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Friday,
May 30, 2008
My final dispatch from
the dental chair, my
friends, and as I
wrote before, the
discomfort I felt at
the time was worth the
gain! My delay
in this last dispatch
was due to my need to
deal with other
matters. The
dental work was for
me, of course, but
there’s a special
event upcoming that
needed my attention.
I’ve had two more
dental appointments
since that last
dispatch was written
– and, yet, the
feeling I have in
knowing that my
friends as well as my
colleagues note a
difference is amazing.
I’ve had no one
actually say anything,
but I know they’re
trying to figure it
out! My
confidence is growing
in the dental effort
that was chosen for
me, and that the
choice made by my
dental professional
was the right one.
He has informed me
that more effort may
be needed, but at this
time, my situation has
been corrected to a
functional level; I
now have a mouthful of
teeth that work.
I’m hopeful that
this has given you
some insight into the
process, and that the
things you’re
reading on-line about
this “Dental
Tourism” situation
really is true!
Again, my thanks to
Gary for allowing me
the opportunity to
share my positive
experience with dental
tourism with you
through his web pages.
The pages here at
http://www.mexicandoctorsdir.com
have a wide variety of
dental professionals
listed here to choose
from. My choice
in dental professional
was strictly from the
listing here, as well
as follow-up questions
directly to the
doctor! It
really seems strange
to make a choice like
that, but it is worth
your time and effort
to seek one out.
Until we meet again in
the dental chair in a
few months for a
check-up…
DT (the Dental
Tourist)
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Wednesday,
May 21, 2008
Welcome back to the
dental chair!
It’s good to see you
again. I’m
happy to see the
number of you reading
my dispatches is
steadily increasing;
I’m hopeful that my
first-hand experiences
documented in these
dispatches are helping
you understand the
situation.
This past appointment
was rather early in
the day, but right on
time, the doctor saw
me and the work began.
This is one of the
things that is the
most impressive to me
in this endeavor.
You really are a name,
and not just a number.
As a sign of how well
this treatment is, I
was given a
possibility of one
day, with a backup day
a couple of days later
for my upcoming
appointment. I
received a phone call
and an email with my
preferred day and time
just two short days
later; this truly is
amazing!
After nearly an hour
of effort, this stage
of my treatment was
complete, with a bit
of discomfort, but
nothing that was
incapacitating.
Yes, progress is being
made! With
my next appointment,
it’ll be apparent
that I’ll be at a
point of no return,
for me that’ll be
great. It’s
been quite some time
since I’ve had a
full dental
compliment, and now I
truly see that the
efforts being made
will have a positive
look; I can’t wait!
Another upcoming
appointment and
another dispatch for
your reading pleasure
comes in a few days.
Until we meet again in
the dental chair,
DT (the Dental
Tourist)
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Wednesday,
May 14, 2008
Welcome back to the
dental chair!
It's good to see you
again. I hope
things are going well
for you. I will
apologize now; this
dispatch is a bit
short, due
to some severe time
constraints.
I managed to get to
the dental office a
few minutes early in
an effort to try and
speak to one of the
other patients, but
that didn't work out.
I sat in the chair
within five minutes of
my appointment time,
and the work begun.
After twenty minutes
of effort, the first
stage of the
preparatory work was
completed.
While this work took
place, there was
little speaking; this
was obviously a sign
that professionals
were at work and that
the sole focus was on
my well being.
This is one of the
things that is most
impressive to me in
this endeavor.
You really are a name,
and not just a number.
As a sign of how well
this treatment
is, I was given a
possibility of one
day, with a backup day
a couple of days later
for my upcoming
appointment. I
received a phone call
and an email
with my preferred day
and time just two
short days later; this
truly is amazing!
After nearly an hour
of effort, this stage
of my treatment was
complete, with a bit
of discomfort, but
nothing that was
incapacitating.
Yes, progress is being
made! With
my next appointment,
it'll be apparent that
I'll be at a point of
no return, for me
that'll be great.
It's been quite some
time since I've had a
full dental
compliment, and now I
truly see that the
efforts being made
will have a positive
look; I can't wait!
Another upcoming
appointment and
another dispatch for
your reading pleasure
comes in a few days.
Until we meet again in
the dental chair,
DT (the Dental
Tourist)
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Wednesday,
May 7, 2008
Welcome back to the
dental chair! It’s
good to see you
again. I hope
things are going well
for you.
If I may indulge you
the reader, I’d like
to begin by starting a
brief history of my
dental trials and
tribulations. I
think like many of us,
we were blessed with
good genetics in other
areas of our life, but
the ‘good dental’
gene missed many of
us. Since my
family wasn’t
terribly well-to-do,
dental treatments at a
young age weren’t
much of a
priority. I have
since realized that
dental care in general
wasn’t a priority
for any of us until I
was around twelve.
At that time, I was
introduced to
orthodontia. For
those of you reading
this, if you have not
experienced this
(especially as it was
practiced more than
thirty years ago),
this is where I think
dental fear
originates!
There was plenty of
pain once a month, and
not a drop of
lidocaine to be
found. Now due
to various situations
and events, I had
endured orthodontia
for several
years. Toward
the end of the
treatment, it was
recommended that all
of my wisdom teeth be
removed. As a
good patient, they
were removed without
discussion. In
my mind, I want to
think that’s where
my dental fear really
originated from; it
was not a pleasant
experience. As my
teenage years ended,
so did my orthodontics
treatments. My
teeth weren’t bad
– or so I thought.
As my early adult
years progressed, my
visits to dental
professionals were few
and far between.
Yes, I have insurance
coverage, but the
prices after the
coverage –
wow! We’ll
leave that discussion
for another time; we
have more pressing
things to chat about.
About fifteen years
ago, I visited a
dental professional
recommended to me by a
member of the family
here in my home
town. This
dental professional
must have thought he
hit a jackpot!
“Oh, you need this,
and this and this…”
Needless to say, the
costs were
astronomical, but I
sucked it up and got
the work done.
Well, part of the work
done. I left his
chair with less than
28 teeth the last time
I saw him “Oh, tsk,
tsk, it is too bad we
need to remove this!”,
and I’ve never
returned!
I’ll fast forward
the story a bit from
this point – that
last episode of dental
treatment occurred a
few more times over
the years – up to
about two years ago,
when Google brought
the knowledge of
dental tourism to my
attention.
Next appointment in a
few days – plenty of
effort to be had this
time around; you’ll
read about it
here.
Until we meet again in
the dental chair,
DT (the Dental
Tourist)
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Sunday,
April 27, 2008
Introduction
A few days ago, the
culmination of a
couple of years of
contemplation and a
couple of weeks of
discussion between my
spouse and I, along
with emails with a
dental professional in
Mexico, it
happened! Last
week, I became a
dental tourist!
Yes, I did it – I
crossed the line and I’m
going to do this; I’m
going to get my dental
needs taken care of
once and for all.
In a gift of gratitude
to Gary and all of his
work on the web pages
here at http://www.mexicandoctorsdir.com/
which were a real help
in understanding what
I have available to
me, I have offered to
create a series for
his web pages.
For many of us in this
situation, we’ve had
a couple of strikes
against us in our life
in our battles to
maintain our dental
health. At this
point, it really doesn’t
matter what those
strikes against us
are, but how we came
to make a decision
like this. For
my situation, it’s
financial – plain
and simple. I
know my mouth needs
some extensive work;
your mouth is
different, but you
wouldn’t be here
reading this, if you
weren’t interested.
If you’ve done much
Internet searching,
you’ve found a few
articles about his,
but very few from a
first-person point of
view. It’s my
aim to try and help in
that endeavor of
giving my impressions
of what I saw, what I
felt and what I’m
experiencing as we go
through this process.
My intent is to try
and write these
entries as quickly as
I can after the
treatment so you’ll
know what I’m
experiencing, both
physically and
emotionally.
Personally, for me,
this is beneficial, so
I’m hopeful this is
as helpful for you as
it is for me.
In conclusion for my
first entry, I’ll
get right to the
chase. I didn’t
bother with a dental
professional estimate
here in the
states. I know
that I’ll need
several thousand
dollars worth of work
to remediate my
current dental needs,
and that would be
after my dental
insurance paid what it
would.
I knew that going to a
professional in Mexico
that costs would be
lower, but after
getting an estimate, I
was pleasantly
surprised at the
cost. My largest
fear of dental work
was as a result of
fear of tossing yet
more money down the
hole that is my
mouth. At least
after one appointment,
what everyone is
writing about dental
tourism may be right
on the money. A
few more weeks will
tell. I’ll
tell it all here for
you to read and for
you to decide.
Until we meet again in
the dental chair,
DT (the Dental
Tourist)
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