How going to Mexico for Cheap Dental Work can Ease your Pain!

Imagine my shock when I went to the dentist in Corado and the estimate for the work I needed was $13,000 – $15,000!  And that was WITH insurance.  I had two teeth that were bothering me, but the dentist said 6 teeth needed work.  I got estimates for root canals, implants, and bone grafts.  

I was appalled at this estimate.  $15,000 and that was just my portion of the bill after insurance.  Without insurance, this would have been $30,000.  You could buy a car instead.  This is one of the reasons I have delayed dental work before in the past.  It just doesn’t seem reasonable or rational.    Who can afford to pay that?  With or without insurance?

As my teeth continued to get worse and even developing abscesses, I knew I would have to do something soon.  And this is when my tropical dental vacation planning began. 

I have friends who live in Bacalar, Mexico and they recommended a dentist in Bacalar, named Greydel.  This is someone they have gone to for several years and someone they trust, and most importantly someone who speaks very fluent English.  My friend told Greydel about my problem and gave the dentist my number.  Here is the really cool part, the dentist and I started using Whatsapp to message each other before I even made any plans.  If you didn’t know Whatsapp is huge in Mexico. Everyone uses it.

Quick Tip: Download Whatsapp before visiting Mexico as it is the primary communication app used in Mexico.

Let me tell you a little bit about Greydel. Greydel is part Mexican and part Mennonite. She speaks Spanish, English, and German. Yes, she is bright and engaging. She is 31 and has been practicing dentistry for almost 8 years. She is licensed from the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Her office is clean, air-conditioned and sterile. Her equipment was comparable to US offices. And she comes highly recommended by my friends who have been going to her for 3 years. I wouldn’t even have considered this endeavor without a referral.

She asked me to take pictures of my teeth and send them, which was hard to do but I managed to get some snaps.  Luckily, when I had visited the US dentist, I took pictures of my x-rays while I was there.  So I was also able to send her my x-rays, which she said was very helpful. 

So we chatted for a few days about a plan for addressing all my teeth.  I mean where in the US is the dentist willing to give you their personal cell phone and chat with you before your appointment. She reviewed my exams. She said there were two teeth #14 and #30 that she would need to see in person before knowing for sure. So we made the first appointment and I started booking arrangements for Bacalar.

Let me tell you a little about Bacalar. It is a small town of about 15,000 people which is located about 5 hrs south of Cancun. It has the most amazing cenote-fed, freshwater lake located in this little town. Laguna Bacalar is the most magical lake I have ever seen. Incredible turquoise water. Read Bacalar – the Laguna of Seven Colors for in-depth info about Bacalar and amazing drone footage on Laguna Bacalar.

I booked a non-stop flight on Southwest from Denver to Cancun for $409.  I flew into Cancun on Monday, Sept 9th.  I spent one night in Cancun just for fun. 

Quick tip:  a taxi from the Cancun airport to the hotel zone is $25 US dollars.  Do yourself a favor and take the ADO bus from the airport to downtown bus station for 88 pesos (about $4 US) then you can take a taxi for 200 pesos ($10 US) to hotel.  It is always a good idea to negotiate the taxi price in advance of getting in the car.  The first quote I got was 320 pesos but I negotiated that down to 200 pesos.  Also, they have these laminated sheets like they are “set” prices, they are not.  Each taxi driver prints those sheets themselves.  You can always negotiate. 

A beautiful thing happened on the beach in Cancun.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the hotel in Cancun other it had great artwork, and great views of the ocean but everything else was very outdated.  However, they had a turtle nest preservation area on the beach between the hotel and the ocean.  When the turtles lay the eggs on the beach, it is usually in the part where tourists walk so that puts the eggs in danger.  So the hotel has a guardian who digs up the eggs very carefully and buries them carefully in the protected beach corral.  The label each nest with date, how many eggs and when due.  They incubate for 2 months and then voila…   the guardian uncovers them and release the little turtles back into the ocean.  I was present during the release.   It was beautiful to witness and the guardian allowed me to carefully go into the corral and take pictures.

The next morning I got up early and went back to the downtown bus station around 7:45 am.  I bought a ticket to Bacalar for 422 pesos (~$21 US) and only had to wait about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive.  Be sure to grab some breakfast or snacks as this is a 5-hour bus ride. 

Quick Tip: ADO bus station does not accept credit cards, so bring cash (in pesos)!

The ADO bus is really fantastic.  This is no shabby bus.  It has air conditioning, luggage storage, a bathroom, electrical plugs, and shows movies (in Spanish).  So for me, the time passes really quickly.  The bus only makes a few stops (Playa, Tulum, and Felipe Carillo).  I definitely prefer taking the bus rather than renting a car and trying to navigate the Mexican highways.

I arrived in Bacalar on Tuesday at 1 pm.  I checked into my hotel, Hotel Szapot, and got settled in.  I stopped at the ATM to get some pesos for my stay.  I always recommend using ATMs instead of money exchanges.  Read these Hot Tips for Handling Currency in Mexico to understand why.

Quick Tip: You will almost always get a better exchange rate from your bank or credit card company over using money exchange places. So use your ATM card and let your bank do the exchange. Always decline when the ATM asks if you want to accept their conversion rate.

My first dental appointment was at 3 pm. The dentist office was only 2 blocks from my hotel so an easy walk.  The office is on the corner of Calle 26 and Avenida 7.  Avenida 7 is a major cross street thru Bacalar so there is a lot of activity going on.  Her office was small but cute.  The waiting area is pretty empty but has a nice mural.  The outer office was hot and at first, I was worried that I would be sweating during the whole visit but I quickly learned the room where she works is nice and cool. 

And so we got started right away.  She did an inspection of my teeth and we went over the plan once again.  I planned for many extra days because I didn’t want to do all the dental work in one day.  She could have accommodated this, but I didn’t want my whole mouth numb and sore because this was a vacation as well and I intended on enjoying the afternoons after the dental work.  So I scheduled several appointments over the week. 

So she did two fillings on the first day and cleaned my teeth really well.  She told me that one of the teeth was unclear whether it needed a filling or root canal.  She wouldn’t be sure until she drilled to see how far the decay went.  I really appreciated the discussion about options.  I really didn’t feel the US dentist gave me any options, just wanted to do root canals on all.  So after drilling, she assured me that the decay was not to the pulp and therefore a filling was okay. 

Of the 5 teeth that the US dentist wanted to do root canals/crowns ( for $2200 per tooth), she did fillings for 600 pesos each (~ $30 US).   So $150 total vs $11,000.  I feel really confident with the fillings.  There is one tooth that is a little sensitive, so I’ll be back to check on it in December and see if we need to do a root canal then.  Even if so, it will only cost $125 US for a new crown (and I’ll get another vacation). 

So I had dental appointments in the mornings and then went out on the laguna or to the beach in the afternoon.  It was everything I had hoped for.  My hotel was very close to the zocalo (town square).  I had access to everything in walking distance.  My hotel was next door to fresh juice/smoothie stand and a small market.  On the other side a fresh fruit and vegetable market.  Across the street was a very popular restaurant. 

I really enjoyed my little hotel.  It was $27 US per night.  I booked for 8 nights.  It was a small room with a full-size bed, a cute little wooden table/chairs, closet,  private bathroom, hot/cold water, AC, wifi, parking (if needed) and fruits,/bread, coffee, tea for breakfast every morning.  They had a water station to fill my water bottle every day.  And the room was really clean.  The cleaning lady changed my sheets every 2 days, fresh towels every day, emptied trash, made the bed, and mopped the floor every day.  They had a refrigerator in the common area which was perfect for storing drinks and leftovers.  They also rented bicycles.  The room was super clean and I loved it.  It really felt like home. 

After a week, I needed to wash my clothes.  I found a laundromat next to the dentist office and for 60 pesos (~$3 US) they washed, dried and folded my clothes.  I also was within walking distance (3 blocks) of this amazing massage therapist Txape.  Read more about this heavenly massage and his beautiful house.  

There were numerous restaurants I tried.  Three shrimp tacos for 54 pesos (~ $2.70 US) and empanadas for breakfast for 8 pesos per empanada (~.40 cents each)!  This is good food and it is so inexpensive.  For late afternoons, after a swim at the public balneario (public laguna access), I had shrimp and guacamole.  My favorites!  Even with a cerveza (beer), I was spending less than $10-$12 per day on food.  Of course, unless I splurged at a fancy place like El Barril or Bertilla’s Italian which was $25 for two people including wine with dinner. 

So let’s get back to tooth #30.  The grand tooth problem. This tooth had a root canal and crown put on it many years ago but something has gone wrong.  There is an abscess on the gum on this tooth although I have no idea why as there is nothing left to decay.  In any regard, the US dentist recommended surgical removal, bone graft, and dental implant.  Greydel does not do implants, but I wanted her opinion about the tooth and what the US dentist was recommending. I talked to Greydel and she agreed that it needed to be pulled and time to heal before a dental implant.  We had lots of discussions about this tooth and whether a bone graft was really needed.   Greydel even consulted with two other implant specialists.  In the end, I decided not to pull that one yet and do more research on implants and bone grafts.  I was more than grateful to be able to discuss the options with her and ultimately have it be my decision. 

So as of this posting, the 5 teeth are doing very well, and tooth #30 is as it was.  In the meantime, I was in Mexico during Sept 16th which is known as DiezySeis which is Mexican Independence Day. 

This was my first time to experience this while in Mexico.  It was beautiful to watch all the people around the zocalo.  The whole city was decorated with flags and banners everywhere.  The zocalo had a big bandstand and they had mariachis and traditional folk dancing (Ballet Folklorico) all night.  The celebration started on Sunday, Sept 15th and went to midnight when they celebrated “el Grito” translated as independence “yell”.   Fireworks were shooting overhead while they did a call and response primarily of “Viva Mexico!”

I have to say that all my experiences on this trip have been positive.  My Spanish has improved and my confidence grows each time I travel solo knowing that I can rely on myself to navigate airports, buses, hotels, restaurants, swimming holes, laundromats, currency, grocery stores, massages, and now dentist offices.

For those who are wondering, I calculated all my expenses in one chart so you can compare US dental work to a Mexico Dental Vacation.  And you can decide for yourself if you think it was worth it.  I know for me, it was worth every peso!  I think I have finally found a way to make dental work enjoyable! Going to Mexico for cheap dental work can ease your pain in both your mouth and in your pocketbook!

Let me know what you think.  Would you consider doing this?  Why or why not?  Comment below!