El Dentista (the Dentist)

 Por Carlo

I had been having some problems with two of my teeth for a few months; sensitivity to hot and cold, general minor discomfort. But, I am good (very good) at putting off visits to the Dentist and so, my right molar and front tooth went untreated. Now, here I am in Mexico and several days ago the discomfort turned to PAIN! I remembered last year several people told me about a fantastic dentist named Raphael right here in San Blas so; I went off to find him. I figured a good place to start would be to go to the Turino and talk with the owner, Ernie, because he was one of the people bragging last year. The Torino is a Restaurant Bar that houses a LARGE crocodile in a cage. I’ve been told this croc is more than 50 years old and has no teeth (I didn’t test the teeth story). Ernie poured Joy and I each a cup of coffee and handed us a piece of cold pizza his girlfriend Sabina made earlier that day and said, “Go out my front door, turn right, go one block and look for the DIF building. The Dentista is diagonal from there. You can’t miss it”. I always want to tell people, “You don’t know me well” when they say that. Joy and I followed Ernie’s instructions the best as I could recall and ended up in front of a small office that had a sign of “Dentista” on the front. We went in and were greeted by a man who (what a surprise!) spoke no English (I speak VERY little Spanish). We looked around the office and noticed the dental tools were mixed in with pencils and the entire office was reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. There were no gloves but, the Dentista did wash his hands before examining my mouth. We made an appointment for the following morning to have the tooth extracted. The last words we spoke were when the man said his name is Jesus. As we left Joy said she had to, “hold back vomiting” when she looked around the office and she begged me to find the other Dentista. Off we went to Charles and Lori’s house as I knew they had also been to Raphael the Dentista. They explained that I had indeed made the wrong turn and that the DIF is a large white building. If I went to the Flamingo, stood in the front door and looked straight ahead I would see the Dentista office on the corner. I thanked them and went off to find the right place (“you can’t miss it”). Following what I thought was the correct directions, I easily found the DIF (which stands for something like Department of Family Services). Looked at the corner of the building, walked in and found myself in a large waiting room surrounded by people that spoke no English. I just kept repeating “Dentista” and pointing to the right lower side of my mouth. The receptionist seemed to understand and (after about twenty minutes of bureaucracy) handed me a note for a referral to “Jose the Dentista”. Two thoughts sprang into my mind; first how the heck many Dentistas can there be in such a small town and second (obviously) I still hadn’t found Raphael. I went again to Charles and Lori’s house. This time Charles was kind enough to walk me to the proper office (I guess he realized I actually COULD miss it). An appointment was made for he following day to have the tooth extracted. That evening we went to La Quinta California and while talking to the owner, Chris, and we mentioned the tale of the Dentista. He was more than kind in offering to go with me the next day to translate. The next day came, I picked up Chris and we drove to the correct office. I must admit to being totally impressed. The office was clean, all the tools appeared sterile, and the extraction was painless. While translating Chris explained that Raphael suggested two other teeth needed extraction and that I should get a lower permanent (screwed in) plate for the lower plate. I had looked into this while in the USA and it was going to cost many thousands of dollars. So, I asked, “Cuanto cuesta” (how much will it cost). The reply was “5,000 pesos”. At the current exchange rate of 14 to one, that means about $360.00. I made the next appointments and am going to get the dental work I didn’t think I could afford in the USA! This story has two ending thoughts. One, if one needs Dental work, it might actually be less expensive to come to Mexico and have it done here (just find the right Dentista) and two, everything in San Blas (perhaps all of Mexico) is a multi-step adventure.