Wednesday, October 9 – This is one of the reasons we decided to spend some time in the Texas Rio Grande Valley......dentist appointments in Progresso, Mexico. We have a 10:00 a.m. appointment with Dr. de la Rosa. We are both getting crown work done and regular scheduled cleaning.
We arrived early to avoid the crowds. Several times in the past we have found ourselves third or forth in line – even with an appointment. Thankfully this morning, we were the first to arrive and the first patients to see Dr. de la Rosa.
He works on us both at once....Marsha in one chair and Paul in another. The room has a divider down the middle. He started with Marsha's x-rays and then moved over to Paul. The good news is Paul doesn't need a crown. The doctor felt he could do a deep cleaning and fix things up. So that's the work Paul had done.
Marsha on the other hand needs two crowns and a cavity filled. He's been warning her about the one cracked tooth needing a crown, but the second one was a surprise. He did the preparation work,3.5 hours worth. Marsha will have to return in two weeks for the permanent crown.
For anyone wondering about our dentist's credentials, Dr. de la Rosa lives right here in Mission, TX, and was educated in the USA. For those wanting a comparison to similar work done in the USA, Paul's bill for a deep cleaning and two x-rays was $80. Marsha paid $560 for x-rays, a cleaning, two crowns, and a filling.
With our dentist visit done for the day, we stopped at the Red Snapper for lunch and then did some shopping among the many vendors along the street and some strolling through some of the many shops selling just about everything an American tourist would want in Mexico.
Winter Texans haven't arrived yet. We have never seen the streets and sidewalks so bare.
Our daughter, Carrie, wanted a pictured painted by the same guy that did ours last year. José is excellent. He paints only with spray paint, a piece of cardboard, index card and Walmart bags.
Finished product.
For those of you having visited Nuevo Progreso in the past, there's been one big change crossing the border. You still pay 50¢ at the turnstile when entering Mexico. Now you must feed new turnstiles 35¢ when leaving Mexico too. Gotta get the gringos! Ha ha!
The migration of the butterflies continues. There are just thousands of them down here. They love the Lantana bushes.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!
Those paintings are really cool.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of butterflies!
I can't believe how inexpensive those crowns were. And your price also included cleaning, x-ray, and a filling. I bet my one crown is at least double that. It's worth the drive to Mexico.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention the butterflies in the other blog. I didn't realize there were so many butterflies in the migration that they are killed by the thousands. What a sad sight! But the ones in today's post are beautiful.
When we went to Progreso for the last time at the end of March it was really quiet, too.
ReplyDeleteYou should get to see lots of butterflies at this time of year. How nice!
Going to the dentist is never much fun but it's not too bad when you great the work done in Mexico and seeing the bill gives you lots to "smile" about.
ReplyDeleteLove the butterflies!
Ruth
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com
Wow! That is a tremendous savings on dental work!!!! Might be worth a trip for the savings. Hope he was painless!!!
ReplyDeleteThose butterflies are beautiful!! My "Hummers" have left our area and are heading south as well.
Take care!
Good deal on the dentist. Heck, I forgot to send you my shopping list for your Mexico adventure.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great dental deal:)
ReplyDeleteWe have to head down to Yuma so we can get some dental work done also. Your butterflies are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThree and one half hours in the dentist's chair...ugh! Glad that is over for you. Didn't know about the butterfly migration...it must be really impressive to see all of them. Amazing what the artist can do with a can of spray paint. I am always amazed at what artistic people can create...like all the scrimshaw we saw in New England. Never knew there were that many talented fisherman!
ReplyDeleteOh man. That's a long time to sit in that chair. At least then the payment was not so painful.
ReplyDeleteGreat deal on the dental work. We are head to AZ after Amazon and do the same.
ReplyDeleteLove getting our stiff done in Mexico too, but usually in Algodones, near Yuma Arizona, always great prices and good work too.
ReplyDeleteLantanas are one of my favorite plants down south. I just love their colors.
ReplyDeleteSounds like pretty good prices for the dental work. I don't know if I could have sat in that chair for that long.
ReplyDeleteGreat deal on the dental work. It sure makes the .50 cent admission fee a real bargoon!
ReplyDeleteThose prices are super. I paid more than Marsha for just one crown=just about double. We plan to have dental work done this winter and are looking forward to the lower prices. The artwork is great!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I will be visiting the dentist in Los Algedones. The prices are crazy!
ReplyDeleteI love the butterfly pictures. I tried to steal one for my desktop background but it would just do the little middle thing.
I would go to Mexico for my dental work but Dave is not ready to accept that idea yet. Those turnstiles worry me a bit, though, as I would have to go on my electric scooter.
ReplyDeleteGeesh! When we are down there in January and February, that will be a budget breaker. That extra Ten Cents a person crossing back over that bridge from Mexico.
ReplyDeleteWe plan to make this trek when faced with dental work beyond cleaning. Thanks for sharing the details on the credentials, cost, etc. Definitely seems worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteLove the butterflies.
I too am going to keep this dentist's name handy. We recently priced the cost of bridgework in Ohio and it was to be $3000...yikes! Thanks so much! :)
ReplyDelete