEDICAL SYSTEM!!!! HIGHWAY ROBBERY ON STEROIDS IF YOU ASK ME!

So I told her on the spot thanks but no thanks. I wasn’t mean towards her or anything-  I really like her, and will quite possibly need her help in the future for stuff covered by the insurance.

So, my wife agreed that sounded outrageous. But she wasn’t ready to give up. She said you’re going to Mexico to get your chipped tooth fixed. I said yeah right. Lol! But she was dead serious. 

She has a cousin down in Harlingen, Texas. We’ve visited her and her husband down there before. Nice folks, beautiful gorgeous house with a pool. She calls her cuz and asks about the dentists in Progresso Nuevo, Mexico, which is only a 25 minute drive from their house in Harlingen, TX.

Well her cuz raved about the dentists and doctors down there, and also about the pharmacies across the border. She even recommended a particular dentist where she herself had some cosmetic veneer dental work done. She said send your hubby down here, we’ll get him patched up, ha ha. Well I was very skeptical. But my wife called this dentist down there that her cuz recommended  and made me an appointment. My wife took a couple days off and came with me, and we visited and stayed with her cousin and her husband.

When you go in to Progresso Nuevo, you can either drive your vehicle in, or park your vehicle on the U.S. side and walk across the border in to Mexico. We chose to park in the U.S. and walk in. The dentist we chose was less than a 10 minute walk from the U.S. side parking lot.

So this dentist was a lady- Really nice, and sharp. And they spoke English in there, I really began to feel at ease. She checked me out, and also pointed out to me a couple of other teeth that needed attention. She fixed my chipped front tooth, can’t even notice there was a problem, invisible repair, perfect color match! She also cosmetically repaired a couple of my other worn down lower front teeth.

$385.00 cash USD total. Vs. almost  $3,500.00 that my dentist in the U.S. quoted me. Unreal. I paid cash. They’ll take credit, but for some reason they charge an additional 5% if you charge it. (My wife’s cousin said bring cash, lol.)

This place had 5 dentists on duty! Their waiting room was full of older U.S. citizens waiting to have their teeth worked on. One guy was there with his wife, they had flown in to Harlingen on Southwest Airlines from Cleveland, Ohio to both get a lot of dental work done that they wouldn’t have been able to afford back home. He said even with their Southwest flights and renting a car and a hotel room the savings was way more than worth it. F’ing unbelievable. 

Anyways, I’m really happy with the work done. I guess we have a back up dentist in Mexico now if we ever need any cosmetic work done, or if and when the wife retires and no longer has dental insurance through her work. And we have a built in place to stay down there as long as her cousin lives in Harlingen.

I shot some pics of the border crossing and of the main street sights in Progresso Nuevo, but for some reason the pics won’t post or show up on this board right now. Ugh! 

I've heard and read about people going to Canada or Mexico for stuff like this that’s prohibitively expensive here. …..never thought up until now that I’d ever need to do that. Amazing. Things are just way over-priced / too expensive in this country. But hey I guess we’s gots plenty of money to start a war. 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the world of medical tourism. It's a big thing because our medical system is broken. I know many people who have gone out of the country for medical care and imported medications.

Mexico was my plan for major surgery back when I didn't have insurance.

1 hour ago, jeeper61 said:

I understand they they do low cost car upholstery work down there too.

Be careful. 

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https://clip.cafe//you-know-what-guys-doing-right-now/

 

[yellowrosefarm]

I looked at a camper for sale once that had been to Mexico for a roof replacement. It wasn't what I was looking for, but that roof wasn't going to leak anytime soon. The coating it had was unlike anything else I've seen on an RV roof.

[lorenzo]

Heres one for ya.  Believe it or not!

I took a group of people to La-Paz Mexico for a SCUBA trip on the Sea of Cortez.  On a ship wreck called the Fang Ming  i noticed one of my students with a problem.  She handed me a tooth. 
Back on the boat i contacted a friend who lined us up with a Dentist in down town La-Paz.

We were three hours out by boat  and another hour to get to town so it was after 9 PM before we actually found the Dental office.  They were waiting for us. The place was first class, Thick glass entry door, leather seats in the waiting room, spotless clean , flat screen TV’s on the wall , i was immediately impressed, dentist was wearing a doctors uniform and even had a nurse assistant. They put her in a chair, laid her back, x-rayed her with her x-rays visible on a ceiling flatscreen TV so we could see them. He worked on her for about an hour and during this time, I’m thinking I hope I brought enough money. All said and done after x-rays, waiting for us till after 9 o’clock, Putting a screw in her jawbone and reattaching the tooth he charged us $40 US. 

[TroyDairy]

Yep very common I know a gentleman that had four root canals in a period of two days my uncle and Aunt have a vacation home outside of Phoenix and they go down there for dental work all the time we have friends that have had gastric surgery we have friends that have had plastic surgery after like a scar on their face all right along the border.  I don't remember the place my uncle and Aunt go to but he's an American who lives in America walks across the border every day and he said he was so sick of the insurance BS that he moved cuz he makes a little more money and charges what things should cost and feels better about himself doing it in Mexico

[iowaboy1965]

Coworker claims to know of a couple of instances where the south of the border thing didn't turn out so well. So carefully chosing the establishment you go to is probably  a good idea. 

[Rick G.]

21 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Coworker claims to know of a couple of instances where the south of the border thing didn't turn out so well. So carefully chosing the establishment you go to is probably  a good idea. 

I can imagine. In our case, as I mentioned above, lucky for us, we have my wife’s cousin down there in nearby Harlingen, Texas with the advance  knowledge of the place we went to since she herself was a patient there. She gave us her stamp of approval. Lol.

A lot of these places also have websites where you can read up on them, and customers can post their reviews, good, or bad. 

 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

34 minutes ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Coworker claims to know of a couple of instances where the south of the border thing didn't turn out so well. So carefully chosing the establishment you go to is probably  a good idea. 

My wife watches a show called Botched, I think it is. Lots of instances of medical procedures done by people who obviously have no clue what they are doing. I don’t remember many, if any, examples from Mexico. But, man some of that stuff is terrible. 

[just Dave]

2 hours ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Coworker claims to know of a couple of instances where the south of the border thing didn't turn out so well. So carefully chosing the establishment you go to is probably  a good idea. 

I run into that not so good here too.

[iowaboy1965]

1 hour ago, just Dave said:

I run into that not so good here too.

That is true. Just need to do your research no matter which side of the border!

[acem]

7 hours ago, iowaboy1965 said:

Coworker claims to know of a couple of instances where the south of the border thing didn't turn out so well. So carefully chosing the establishment you go to is probably  a good idea. 

I know many people who have had problems from medical procedures. All I have know of were here in the states but it happens everywhere there are doctors. Instrument left in during c section, newborn over medicated causing brain damage, etc...

Despite what many will lead you to believe. Doctors are just people doing a job. People make mistakes.

If you experience problems with a doctor in Mexico you can sue for malpractice. However it will be in a Mexican court with Mexican lawyers and be conducted in Spanish. You will be at a substantial disadvantage.

 

[lotsaIHCs]

My brother-in-law goes to Mexico from South Dakota for his dental work. He also buys drugs there that aren't approved in the USA for an illness one of his sons has.

[stronger800]

My daughter in college broke here toe. It’s a visibly broken bone on the X-ray, walking boot required.  I have insurance. My wife is a teacher and has Better insurance.  Neither plan covers a boot.  They put her in a $500 boot.  I Google the logo and number on it….can get it on Amazon for. $40. 

[Rawleigh99]

NYPD officer dies in Dominican Republic after cosmetic surgery – NBC New York https://share.google/oxO8PsldfkShKPl5r

[acem]

Results of the new analysis of national data found that across all clinical settings, including hospital and clinic-based care, an estimated 795,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled by diagnostic error each year, confirming the pressing nature of the public health problem.  

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/2023/07/report-highlights-public-health-impact-of-serious-harms-from-diagnostic-error-in-us

[Lars (midessa)]

On 8/4/2026 at 3:31 PM, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

My wife watches a show called Botched, I think it is. Lots of instances of medical procedures done by people who obviously have no clue what they are doing. I don’t remember many, if any, examples from Mexico. But, man some of that stuff is terrible. 

On the show ‘Botched’, of the 2 doctors, the one with the lighter brown hair, and the bigger nose like Karl Malden, he had a brother(Kevin DuBrow), who was lead singer for Quit Riot.

[lorenzo]

On 8/5/2026 at 9:59 PM, Rawleigh99 said:

NYPD officer dies in Dominican Republic after cosmetic surgery – NBC New York https://share.google/oxO8PsldfkShKPl5r

I have been to the Dominican Republic and as a result I'm not surprised at all.  Crossing the border into Haiti is even worse. 

[Ihfan4life]

16 hours ago, acem said:

Results of the new analysis of national data found that across all clinical settings, including hospital and clinic-based care, an estimated 795,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled by diagnostic error each year, confirming the pressing nature of the public health problem.  

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/2023/07/report-highlights-public-health-impact-of-serious-harms-from-diagnostic-error-in-us

How much is relative to the woke education model in which no one is allowed to be smart…