Dental Visit in Los Algodones, MX

On Thursday, Bob and I drove to the Mexican border, about 20 minutes from where we are staying, to visit the dentist. We no longer have dental insurance, and we have found that it is much less expensive to go to a dentist here than in the States. These dentists are trained in the US and have beautiful state of the art dental clinics. This was our second time getting a cleaning in Los Algodones and we felt like pros.

We paid our $6 to park in the parking lot, and walked through the turnstile into Mexico. There is a visitors center right there when you enter, and if you hand the person at the desk the card of your dental office (or a piece of paper with the telephone number on it) they will call and arrange for a car to pick you up. We go to Loval Dental, and their car is marked so you know you are getting into the right car. Which makes me feel much safer! The driver was very nice and claimed to remember us from two years ago. Not that I believe him, but he was fun to chat with.

Bob knew that he was going to need a fix on his teeth because one of his fillings from years ago had fallen out. They took an X-ray ($5!) and scheduled his root canal for this coming Friday. The cleaning was $45, the root canal will be $350, and the new tooth will be $240 if I'm remembering correctly. They don't take insurance here, and you pay in cash. A bargain! The same work would cost thousands in the States.

So we'll be returning this week. I'll go with Bob for moral support but my teeth were fine.

After the dentist, we decided to walk back to the border, stopping for lunch at La Parrilla, our favorite  restaurant in town. We love the food, the music, and the atmosphere, and the place was hopping!

After seeing how pudgy I look in this picture,  I decided to take charge of my diet and use my VitaMix to lose some weight. I'm now drinking green smoothies for breakfast and lunch, and eating a light dinner. We'll see how it goes, but the smoothies are yummy and it's not a hardship to eat this way. I'll still make bread for Bob a couple of times a week. At least I can enjoy how good it smells!