November 3:  Yesterday Robert arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico. How can he afford to leave wife and kids behind in California for a holiday? How dare he!  Now wait a minute. For those of you who are prone to call Robert a slacker, know now that the purpose of this trip is dentistry.  Yes, Robert has finally taken the plunge and come to Old México for some of that low-priced dental work we’ve all heard about.  We shall see how it turns out.

After finding a hotel and getting a decent night’s sleep, today he was off to see Dr. Tania, the Spanish-speaking economy dentist referred to him by  good friend Serena Makofsky who has lived in Oaxaca for many years.

Robert  is going to wait to give a complete description of his dentist, procedures, costs, and his declaration on whether the trip is a success.  He will give a full description and conclusions once it is all over.  But here is a mini summary of his first two days in Oaxaca.

Dr. Tania is a very pleasant lady in her early 30’s (or younger??) who does not speak much English, but Robert persevered.  After she gave Robert her analysis of his mouth (which does not involve anything too extraordinary, but does require work), she cleaned his teeth.  Then she sent him to get a panoramic x-ray of his mouth at an outside labratory.  Upon returning to the office, x-rays in hand, it was confirmed to him that two teeth needed removal.  Dr. Tania began the extraction but it turns out that the first tooth she worked on was “fused” to his jaw.  He learned this because about 30 minutes into the procedure a man walked into the room and pronounced in perfect American English (he sounded like Josh Brankman) that he was going to take over.  Robert learned later from Steve Laffler that the guy is a surgeon from Kentucky who lives in Oaxaca.  He was a nice guy and he got both teeth out after some wrangling.

A bit tired and jaw a bit sore, Robert walked Oaxaca for about an hour looking for a new hotel room.  It is a holiday period (Dias de Los Muertos) so the hotels are packed.  But he found one, took a nap, and by then his jaw seemed to be okay.  For dinner he enjoyed two ice creams, a soda, and a can of Jim Beam and coke.

November 4.  Waking up this morning, Robert felt good enough to hunt for the tennis courts.  He found Deportivo Oaxaca about 5 kilometers out of town.  Very good.  About 7 courts with a teaching pro named Leon.  Leon is a 32? year old Cuban who, according to him,  played  pro  in Europe before coming to Oaxaca 3 months ago to teach at the club and teach at a private school.  At US$16/hr for lessons, Robert is going to be spending a lot of time with Leon.

After tennis today,  Robert took another walk around town to burn time before his return to the dentist.  This time, root canal.  When he arrived at the dental office, he was met by Dr. Leticia who shares the practice with Dr. Tania.  She performed a root canal that took about 3 hours.  Robert is  no expert, and, to this day he doesn’t even know what the heck they are doing during the root canal procedure, but she seemed very very competent. All done.

It would seem that it will be all downhill in the dentist office hereafter.  Need to get something to replace one of the pulled teeth, cap off a couple others, and fill a few cavities.  We’ll see.

November 5. Day three here in dusty ol’ Mexico.  Dr. Tania drilled a cavity and gave Robert a filling on a front tooth.  Feels like it worked well.  That’s it in the dentist chair today.

November 6.  Robert did some good hitting with Leon this morning at the club.  Then to see Dr. Tania where she messed with the stub that used to be the tooth that got the root canal.  Robert thinks she needed to build up the stub so the new crown will seat correctly.  Then she made the impresions of my teeth to send to the lab who will make two crowns.  Almost three hours in the chair, but no pain. Then back to the club for some hitting with one of Leon’s young students who killed Robert.

November 7.  The days in Oaxaca are starting to look pretty predictable.  Today, tennis in the morning.  A little work for clients, then a visit to Dr. Tania who filled in cavity and made the impressions for the fake teeth that will replace Robert’s pulled teeth.  ETA of all Robert’s teeth from the laboratorio is next Tuesday.  And no need to return to the dentist until then! Woo hoo!

 November 11.  Robert went back to the dentist today.  He thought that the crowns and fake teeth would be back from the lab, but unfortunately Dr. Tania wanted to fill three small cavities.  Looks like the new teen will go in tomorrow.  Robert, Dr. Tania and her boyfriend, and the Laffler-Makofsky family went to dinner.

November 12.  Robert finished up at the dentist today.  For three hours Dr. Tania fitted his new bridge and two metal-enamel crowns. Anyway, below was the final bill.

2 teeth pulled: 1000 pesos
1 root canal: 2500 pesos
2 crowns measured, manufactured, and installed: 4000 pesos
1 bridge measured, manufactured, and installed: 3000 pesos
3 cavities drilled and filled: 1200 pesos
DENTAL TOTAL: 11,700 pesos (US$ 859.95)

Hotel (11 nights): 5500 pesos (US$ 404.56)
RT Airfare:  US$ 650

GRAND TOTAL: US$ 1914.51