Whilst here in Villa Corona Mexico, Catherine had a broken crown. We heard of cheap dentistry down here but the first step was to find a dentist that spoke English to at least some degree.
New Choppers
A few weeks earlier we were on our bi-weekly walking trip to Centro when a woman pushing a baby carriage while dragging a couple of young children,approached us.
The majority of women down here have long dark thick black hair with the rare exception of a redhead. Catherine is blonde which was the reason for the women’s approach.
She was pleasant and spoke perfect American English a rarity in town. After saying hello the real reason for the brief chat was to let Catherine know she was a hairdresser with 19 years experience.
She moved here from California (ergo the great English) to be with family. Catherine took her contact info and we went on our separate ways.
A couple of weeks later Catherine reached out, made an appointment and was quite pleased with the results while making a friend in the process. Plus she literally lived (and worked) around the corner from Chimulco our RV park.
So when the crown issue came up after being troublesome during dinner Elizabeth was the first call – see there’s lots of dentists in this small town but finding an English speaker would be challenging with cold phone calls even door knocking took time and and would be inefficient.
Reaching out to Elizabeth on WhatsApp (all of Mexico uses the app) she was happy to help and instantly came up with Dr. Oscar Madrigal who was a 15 minute walk from our Shangrila hide out.
On visit one an evaluation was made by Dr. Oscar then a subsequent appointment was set
File under: While you’re at it Catherine asked “why don’t you get a quote on dentures as long as we’re here?”
Full transparency, we have a good friend who is a dentist back in Illinois. He’s been maintaining Catherine’s teeth for a while. Not long ago before leaving the states she pulled him aside at a social event and asked for a ballpark figure on dentures for me.
Dr. Oscar
“Decent partials could be from $5,000 to $10,000 but money could be saved by finding a dental college.” Gulp. We shelved the topic.
So here I was in a dentist’s chair in Mexico getting a quote. He was thorough and whereas while in a dental chair the most you see when looking at the ceiling is a benign picture or scenery I was impressed to be watching a very large flat screen professionally installed in a ceiling cut out with what appeared to be popular Mexican musical groups crooning away with a decent sound system.
It didn’t take long to reach the conclusion with tooth removal and the creation of top and button partials the entire procedure parts and labor would be $30,000 MXN, The Peso is trading at $1 USD = 17.81 MXN as I write this – you can do the math.
I told Dr. Oscar “I need to think about it.” Since retirement our income is Social Security and the sum total of 6 – 8 small drop ship orders on WindyCityParrot.com monthly.
1/08/2026
Given this was a once in a lifetime opportunity I entered the waiting room, setting down my backpack fedora and sun glasses not sure what to expect.
A couple of minutes later Dr. Oscar came out to greet me an directed me to the 2nd exam room where I had been evaluated. Waiting in the room was a short young woman in surgical scrubs, a cloth surgical head covering (similar to Dr. Oscars but light blue as opposed to his lime green surgical attire) and long dark hair neatly pulled back..
She was introduced to me with her Spanish surname and I assumed she was a dental tech. I was way wrong.
Not only was she a dentist but she was THE “denture specialist.” From then on I referred to her as Dr. Michelle. She performed more than 80% of the work on my mouth.
Dr. Michelle
A note here: Unlike any other US dentist I had been to, there was no receptionist, no hygienists, no dental tech assistants. Just a couple of dentists working through dental solutions one mouth at a time.
I had X-Rays taken of my teeth before. Usually a small plastic plate was inserted and a large cone shaped machine was pointed at my face and after a brief wait, X-Rays appeared in an assistants hand, flexible plastic like photos then placed into a back lit viewer so we could all see the slide show.
In Mexico they cut out the middleman. The two of them worked in tandem, one with an instrument that was inserted along my jaw line(s) and the other fine tuned the notebook computer on the TV table over my right shoulder.
When the instrument wasn’t in my mouth I could look over my right shoulder and see the X-Rays in real time. They chatted in Spanish but kept me updated in English. They both spoke English very well but occasionally Dr. Michelle would lean on Google translate.
It was decided which teeth would need to be removed and a subsequent appointment was set
1/16/2026
Arriving in the waiting room at 10:00 AM Dr. Michelle came out and politely asked if I could wait a few minutes apologizing for her English – I replied “No hay problema, tu inglés es mejor que mi español.” (No problem your English is better than my Spanish)
Me saying that to impress the cute young dentist. (I had also pulled it up on Google translate Android prior)
Shortly she returned and led into me to the room with the 2nd chair and I made myself comfortable. No videos this time but decent background music played – acceptable American classic rock.
It was up until that point I really liked her. Interestingly on her articulating swivel work table were surgical instruments but instead of them being neatly lined up they were all in their own individually sealed bags on her tray and the table beyond.
My infatuation for her disappeared when I saw the Novocaine injector, a long thick glass evil syringe with the round thumb pull. She went to work. I had 4 teeth in the lower front teeth, some in back, both sides and by the time she was done I was convinced she had a 20 Ltr jug of the insidious numbing fluid stashed under the chair.
I was also certain my face was about to fall off. Her hands were small but rock solid. She worked the bad teeth like a master mechanic. I was certain some would break during extraction.
Clearly this was not her first rodeo. Some teeth required six different tools but all came out in one piece. When she was done Dr. Oscar came out of nowhere like a tag team and tied eight stitches onto my front lower jaw.
She asked if I wanted to keep any of the teeth. I respectfully declined.
He packed my mouth with cotton and handed me a prescription for 3 items. We have found by the way you don’t need a prescription for anything down here but I’m sure they wanted me to get very specific pharmaceuticals. .
I should have taken a taxi but could’t find the near by Guadalajara Pharmacy or the taxi stand across from it so I slowly walked into the town Centro. I had rid myself of the bloody cotton balls along the way.
Handing a familiar pharmacist the prescription(s), she smiled and quickly filled the order, certainly realizing why I was asking for a pain med, antibiotic and mouth rinse. Walking home (about 1.5 km) I was exhausted.
I passed neighbors in the RV park and they asked me how it went. I grunted and just pointed to my mouth. They understood.
Upon returning to the Bus (our motorhome) I had to check to see how much of my face had fallen off. Lucky for me it was still there but so were some blood droplets on my beard ergo the smirking pharmacists.
1/31/2026
Two weeks had passed since the last appointment, the necessary time for healing. Both dental practitioners were present with nothing on the overhead screen but pleasant American music coming from unseen speakers once again.
Doctor Oscar was first to approach. He remove the 8 stitches that had been tied onto the front of my lower gum. Healing was “muy bien” (very good). Dr. Michelle then stepped up announcing she needed to “clean my teeth.”
I mentioned that I felt a small protuberance on the left part of my jaw and could’t decide if was tooth or bone. Just when I had decided to like her again (in my mind) I heard those screechy violins present in most horror films and saw lighting flash from the sky as she held in her hand the goddamn Novocaine injecting torture device device
She grabbed a part of my lower lip with a latex gloved hand and BAM – BAM – BAM – the needle slid in and out while once again I waited for my face to fall off.
Firstly she looked at the small projection I mentioned with the dental mirror then grabbed some sort of pliers device. In just a few seconds I saw it pinched in the instrument. She laid it rest upon the dental tool tray.
I’ve had my teeth cleaned by a hygienist in the past. Usually some nuclear toothpaste was applied to a rubber like cylinder and discolor would be polished away while i endured a “the mouth is the gateway to the body” lecture, as a captive.
Dr. Michelle was far more intense. She used more of a Dremel type grinder that polished while clearly shaping the teeth top and bottom to accept the soon to be installed “wired” dentures in the near future.
She took her time work from the right top of my mouth to the left bottom jaw line and back. My guess was the surface of the original teeth would match the artificial acrylics. I lost track of time but she spent 45 minutes to an hour on the process.
Wrapping things up she brought in a bowl of goo mixing it like a baker along with what I soon learned were the molds for my future mouth. She poured this viscous liquid into the dental impressions to make a negative imprint of my upper teeth and oral tissues.
She instructed me to clamp down and the she asked me to release about a minute later. The process was repeated for my lower jaw and after picking out some remaining pieces of what felt like rubber, it was time to go and wait for the numbness to recede. .
2/14/2026
This visit was fairly benign. The new wire frames were installed on the mold that was the result of the prior visit. She needed to “test fit” the frame thereby ensuring a tight no-slip fit.
The tops were fine but the bottoms needed a bit of tweaking. Dr. Michelle manipulated the wires like a jeweler and after a couple of try-ons they appeared to be ready.
2/21/26
At long last, we exchanged niceties an as I was about to recline the outer dental room’s chair I saw her take what looked like a gift box out her oversize purse.
She set in on the dental working tray, put on her surgical gloves and opened the box.
Both uppers and lowers were still on the final mold which gave them a bit of a macabre effect.
She removed them both from the mold, set the bottoms down sand popper the uppers directly in. They were lightly loose.
Next came the lowers which felt just fine.
I let Dr. Michelle know about the uppers which she eloquently removed, adjusted and replaced in what appeared to be one fluid motion.
Then she pulled a 1X1 square of what felt (and tasted) like plastic then placed in the right rear of my teeth and commanded me to “Bite Down.”
She worked her way around the now full set of teeth ensuring that all the top teeth, real and false were meeting properly.
With all 32 teeth lining up our hand to mouth relationship came to an end.
I was too excited to suggest she get a hand held mirror to illustrate her handiwork to patients but I found a mirror on the wall so I could look at my new magnificent smile.
I paid my final $7700 MX Pesos with the stark reality that the Peso had strengthened since early January making the 4th and final payment 10% more in USD than the first.
“Ni modo” (translated “nothing can be done”)
Written by Mitch Rezman
