Road trip for dental work

[Powder Hound]

So, this year's road trip for dental work was completed a couple of weeks ago. Crestview to Yuma and back. 3900 miles total distance. 45.9 overall mpg. It would have been a couple higher, but for a 700 mile shot while driving from Sealy, TX to Las Cruces, NM, I had a 25mph headwind with gusts up to 45 mph and got only 40mpg for that segment.

Anyway, this may have been my last one of these. My travel cost was about $700 for the cost of driving including hotels and food. My thinking is that a flight to Tucson and then renting a car for the Tucson to Yuma and back would be about the same cost and a lot less time and wear and tear on my body. As well as wear and tear on the car, of course. And I would avoid the crazy traffic stoppage for no apparent reason which happened just outside of major metropolitan areas like Houston, El Paso, (an hour each when leaving the area), and the hot mess of fresh dog poop that is driving through San Antonio these days.

Road trips just aren't what they used to be.

On the upside, the car ('13 JSW with 210k miles) performed well and did not collect a thick layer of bugs. Just a thin layer on the front bumper - about the expected amount given the lower incidence of bugs in arid areas.

Cheers,

PH

 

[oilhammer]

Long way for dental work.

But hey, I get people from all over, too.

I have relatives that spent some life in Florida, I'll have to ask them if they had trouble finding a dentist there. Plenty of old people, though, maybe they no longer have teeth?

They were both nurses, uncle was a specialist cardiac cath something or other. They made bank down there for over 30 years and moved back to Missouri. I've probably visited Florida 20 or so times, and now my brother-in-law moved there.

 

[Powder Hound]

It isn't that there are not plenty of dentists here in Florida, it is that for the prices charged, I can get much more done in Mexico and fund the trip for the price of a crown here at home. It really rubs me when a dentist does things like charge $350 just to walk in the door. Or, when I went to one in NH when I told him I needed a root canal, he arrogantly told me that he would decide that and then charged $125 to tell me what I already knew and topped it off by refusing to do the work. The medical community in general is just too arrogant for their own good. I would rather go else where. I used to have relatives to visit in the Phoenix area as well, but that isn't going the way it used to.

Cheers,

PH

 

[Ton]

I travel about 75 miles to see my dentist. Any dentists in Mexico accepting new patients?

 

[Roban654]

So, this year's road trip for dental work was completed a couple of weeks ago. Crestview to Yuma and back. 3900 miles total distance. 45.9 overall mpg. It would have been a couple higher, but for a 700 mile shot while driving from Sealy, TX to Las Cruces, NM, I had a 25mph headwind with gusts up to 45 mph and got only 40mpg for that segment.

Anyway, this may have been my last one of these. My travel cost was about $700 for the cost of driving including hotels and food. My thinking is that a flight to Tucson and then renting a car for the Tucson to Yuma and back would be about the same cost and a lot less time and wear and tear on my body. As well as wear and tear on the car, of course. And I would avoid the crazy traffic stoppage for no apparent reason which happened just outside of major metropolitan areas like Houston, El Paso, (an hour each when leaving the area), and the hot mess of fresh dog poop that is driving through San Antonio these days.

Road trips just aren't what they used to be.

On the upside, the car ('13 JSW with 210k miles) performed well and did not collect a thick layer of bugs. Just a thin layer on the front bumper - about the expected amount given the lower incidence dental tourism Albania of bugs in arid areas.

Cheers,

PH

Yes i follow this

 

[Powder Hound]

I travel about 75 miles to see my dentist. Any dentists in Mexico accepting new patients?

Only all of them. I go to a place called Los Algodonas, which is right there at the border crossing. I forgot the name of the crossing, but it is approximately 8 miles west of Yuma, AZ on I-8. Long drive from VA. 3 very long days. If you are seriously interested, you can fly to Tucson and rent a car. It is about 3 hours drive from there. If you fly American Airlines, you can fly to Yuma. If you aren't flying AA, the flight from Phoenix to Yuma is about $275, and probably a similar price from Tucson to Yuma.

I will tell you the name of the guy I go to if you PM me.

If you want to stay in Yuma, you can drive to the indian run casino and park next to the border on the US side so as not to violate the restriction against taking your rental across the border. Parking is about $10/day.

Staying across the border is not a problem - there are several nice hotels, and you will save literally a dollar or two per day, depending on the seasonal pricing.

Drinking the local water supply can be done, but they tell me it is not recommended even though the water supply is chlorinated. It is probably due to a mineral or farm runoff problem (nitrates) rather than a biologic problem. No matter, bottled water locally is more reasonably priced than on this side of the border.

Los Algodonas is an interesting pace. I doubt you'd find anywhere a town with as many dentists per capita. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one. The only drawback is that quality can be iffy. The other two attractions are pharmacies and opticians. They can do the eye examination if you don't already have a prescription, and the glasses will probably be done the next day. Pharmacies will get you whatever reasonable thing you need, but sometimes there will be things you can't get. Such as any opiate or derivative drug. Opiates are about the only thing the border people are interested in. Reasonable quantities of whatever you need are OK to bring across, and for very reasonable prices. Compared to here, anyway. I say reasonable as in don't try to bring commercial quantities of anything across without making arrangements with Customs before you leave. Otherwise you will be leaving those cases of vanilla behind. Vanilla is an interesting commodity if you are a baker or know one. If you get one that uses water instead of ethanol as the dilution agent, that is. Otherwise that is the excuse Customs will use to limit the quantity you bring back.

I don't really know about night life. There's a few dives, but since I don't drink they have nothing for me. The local hotels usually have a few channels on TV, but if you don't speak spanish, the selection is down to 1 or 2 channels. I take a novel or two to read.

It is hot in the summer and cool in the winter. Cool in the winter consists of a chill in the morning (usually in the 40s and high 30s most of the time) with warm afternoons. Summer is tolerable mornings and <bleep>ing hot in the afternoon. The very low humidity helps there because your sweat will actually work and cool you off.

That's about it off the top of my head. If you are limited in income as I am and need substantial dental work (crowns, implants, dentures, etc) you can same a ton of money going there. For simple fillings, not worth the time and effort.

Cheers,

PH

 

[Tdimrtwo]

How fast were you driving? My 2010 JSW gets maybe 33 mpg in hard North Texas driving. But I run 75-85 mph when traffic allows. Did you take the section of highway coming into San Antonio with the 85 mph speed limit?

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

So, this year's road trip for dental work was completed a couple of weeks ago. Crestview to Yuma and back. 3900 miles total distance. 45.9 overall mpg. It would have been a couple higher, but for a 700 mile shot while driving from Sealy, TX to Las Cruces, NM, I had a 25mph headwind with gusts up to 45 mph and got only 40mpg for that segment.

Anyway, this may have been my last one of these. My travel cost was about $700 for the cost of driving including hotels and food. My thinking is that a flight to Tucson and then renting a car for the Tucson to Yuma and back would be about the same cost and a lot less time and wear and tear on my body. As well as wear and tear on the car, of course. And I would avoid the crazy traffic stoppage for no apparent reason which happened just outside of major metropolitan areas like Houston, El Paso, (an hour each when leaving the area), and the hot mess of fresh dog poop that is driving through San Antonio these days.

Road trips just aren't what they used to be.

On the upside, the car ('13 JSW with 210k miles) performed well and did not collect a thick layer of bugs. Just a thin layer on the front bumper - about the expected amount given the lower incidence of bugs in arid areas.

Cheers,

PH

Mexico is very well known for less costly dental work. Wouldn’t it have been a more pleasant trip if you flew?

 

[P2B]

Mexico is very well known for less costly dental work. Wouldn’t it have been a more pleasant trip if you flew?

Probably, but that would have cut into the savings, which is the entire purpose of the trip.

 

[Powder Hound]

Definitely more pleasant to fly, and a little more expensive depending on a lot of factors, mostly on what the travelling motels cost as well as your food preferences. If if is winter, I can stand sleeping in the car. In this case I'll save money. In the summer it is far too hot to sleep in the car. The traffic is much heavier also.

Also, it depends on the party size. If I am travelling with my wife, I may as well fly. She refuses to do a trip via auto unless it is less than 1 day. More than that ... well ... let's just leave that one alone. Under normal circumstances, if all parties sleep in the car, you'll do well.

And the last factor is how much lead time I have. If a tooth breaks and I can't wait for airline booking preferences (have you ever booked a next day or day of flight? Yeah, the fares get scary high.) then driving it is, whether I like it or not. Then, you just pray for decent weather and no road closures (e.g. the San Antonio or Houston kind), where a simple construction blip can develop into a 3 hour backup in minutes.

Cheers,

PH

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

The New Yorker magazine had a very good story a few weeks ago about dental tourism in Mexico. If I needed a mouthful of implants and crowns, I’d definitely go. Costa Rica is a big player, too.

 

[P2B]

Implants involve several visits spread over several months... adds up to a lot of travel.

 

[Powder Hound]

I space out the visits to a year apart, so 3. I can tolerate it that way.

Cheers,

PH