California Free Press

Finding a Great Dentist in Tijuana

by John Lawrence

I have been going to Dr. Garcia at Baja Oral Center for about 15 years. A lot of my fellow Americans have been taking my advice and following me down there. For one thing, the cost of dental care in Mexico is much more reasonable than it is here in the States. For another the level of professionalism is just as high. I have had two dental implants, numerous root canals and crowns as well as routine dental cleanings. Baja Oral Center is the best. Their office is newly remodeled. Everything including all equipment is up to date. The staff is friendly, and everyone speaks fluent English.

I was down there recently for a cleaning and noticed the new visual display which was very informative about implants, root canals and crowns. I learned a lot just in the short time I was waiting including what each procedure costs.  According to the website Dental Design SD, "According to Fair Health Consumer, a third party reference for healthcare prices, the 2018 out-of-pocket cost for a crown in the 92121 [El Cajon] zip code is $1,450." At Baja Oral Center the same crown will cost roughly $500 depending on which type of crown you get. The cost savings are tremendous. A recent implant cost just $800 down there while, "The typical cost for Dental Implants near San Diego, California ranges from $1,400 - $14,000 with an average cost of $5,925 near San Diego and an average of $7,125 from all locations." according to the website realself.com.

The best way to get to Baja Oral Center is to take the trolley or uber to the border, walk across and take a taxi to the professional building at Calle José Clemente Orozco, Suite 408, Fourth floor, Plaza Pacifico Building, Zona Rio. Hand the taxi driver the written down address. It is close to Paseo de los Heroes where there is a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln put there for his friendship with Mexico because of his courageous stand in Congress against the Mexican War, and his later support in the 1860s for democratic reformist Benito Juárez, who has at times been called the “Abraham Lincoln of Mexico.” My cell phone service doesn't work in Mexico so I wouldn't be able to call an uber to get to the office on the Mexican side, but they will provide you with one at no charge for the trip back to the border. They also offer free coffee, bottled water and wi-fi.

On one visit while my crown was being constructed, I went for a walk and had lunch. You can take advantage of the excellent restaurants nearby. I wrote this previously about one of them: "After my walk I had lunch at Marenca, just adjacent to Baja Oral Center, because I wanted to try out some of the nearby restaurants. It is in the "Gastronomico Centro." I had an excellent meal although I couldn't read the Spanish menu. I just pointed to the first enchilada which turned out to be a good choice. It was loaded with shrimp! It wasn't like any enchilada you'd get in the states. It was sort of nouvelle Mexican cuisine. I was very impressed with the restaurant itself. The waiters were very polite and attentive. There was art on the wall and the music was nice. It was a cut above most "classy" San Diego restaurants, but the price was about a third of what you would pay in the states. My total bill was less than $12.00! I left a generous tip."

I have blogged about Baja Oral Center previously here, here and here.

In one of my previous blogs I wrote:

"Today my daughter is taking her husband to see Dr. Garcia. He's a really nice guy, and I've been recommending him to everyone. If you require a specialist one is ususally available in the same building and will see you at the same time with no need for a separate appointment and two trips to Tijuana. A lot of people, including me, have given up completely on the exhorbitant prices and less than caring attitudes found in US dentistry, and some travel great distances to have their dental work done in Mexico. They are in fact "dental tourists." You hear a lot about the high cost of medical care in the US while the high cost of US dentistry slips under the radar. It's a scandal as big as US health care, I think.

I found that the Tijuana dentists I dealt with were very professional and highly competent and used the latest equipment and techniques. More importantly, they seemed to really care about their patients as opposed to a lot of US dentists who, when you open your mouth, only see dollar signs."

Check them out on Yelp. They have a 5 star rating.

Off the Top of My Head

Disorder at the Border

by John Lawrence, November 27, 2018

Immigration should not be a political football stoking Trump's base and causing cries of shame among the Left. Now in addition to crying children separated from their parents, we have the visual of young children being tear gassed at San Ysidro. Let's get real, folks. Trump has a point and the Democrats should address that point. You can't have thousands of people charging the border to get across and seek asylum. There needs to be an orderly process for asylum seekers and getting into the US illegally and then asking for asylum is not it.

The asylum laws need to be changed for one thing. People should apply for asylum while remaining in their home country or they should apply for a visa, come here and then apply for asylum. Visa holders need to be tracked so they don't just simply overstay their visas like a lot do. Trump is right that the "catch and release" method of processing asylum seekers is a lost cause. People coming in illegally, then being caught, given a court date and then released doesn't work because many never show up for their court date. They just disappear into the vast sea of society.

The refugee crisis is a world wide event. As the earth shrinks in terms of habitable area due to climate change and as people from poorer countries gain access to the internet and realize how people live in rich countries and as continual wars wreak havoc and destruction, people from poorer countries and war ravaged nations want to get in. Europe has been relatively lenient in letting refugees in from war torn areas of the Middle East and Africa, many of whom are fleeing US caused wars and the results of those wars. Now Europe has a big problem with the rise of fascism because the local citizenry is rebelling against this policy of letting huge numbers of people in. It is creating real problems for them among which terrorism is probably the least.

The US has been relatively unscathed in the refugee problem so far, at least from Middle Eastern refugees. But let's give credit where credit is do. Trump has articulated a real problem for the US. Millions want to come here from Central America because we have a land border with Mexico and they want a better life regardless of the threat from gangs in their home country. Although I give Trump credit for recognizing this problem, I don't give him credit for politicizing it and uasing it as campaign fodder. But Democrats need to come to grip with this problem; Congress needs to come to grips with this problem. A real solution needs to be developed that doen't include building a wall or tear gassing babies. On the other hand you just can't let them all in. That would lead to the same social upheaval that Europe is experiencing.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American war in 1848 did not give Mexicans living in Mexico the right to move to the US. It gave Mexicans living in the territories ceded to the US (mainly Texas and the whole southwestern US) the right to remain and become American citizens although they had to declare their intentions within a year.

What the US should do is to give assistance to the peoples of Central America so they feel secure and safe in their own countries and do something to alleviate poverty there. Will the US do it? Not with Trump's attitude of "you're on your own, baby."

 

Save Big Bucks on Dental Bills: Visit Baja Oral Center in Tijuana

by John Lawrence

I have been going to the dentist in Tijuana for over 10 years now. I go to Dr. Garcia at Baja Oral Center. I was there yesterday for some dental work. Dr. Garcia had told me to plan on spending a few hours because he had to send out for some lab work for my crown. So I took a walk on Paseo de los Heroes which is one of the most beautiful boulevards in Tijuana. Dr. Garcia's office is just off this street. There are a number of round-a-bouts with monuments in the centers. Baja Oral Center is located near the one with the statue of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is revered in Mexico.

In his 2016 study, Abraham Lincoln and Mexico: A History of Courage, Intrigue and Unlikely Friendships, [Michael] Hogan points to several factors that elevated the United States’ 16th president in the eyes of Mexicans, in particular Lincoln’s courageous stand in Congress against the Mexican War, and his later support in the 1860s for democratic reformist Benito Juárez, who has at times been called the “Abraham Lincoln of Mexico.” Lincoln’s stature as a force for political equality and economic opportunity—and his opposition to slavery, which Mexico had abolished in 1829—made the American leader a sympathetic figure to the progressive followers of Juárez, who was inaugurated as president of Mexico in the same month and year, March 1861, as Lincoln.

After my walk I had lunch at Marenca, just adjacent to Baja Oral Center, because I wanted to try out some of the nearby restaurants. It is in the "Gastronomico Centro." I had an excellent meal although I couldn't read the Spanish menu. I just pointed to the first enchilada which turned out to be a good choice. It was loaded with shrimp! It wasn't like any enchilada you'd get in the states. It was sort of nouvelle Mexican cuisine. I was very impressed with the restaurant itself. The waiters were very polite and attentive. There was art on the wall and the music was nice. It was a cut above most "classy" San Diego restaurants, but the price was about a third of what you would pay in the states. My total bill was less than $12.00! I left a generous tip.

 

Getting back to my dental appointment, Dr. Garcia installed my crown, and then even offered to call an Uber at their expense to take me back to the border. I had parked my car in the parking structure located in the Plaza Pacifico professional building where Baja Oral Center is located so I didn't need that, but that is part of the service offered there. I drove back to the border and crossed in less than 5 minutes, thanks to my SENTRI pass which gets you over the border quickly. Anyone who is visiting Mexico more than once a year should get one. You can do most of it online. Your vehicle and everyone inside the vehicle must be registered in order to use the SENTRI lanes at the border. It is well worth the bureaucratic red tape to get one.

 

Dr. Garcia and his associates offer all the dental services you could possibly need from crowns to root canals to implants. Specialists are all in the same building, and you will save a ton of money from what you would pay in the US. The facilities are equivalent to or better than what you would find in the states, and everyone speaks perfect English.

 

I heartily recommend Dr. Garcia, Baja Oral Center and, for lunch, the Marenca restaurant.

Of Dentistry in Tijuana and Cross Border Friendship

by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press

I have been writing about my friend Dr Luis Garcia for almost 10 years. That's how long he has been doing my dental work in Tijuana at the Baja Oral Center. Over the course of those years Dr Garcia has become much more than my dentist; he has become my friend. Way back in 2007 I had broken my front tooth off by biting into an English muffin that was hard as a rock.

I wrote then on Will Blog For Food:

The dentist I was going to in San Diego suggested a bridge cap as a more reasonable alternative to an implant. (Actually, I had gone to two dentists before that including the one who gave me the flipper and neither of them had proposed a reasonable solution.) What they would do for the bridge cap is grind down the two adjacent teeth, cap them and then those caps would support a third cap over my missing tooth. First they would extract what remained of my missing tooth below the gum line. This solution would cost $995. per cap or $2985. plus the extraction. I forget how much that was. And this was with my Secure Horizon high option dental insurance! So two front teeth would be destroyed, and one wouldn't be rooted in anything. And the dentist said she didn't know how long it would last

So I decided to seek out a dentist in Tijuana and get an implant instead. I had heard they cost a third of the price they would cost in San Diego. I had been thinking about this for some time as a more economically feasible alternative to US dentistry which had been costing me more and more as time went on, and I was getting less and less satisfied with the quality and the way they treated patients as well as all the subterfuges surrounding how they dealt with insurance. Dental insurance was pretty much of a joke anyway as the dentists always seemed to find a way around it either by shorting the service or charging you for additional items the insurance didn't pay for.

After much googling I decided to go with Baja Oral Center and Dr Garcia. To say the least I was very impressed and have had a lot of dental work done there in the last 10 years. Friends and family have been to see Dr Garcia and his associates and they have all come away smiling. One of those associates, Dr Martinez, did an excellent job on my implant. Over the years I have written more articles about my Tijuana dentist such as one written in 2012 - Save Big Money: Get Your Dental Work Done in Tijuana.

I wrote an article - Judy Finally Goes To the Dentist In Tijuana in 2014 about how, after much trepidation, I was finally able to convince my wife, Judy, to go see Dr Garcia about getting a denture. She was so pleased with the results that she was looking forward to going back and spending some time in Tijuana. But the happy times were not to be.

In recent months, however, going to Tijuana to the dentist has become about more than saving money. It has become about friendship as well. Last year, as some of you may know, I lost my wife, Judy Oliveira. She had had a series of mini stokes and then some major ones that left her virtually helpless and not able to care for herself. Her good friend, Karen, who had gotten herself certified as a care provider, and myself gave Judy 24/7 round the clock care. She was never left alone. One of our problems was how to brush her teeth. She had been to see Dr Garcia in better times for that denture.

I called him and he said to bring her in, and he would see what he could do. It was  a major feat just getting her in the dental chair. Dr Garcia was so patient with her and so gentle, and he was able to brush her teeth with a regular toothbrush something neither Karen nor I could do.

After that he said to bring her in once a month and he wouldn't even charge me. I couldn't believe it. As it turns out, my articles had brought him much business and he wanted to reciprocate. The only problem was that going back across the border there was an hour and a half wait. Poor Judy could not sit up in her seat that long. But we made it the first time anyway. One of my regrets is that we never got a SENTRI pass which would have expedited the border crossing tremendously, but more about that later. We never made it back to Dr Garcia's office because Judy passed away shortly thereafter. A few months later I got a call from Dr Garcia wondering why I hadn't brought Judy back in to get her teeth cleaned. I broke the news, and after we hung up, I wondered how many dentists in the states would go to the lengths of calling a patient concerned about their well being regardless of the fact that they weren't even charging for their service.

Fast forward to a week ago - I set up appointments with Dr Garcia for myself and my friend Olof who had been to see Dr Garcia many times in the past. By this time I had obtained a SENTRI pass which promised to expedite the border crossing. This would be the first time I would be attempting to use it, and I was eager to try it out. Every person in the car needs to have one in order to use the special SENTRI lanes, but Olof didn't have one. The plan was that I would drop him off at the border, he would walk across, and I would pick him up on the other side. As it turned out, Olof had a medical emergency that day and couldn't make it. So I went by myself.

Dr Garcia was in his usual jovial good spirits. He filled a couple of cavities for me, and afterwards we got into a discussion about many things, about life in fact. It turns out that our lives coincide in many respects. His wife has some serious medical problems which require her to be in the hospital quite a bit as was the case with Judy. When she's in the hospital, he has to be the caregiver for his 3 year old daughter. I told him that I raised my daughter from the age of 3 as a single parent. We both had to juggle business and caregiving, and we both had to take care of a wife with medical problems that required numerous hospitalizations.

Dr Garcia continued the conversation by mentioning that he was also a writer. On the side he wrote screenplays, and he told me about one he was working on involving an American expat living in Ensenada. I got the feeling that this was a true story. This man also had a wife with serious problems. She had Alzheimer's. He had made the decision to keep her at home and be her caregiver, as had I in Judy's case, when they wanted to put her in a nursing home after her last hospitalization. The story and our lives revolved around the importance of decision making and how once the decision is made, we have to live with the consequences.

In the case of the American expat, the consequences were not good. In an unattended moment, his wife had walked out of the house, onto the beach and into the ocean never to be seen again. The man suffered a lot because of his decision not to put her in a nursing home including recriminations from family members. In my case I felt it was the right decision to bring Judy home, and it worked out in the sense that Judy's final days were spent in her own home with her cat, Tessa, and 24/7 love from me and Karen. She also got to watch her favorite shows on TV, something she wouldn't be able to do on the nursing home "basic channels."

I decided to put off my cleaning by Dr Lupita which had been scheduled for that day so that I could bring Olof down the following week. We made the necessary arrangements, and I left the office heading for the border. I checked out the place I could drop Olof off, got in the SENTRI lane and was over the border in 5 minutes. What a relief! If only Judy and I could have gotten a SENTRI pass a year ago, it would have saved her unnecessary suffering as she struggled to sit up during the long wait.

It takes time to get the pass, but you can start the process online. Then you have to wait for them to call you to come in for an appointment at the office. You go east on I-905, and it's right at the border. They finger print you and take your picture. It costs about $95. They don't inspect your car any more. Then it takes a few weeks before they send you the pass, but it's well worth the effort. You definitely need a passport to go to Tijuana, but the SENTRI pass will save you so much time coming back.

Dr Garcia's and my life have gone in parallel arcs. Life experiences have followed similar courses. Articles have been written. Dentistry has been performed. Cross border friendships have developed. All of these things were completely unpredictable a few years ago. The SENTRI pass makes going to Tijuana as simple and easy as going to Normal Heights. It's right next door now. Despite Donald Trump's highly offensive call for building a wall, walls between people from different cultures have evaporated. Barriers have vaporized. Let's hope that the border, la frontera, evaporates as well. As my Dad used to say, "One hand washes the other."

Judy Goes to Tijuana to the Dentist

by John Lawrence

Judy hadn't seen a dentist in some time and she needed to go. I tried to persuade her to go to my dentist, Dr. Miguel Garcia in Tijuana, but she had a fear of crossing the border. I had been going to Dr Garcia for 10 years or more, and I told her she had nothing to fear. Everybody in Dr Garcia's office spoke perfect English. They had the latest, most modern equipment and the best training. My friend Olof who had been going to Dr Garcia for years on my recommendation also tried to persuade Judy that there was nothing to be afraid of. She would be in good hands.

Finally, Judy agreed to go. I had assured her I knew the way by heart, and we could drive right into the building to park. Then it was just a short walk to the elevator. We'd be on the fourth floor and in the Baja Oral Center in no time. It was just a 40 minute drive from our home in El Cajon. The problem was though that they hadn't fixed the border yet; it was still under construction. After going across the border we came out on a street unfamiliar to me. In short we immediately got lost. It was Judy's worst fear.

Judy said, "Just take me home." I said, "No, I think I can find it." After driving around for some time in a state of confusion, we finally stumbled on Plaza Pacifico Building on Jose Clemente Orozco Street just off the main drag of Paseo de los Heroes. It's close to the Abraham Lincoln roundabout so I guess our Abraham Lincoln was a Mexican hero because he was against the Mexican-American War in which Mexico lost considerable territory. There's also a statue of Lincoln in Juarez, dedicated in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson. The U.S. received a statue of Benito Juarez in exchange, which is in Washington, D.C. Juárez and Lincoln exchanged friendly letters during the American Civil War.

It was well past our appointment time when we finally found the correct location. But by this time Judy was beside herself. "Just take me home", she repeated. I said, "We're here now," but Judy wanted to go home anyway so I relented. We navigated the return route with some difficulty, but after an hour and a half wait at the border, we were finally on our way back to El Cajon. Judy said she'd never go to Mexico again. So I agreed to take her to a dentist in El Cajon. The initial exam was $285. OK, but Dr. Garcia doesn't charge for an initial examination. After the exam the extensive dental work required to get Judy on the right dental path came to thousands of dollars.

We decided to wait. After all Judy was in no pain. She qualifies for Medi-Cal, but, unfortunately, Medi-Cal didn't cover dentistry at that time. About a year later we were informed that Medi-Cal was bringing back dental benefits. It is called Denti-Cal. We waited for the advent of the date of coverage with baited breath, and then went back to our El Cajon dentist. However, all the dental work Judy needed turned out not to be covered by Denti-Cal! They covered certain root canals - just not in the teeth that Judy needed them. The first order of business was to be the cleaning, and for that the charge was a heart stopping $900! We decided to take a pass.

After considerable time had passed, Judy had a change of heart about visiting Dr Garcia's dental office in Tijuana. She all of a sudden got more adventurous. A further incentive is that by this time the border had been fixed and wait times were considerably shortened - 10 to 20 minutes. The San Ysidro Port of Entry is the busiest land port of entry in the western hemisphere. 50,000 northbound vehicles are processed each day. 25,000 northbound pedestrians cross each day. Coming into Mexico there is no wait at all. The bottleneck was always going back.

But now the port had been expanded and modernized. There were 38 additional vehicle inspection booths. The port was now the "Port of the Future" featuring sustainable design and technology. The San Diego U-T reported on September 17, 2014:

Many drivers accustomed to waiting in line for hours instead sailed through the busy border crossing within minutes on Wednesday.

What made it possible was the reopening of seven inspection lanes — and the completion of a key phase in the $741 million reconstruction of the massive port, the busiest on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The expanded capacity in the primary inspection lanes means that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with operating the port of entry, now has at its disposal 25 rebuilt inspection lanes with total of 46 booths. And that’s just the beginning: By January 2018, the port is expected to grow to 34 lanes with 63 booths.

“This is incredible. I can’t believe it. There’s something like 15 cars ahead of me,” said Marco Montano, as he waited early Wednesday afternoon to cross in the general lanes, which are usually the longest. He and a friend were heading from Tijuana to San Diego to purchase a bus part and had been prepared for the usual wait of two to three hours — not 10 minutes.

Now it's almost impossible to get lost going to and coming from Dr. Garcia's office, and Judy was ready to make the trip again. We were inside the Plaza Pacifico Building within 40 minutes from our home in El Cajon. We took some food and water with us in anticipation of the return trip which would be right around lunch time. Things went so well though that now Judy wants to eat at one of the nearby restaurants next time we go. Judy was immediately impressed by the friendliness and cheerfulness of Dr. Garcia and his professional staff. Judy was most concerned to have a replacement tooth for one that had fallen out. Dr. Garcia gave her a thorough examination, and then two young women went to work cleaning her teeth. Total cost for the visit including the cleaning - $60.

$60. for dental cleaning in Tijuana versus over $900. for the same job in El Cajon! We couldn't believe the difference in pricing between Mexico and the United States. Dental insurance in the States might have brought the price down, but it is my experience that dental insurance is mainly a joke. It covers the inexpensive stuff, but not the major dental procedures. And there's a yearly cap after which you're on your own.

The Baja Oral Center offers a complete list of dental services from fillings to crowns to implants. There are a lot of doctors, dentists and specialists in the Pacifico Plaza Building that Dr. Garcia works with. For instance, root canal specialists are close by. They all speak fluent English, use the latest techniques and equipment and are super friendly. More people are spending their money on a trip to San Diego for a vacation and a side trip to the dentist in Tijuana than on the expensive dentists in the US.

Judy felt so comfortable that before we left with a return appointment scheduled, she was joking and laughing with Dr Garcia and his staff. She looks forward to her next appointment and a good meal at one of the nearby restaurants. Before long she'll probably want to spend some time shopping at the nearby shopping center. The return trip was a breeze - just a straight shot down Paseo de los Heroes to the border. As we entered the US, Judy turned to me and said, "I like Dr Garcia."

 

Save Big Money: Get Your Dental Work Done in Tijuana

by John Lawrence

I have been going to Tijuana for dental work for five years. In that time I've had two root canals, several crowns and an implant. I've also taken my two granddaughters down there for routine dental work a couple of times. In the process I've saved several thousand dollars and been completely pleased with the results.

There are probably a lot of good dentists in Tijuana and some bad ones. The problem for most people is knowing who to go to. People need referrals to good dentists so please feel free to comment on experiences that you've had with dentistry in Tijuana - both whom you'd recommend and who to stay away from. Personally, I would recommend the office I've been going to which is Baja Oral Center. There is a network of dentists there ranging from children's dentistry to general dentistry to tooth implants. All the dentists speak perfect English so there is no language barrier. One call to Berniece, the receptionist, whose English also is great suffices to set up an appointment. By the way it's a local call. They have a 619 area code. So that's two barriers out of the way: language and referral. And did I mention that they're very friendly and accommodating to your schedule?

I blogged about my dental experience in Tijuana in 2007:

"I googled "dentistry in Tijuana" and checked out somewhat thoroughly what was available which was a lot. In fact I devoted an afternoon to it.  A lot of dentists had websites, and a ton of information was available. I had several criteria: qualifications and background of the dentist; quality of the website; location and appearance of the dental office. Some of these criteria are somewhat superficial, I admit, but I wanted a dentist with a nice office in a good neighborhood, not somebody who worked out of his house in a bad neighborhood. I finally settled on Baja Oral Center.  I was impresssed with the qualifications of Dr. Martinez who did the dental implants. I called a local San Diego number (they have an 800 number too) and set up an appointment with Dr. Martinez to see about a dental implant. Everyone in the office speaks fluent English including the office manager and phone answerer, Berniece. They cover all the bases at Baja Oral Center. The general dentist there is Dr. Garcia. I was impressed with his credentials too. Their equipment is the latest and most modern. And their offices and waiting rooms are immaculate.

"The day of my appointment at 11 AM, I  took the San Diego trolley from downtown. I allowed an hour and a half to get down there. My plan was to take the trolley to San Ysidro, walk across the border, then get a taxi to Jose Orosco St. where the offices are located in the Plaza Pacifico building, a relatively recently constructed high rise. It actually took me an hour and fifteen minutes including a fifteen minute walk to the trolley station from my apartment.  The taxi ride cost "cinco" dollars and took less than five minutes. The offices are located in the Zona Rio section of Tijuana, near Paseo de los Heroes and a huge modern shopping mall. There's a large statue of Abraham Lincoln (among others) nearby on Paseo de los Heroes."

There are also some good restaurants nearby.

Here is a quote and a reply I found on the web regarding dental costs in San Diego:

"I've been living in SD about four months now and I've been looking for a new dentist. It took me forever to find a good dentist where I used to live, roughly about four years if you could believe it! I don't want it to take nearly that long here! I went in for some x-rays and a consult the other week and I was shocked to hear that three fillings were $1,300! I'm used to around $60-100 per filling (now this is for the silver and these other ones would probably be the white ones) Is it common for fillings (white ones) to be around $400 each? For that much I could save up money, fly back 2,000 miles and get a crown for $400 each. Am I getting ripped cause I have no insurance and paying out of pocket or is this the going rate here? Also I was told I may need crowns in the future which are supposedly $1,200 each here..

Reply:

"1200 for a crown sounds about right. I just paid 600 for a crown after 50% copay a month ago. 400 for a filling? A bit on the high side I think, but far from outrageous. You might be able to get $60 fillings and $400 crowns in Tijuana."

In the above example, the guy paid $600 for a crown after a 50% copay. I recently paid $300 in Tijuana, half what this person paid with dental insurance in San Diego. On implants there are even greater savings. In San Diego they run $5000.-$6000. In Tijuana, my implant with Dr. Martinez and Dr. Garcia providing the crown cost a total of $1100.

US dental insurance is a farce. They pay 100% for the small stuff like X-rays and cleanings. But when it comes to crowns, root canals, dentures and implants, they usually only pay 50%. And then there are annual dollar limits on dental costs. Once you're over the limit you're screwed. There are also lifetime limits just as with health insurance until Obamacare nixed them. And there are service limits. From my analysis of the problem I think that you are better off to cancel your dental insurance and get your dental work done in Tijuana although some dental plans supposedly cover Tijuana dentists.

If you need extensive dental work done and you're not within commuting distance, it might be cheaper to check into a hotel in Tijuana, have all your work done at a tremendous savings and then return home.

Another reservation many Americans have about going to Mexico for dental work is that they've heard media reports about drug violence. I think these reports are considerably overdone especially with respect to Tijuana. This is taken from an extensive dental website at which this problem is addressed:

"Don't let exaggerations and rumors alarm you.  Tourists are not in any extraordinary dangers. Tijuana is not like Juarez nor like the Texas border. Things are fine here. The government in Tijuana has things very much under control. Most patients tell us that they feel safer here than in many large US cities.  In the nearly five years that Sam Dental has been operating, there have been several thousand of patients who have come here for treatment, and no one has ever reported that they have ever felt in danger. We will pick you up at the San Diego/Tijuana border, and transport you to and from your hotel, doing everything we can to take care of you. Everyone who has come to our clinic has been surprised at how laid back things are in the city. We want you to feel at ease and to enjoy your trip to Mexico."

Dental care in the US is in crisis mode. Most health care insurance doesn't include it. According to the LA Times, hundreds recently turned out for free dental care at the LA Sports Arena provided by Care Harbor 2012. This is from that report:

Julio Rivera leaned back in a dental chair and closed his eyes. He hadn’t been to a dentist in nearly four years. After 30 minutes of intense cleaning, Rivera, 50, said his mouth felt completely different. Rivera and hundreds of other residents from throughout Southern California flocked to the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Thursday for a massive annual free clinic put on by Care Harbor. Patients received an array of health services, including blood pressure checks, mammograms, vision screening and HIV testing. They could also meet with specialists such as cardiologists and podiatrists. But, like previous years, the demand was greatest for dental care. This year there are 100 dental chairs available for patients to receive cleanings, extractions, fillings and root canals -– up from about 80 last year. But dental hygienist Laurel Bleak said it still wasn’t enough. “We try to do the best we can with limited resources,” Bleak said. “We could easily spend five hours on each patient.”

Whether or not poor people could afford dentistry even in Mexico is an open question, but in the US, the richest nation in the world, poor people either go without or, if they're lucky, get free dental care.

Here are some practical tips about getting to Tijuana. There are two ways to get down there: 1) drive your car or 2) take the trolley, walk across the border and take a taxi to the dentist's office. For your initial visit if you don't know where you're going, walking across and taking a taxi is a better bet. In either case you need a passport to get back. A driver's license used to be sufficient, but not any more. You can get a credit card sized one that fits right in your wallet. Children need birth certificates. The agents have asked me for those when I took my grandchildren with me. And they will question the children as to who you are. This is all on the way back. No one asks you for any identification on the way in.

If I drive, it takes me about half an hour travel time from my house in El Cajon to my dentist's office. The problem is getting back over the border. That can range from 10 minutes to an hour and a half.

If you take the pedestrian route, it's easy to catch a taxi for the ride back to the border. There is usually one waiting outside the Plaza Pacifico building. Tell the taxi driver you want to go to the border. He will drop you off at the end of "La Linea," the line. As a pedestrian crossing the border your wait will vary from no wait at all to one and a half hours. It's best to go on a Wednesday. There are many more people waiting either in the auto line or the pedestrian line on Mondays and Fridays. There are advantages and disadvantages to going by auto or by foot. Waiting in the auto line, you can turn on the air conditioning and listen to the radio. On the other hand you're subject to breathing the exhaust from the vehicle right in front of you and surrounding vehicles. If it's a long wait, I find it more pleasant to be a pedestrian where at least you have fresh air and can get an ice cream at the Thrifty stand on your way up the line. I have experienced long auto lines while at the same time there was absolutely no wait in the pedestrian line.

However, driving is quicker (at least getting across the border) and cheaper. You can park right in the Plaza Pacifico building for about a dollar an hour. Driving directions to Baja Oral Center are as follows:

Baja Oral Center is located at 10122 Jose Clemente Orozco Street. If you cross the border by car bear to the right and follow signs to Tecate. Don't take the Centro or Zona Rio turnoffs. After going around several turns you will find yourself on Via Rapida Poniente. Get over to the right so that you're on the local road and can make a right hand turn. You will go past a huge parking garage on your right and a shopping center. You will see a "Cinepolis" movie theater. After you pass the second set of parking garages get ready to make a right turn. You will see a 7-11. Don't turn there, but turn just a few feet later on the very next street. That will be Jose Clemente Orozco, but it's not marked. Then on your left you will see the Plaza Pacifico building which is marked. Go up the entrance to the parking garage. Then take the elevator to the fourth floor where Baja Oral Center is located.

Coming back as you exit the parking garage take a left, then a quick right onto Paseo de los Heroes. Go to the first traffic circle, and make a right. You will see signs to San Diego. Go over a bridge and there will be two possible left turns right next to each other. TAKE THE SECOND ONE. Then follow signs to the border. As you near the border you will see several lanes with walls lining the sides. Whatever you do, do not get in the left hand lane. That will take you back to Tijuana, dump you off at an unnerving traffic circle, and it will be difficult to find your way back to the border. Don't get in the far right hand lane either. That one is just for buses and people having a Sentri pass. Stay in the middle lane right under the I-5 sign.

Note: the above directions are now for the SENTRI pass lanes only. For the regular lanes, proceed down Paseo de los Heroes and follow directions to the border.