An Entire Town of Dentists and Eye Doctors is Exactly as Strange as You Would Imagine

Have you ever wondered what a town that was made up almost entirely of dentists offices and eye doctors would look like? Who hasn't right? Well if you are one of the many for whom this question has been top of mind for years, your answer can be found with a quick visit to the town of Los Algadones, (literally translated from Spanish as some dunes) across the border in Mexico, just south of Yuma, Arizona. It is a small town that appears to have just three major industries, dentists, eye doctors, and drugstores along with a smattering of tiny restaurants and a few tourist focused knick-knack shops. What tourists would come to such a town you ask? Those seeking high quality dental and/or eye care at bargain basement prices like myself and my wife of course, along with many others from the United States and Mexico for whom basic and advanced dentistry has become unaffordable even for those with insurance. For the record both my wife and myself have excellent dental insurance in the United States and we already were getting most of our dental work done in Mexico, in Rosarito and Tijuana, at rates much reduced from those to be found in the United States. However, like in the US it has continued to grow in cost and reduce in quality. Moreover, getting dental work done outside of the United States comes with the major disadvantage of having to pay totally out of pocket up front and then spend the next 1-3 months battling with the insurance company for reimbursement. There is no direct billing of US based dental insurance companies available from any Mexican dentist we have yet encountered. The same is not true of all health care in Mexico as some of the largest hospitals on the mainland and in Baja are able to direct bill, but the vast majority are not and do not. I have had to learn many new skills since moving to Mexico almost two years ago, expertise in dental billing codes was not one I had predicted in advance I will admit. If only I could learn Spanish as quickly. When my wife needed a chunk of very expensive work and with me having issues with a recent bridge I had done in Rosarito we were looking for alternatives when my wife stumbled across Los Algadones on the internet and decided to make an appointment with one of the literally hundreds of dentist offices that have relocated there.

Los Algadones is only about a 3 hour drive from our home in Baja, California near Tijuana and I accompanied my wife this past Friday for a follow up appointment for her, and a new one for myself. She had already been there once and had attempted to describe it for me, but her words did not do justice to the strangeness of it. The border crossing into Los Algadones is very, very small. Compared to the sprawling Say Ysidro crossing (the busiest land border crossing in the world) with which I am most familiar, it seems quaint. It is also very nice, as border crossings go and the (very few, two I saw) people working the crossing both on the Mexican and US sides were extremely friendly and warm in great contrast to San Ysidro. There many of the US CBP workers seem determined to make America look like the least welcoming country for foreigners with surly attitudes and grim war-like demeanors. Crossings at San Ysidro often feel like an interrogation, here it felt like a welcome home on the way back into the US and a welcome to our home from the lone Mexican border staffer on the way in. My wife suggested we cross on foot mostly because parking is such a bear on the Mexican side, plus the dentist office we were going to, had its own free personal shuttle service, like most do there. Immediately after crossing the border I could tell this was no ordinary Mexican town. A small crowd of Mexicans all speaking near perfect English were gathered around hawking their goods and services. In this case the services being sold were various forms of dentistry. It is something of a surreal experience being overrun with offers for dentistry and I was a bit taken aback at the both the sheer numbers and the polite if a bit aggressive tone taken by the various salespersons gathered about us. We politely declined all the offers and made our way through the crowd to the corner where we were to be picked up. As we stood waiting we were approached by at least five more salespersons offering dental and other legal goods and services, and one very professional looking man who asked if we were looking for anything illegal. We said no to each though I was sorely tempted to ask Mr. Illegal a few questions. I had already decided I was going to write something about this trip and I was certain he would have something interesting to say, but the look I got from my wife just as I was about to speak told me that if I wanted a peaceful trip home I should keep my mouth shut.

The dentist office car arrived and we got in. It was a small, old beat up Ford something or other, but it was cool(ish) which was nice. Temperatures in Los Algadones and the surrounding areas regularly top 115 degrees F in the summer and it was already 103 that morning when we got in the car. It was about five blocks to our dentist and the street we were on, along with each cross street I could see was lined with primarily dentists offices and eye doctors along with a smattering of drugstores. And that was basically it. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen and my mind reeled as is struggled to comprehend what I was seeing. We walked without incident to the gleaming brand new two story high dental facility and walked in. It was a gorgeous place, well decorated and cool with black, comfortable leather couches and modern stylings. We were immediately greeted, again in perfect English welcomed and pointed toward reception. The check in process was a breeze. Unlike in the United States the paperwork for new patients was only about half a page long. Importantly we were also given a price list which shows the prices of each procedure in dollars and pesos. The prices were inredibly low. My wife was getting a bridge which can run upwards of 5k in the US, and cost about 1.5k in Tijuana. Here it was 800 dollars. The best dental insurance in the US typically only covers at most 80% of bridges so patients can expect to be out of pocket for 1K dollars or more in the US for this type of work. We waited only about 5 minutes before both being called back. My dentist, who also spoke perfect English did a very thorough examination including X-rays (free for both) before pronouncing I would need to have an existing bridge replaced, and needed a crown and possibly a root canal for another tooth where a cavity had begun to form beneath an old filling. I knew the bridge was in trouble and had been having some sensitivity on the other tooth so I was not too surprised by her verdict. I decided to only deal with the one tooth that day, there was zero pressure to do anything, which was a refreshing change from US dentists where I sometimes feel like I am at a used car dealership or time share pitch given the pressure tactics applied.

Both my wife and I would need to take their shuttle to their other office in town for the actual procedures. Many dentist offices in Los Alganoes have a two or three location setup. Apparently the hyper specialization this allows helps them keep their prices low and patient volumes higher. Everything was extremely efficient and quick. It felt like a highly streamlined, high quality, production line. They had all of what appeared to be the latest high tech dental equipment and the quality of work and the people was really amazing. They numbed me up, ground down my existing tooth, and prepared the temporary in about ten minutes and had my wife's fitted and complete in about the same time. Her impression had been made in the previous visit so it was just a matter of getting it in place and making sure it fit perfect and she was ready to go. I would have to go back to the other office to get my impression made, which took about five minutes using the latest 3D imaging techniques. They would send that to the on site lab for making the actual crown which unfortunately would not be ready for about 24 hours meaning I would have to come back to have it placed. I was prepared for that and am actually excited to return either tomorrow or sometime this week. We decided to walk back to the border which was not all that far, stopped at one tourist shop, a drugstore then headed back across the border to our car. On the way home we stopped at the local Quechan casino and resort on the Quechan Indian reservation that abuts the border, and spent 25 bucks each for a resort pass which allowed us to use their very nice, and almost totally empty pool and lazy river. After about an hour of floating we got in the car and headed home. I will be sure to update if anything interesting happens on my next trip. Here's hoping for some excitement. Maybe Mr. Illegal will be around again. This time my wife won't be with me so I could ask for just about anything...lol!